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wcraft
| Posted: 9 Mar 2013 | Updated: 8 Nov 2020
LAS VEGAS – The No. 1 seed Gonzaga Bulldogs proved too much for BYU as the Cougars fell 62-43 in the West Coast Conference Championships semifinal game Saturday.
"Gonzaga is a really good team, and they’ve now beat us this year three times," said BYU head coach Jeff Judkins. "I know it’s hard to do that, so that definitely says something. Give them a lot of credit. I was proud of my team today though – we played tough against a very good team. It was tough to come back after going down by so much heading into halftime. They made it difficult for us, but I’m proud of how we played. We look forward to playing in the postseason hopefully and giving these athletes more opportunities to grow
Morgan Bailey led BYU with 12 points. Teammates Haley Steed and Keilani Unga contributed eight and seven points, respectively. Steed and Unga each also contributed a team-high seven rebounds.
Tough defense from both teams kept neither from finding an offensive groove in the opening minutes. After more than six minutes of play, Gonzaga (26-5) led just 6-5.
After a 3-point play by Keilani Unga tied the score at 8-8, Gonzaga went on a 6-0 run for a 14-8 lead while holding BYU scoreless for almost four minutes. A layup from Hamson ended the scoring drought and brought BYU (21-10) back within four with 8:04 until the break.
After BYU cut the deficit to one point, Gonzaga responded with a 10-0 run to put the Bulldogs up 28-17 with one minute left until halftime.
Steed ended the run with a pair of free throws, but another Gonzaga layup put the Bulldog lead back at double digits at 30-19 heading into the locker room.
The Bulldogs continued to control the game in the second half, putting together two 5-0 runs in the first five minutes of action. Gonzaga held a 42-24 lead with 14:48 to play.
"I just don’t think we were able to execute our offense as well as we would have liked – they played really tough defense today," said BYU guard Ashley Garfield. "That’ll be something we work on in the offseason. The biggest thing I think is that they were able to capitalize on our turnovers – they made the most of them."
BYU finished the game outscoring the Bulldogs 7-3, with all seven points coming from Morgan Bailey, for a final score of 62-43 in Gonzaga’s favor.
BYU will find out if it made the WNIT March 18.
Postgame notes
Team
A 23.1 shooting percentage in the first half hurt the Cougars, who ended the game shooting 33.3 percent. BYU shot 12.5 percent from 3-point range, down from a 35.5 percent 3-point shooting average for the year. BYU held Gonzaga to 14.3 percent shooting from beyond the arc.
Gonzaga also won the battle of the boards, 41-36.
Turnovers plagued BYU, which totaled 22 while the Bulldogs collected 13. BYU scored 14 points off Gonzaga turnovers, while the Bulldogs scored 12 points off turnovers.
Player
Morgan Bailey led the Cougars with 12 points, her 13th double-digit game this season.
Haley Steed ended with eight points, three assists and seven rebounds.
Keilani Unga also had seven boards, accompanied by seven points.
rachelhawks
| Posted: 8 Mar 2013 | Updated: 8 Nov 2020
After a 69-57 win over LMU in the quarterfinals of the 2013 WCC Women’s Basketball Championships, the Cougar women advanced to one of two semifinal games. No. 4 seed BYU will play No. 1 seed Gonzaga, Saturday at noon PST at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The game will be live on BYUtv and on BYU Radio.
BYU Capsule
The Cougar team has outrebounded its opponents in 20 of the 30 games played. The BYU bench has outscored the opponent’s bench 526-402. When comparing points in the paint, the Cougars have scored 760 points to 620 from opponents.
BYU has had a halftime lead in all but seven games to date (vs. Gonzaga, vs. SD, vs. SMC, at USF, at Gonzaga, vs. Seattle and at Washington State).
In only five contests (vs. Gonzaga, at USF, at Gonzaga, at Boston College and at Washington State) the Cougars did not record more assists than their opponents.
Balanced scoring has added to the team’s success this year. To date, three players have put up double figures in points in 13 games and four players finished with double-digit scoring in five games (at POR, at PEP, vs. PEP, vs. Tulsa, vs. UCSB)
• Head coach: Jeff Judkins (Utah, ‘78) is in his 12th season
• Team’s leading scorer: #5 Jennifer Hamson, 10.8 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #5 Hamson, 8.3 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #33 Steed, 7.6 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #33 Steed, 2.1 spg
Gonzaga Capsule
Gonzaga clinched the WCC regular season title with a 14-1 mark and enter the tournament as the No. 1 seed. The Bulldogs' lone conference loss was at Saint Mary’s.
• Head coach: Kelly Graves is in his 12th season at Gonzaga
• Team’s leading scorer: #3 Haiden Palmer, 12.4 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #44 Shelby Cheslek, 5.5 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #34 Jazmine Redmon, 3.8 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #3 Palmer, 3.0 spg
Series History
Gonzaga leads the series 6-5.
When playing on a neutral site BYU has a 1-0 edge.
Last Meeting
Gonzaga swept the series over BYU this season, capturing a 74-59 victory in Spokane, Wash., on Jan. 17 and a 66-55 win in Provo, Utah, on Feb. 23. In the contest at McCarthey Athletic Center, Morgan Bailey recorded a career-high 18 points while Ashley Garfield pulled down a team-best eight rebounds. Haley Steed was the other BYU player to score in double digits with 18. She finished the game with a team-high five assists. The Cougars shot 41 percent from the field and 76 percent from the free-throw line, while the Bulldogs shot 53 percent from the field and 62 percent from the charity stripe.
At the Marriott Center, junior center Jennifer Hamson had a game-best 20 points and pulled down a game-high eight boards. Steed also finished with double figures in points with 14 along with game highs in assists with nine. Hamson also recorded game highs in blocks with four. BYU finished the game shooting 41 percent from the field and 70 percent from the free-throw line.
The loss to the Bulldogs snapped the Cougars' nine-game win streak and ended the team’s unbeaten home streak. On the year, BYU finished 13-1 in the Marriott Center. In both contests Gonzaga outrebounded the Cougars 31-28 in Spokane and 36-34 in Provo.
Up Next
A win over Gonzaga would send the Cougar women to the championship game for the second straight season. That game is on Monday, March 11 at noon PST.
BYU would play the winner of Saturday's second semifinal game between San Diego and Saint Mary's.
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