Maeda's career night not enough as Cougars fall to Bulldogs in last conference game

Box Score

SPOKANE, Wash. — Despite 19 points from Kylie Maeda, BYU women’s basketball fell to Gonzaga, 73-55, in its last conference game of the season, Saturday.

“We didn’t play our basketball today,” BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. “You’ve got to give Gonzaga a lot of credit for it. We made some mistakes defensively that we haven’t made throughout the rest of the season. We need to step it up as a team. We will learn from this game, and go into the tournament with a lot of fire and confidence.”

Maeda finished her last regular season game with a career-high 19 points, three rebounds and two assists. She went 7 of 10 from the field, and 5 of 6 from behind the arc.

Kalani Purcell finished the game with a double-double, her 16th of the season. Purcell had 10 points, 13 rebounds and three assists. Lexi Eaton Rydalch tallied eight points, four rebounds and four assists in 35 minutes of play, and Makenzi Morrison Pulsipher also added nine points and two rebounds.

BYU (24-5, 16-2) shot 39.1 percent from the field for the game to Gonzaga’s (18-12, 10-8) 41.7 percent. The Bulldogs outrebounded the Cougars 37 to 31, and BYU dished out 10 assists, while Gonzaga had 13.

The first points of the game came at the 6:32 mark in the first period, on a free throw by Gonzaga’s Shaniqua Nilles. The Cougars took the 2-1 lead on the next possession as Rydalch found Purcell on the baseline for a layup. Proceeding to go on an 11-0 run, the Bulldogs took the 12-2 lead over BYU with under three minutes to go in the first.

Maeda sparked the Cougar offense, cutting the Gonzaga lead to six, 14-8, as she hit back-to-back 3-point field goals to close out the period.

Gonzaga began the second 10 minutes of action on a 5-0 run. Cassie Broadhead silenced the Bulldogs on a turn around jumper on the next possession to make the score, 19-10. Purcell brought the Cougars back within five, 19-14, as she hit a baseline jumper to give her four points for the game.

After two Gonzaga baskets, Maeda hit her third 3-pointer of the contest, cutting into the Bulldog lead. With eight seconds to go in the half, Jill Barta made a layup to give Gonzaga the 28-21 lead. Shortly before the buzzer sounded, Maeda hit another trey to cut the Bulldog lead to four, 28-24, going into halftime.

Maeda led all scorers with 14 points in the first half. She went 4 of 4 from behind the arc and 5 of 7 from the field.

The Cougars won the rebounding battle in the first half 20 to 18, and the Bulldogs dished out six assists to BYU’s five.

Purcell opened the second half with a long 18-footer to bring BYU within two, 28-26. On the next Cougar possession, Pulsipher hit her first field goal of the game to give BYU the 29-28 lead, the team’s first lead since the 5:50 mark of the first period.

Rydalch then scored four consecutive points, a fast break layup and two free throws, to give the Cougars the 33-30 lead midway through the third period. The Bulldogs retook the lead 34-33 on a jump shot by Zhane Templeton with 4:28 to go in the third period of play.

BYU retook the lead at the 3:37 mark as Micaelee Orton went 2 of 2 from the charity stripe to give the Cougars the 37-34 advantage. Teams then went back and forth trading baskets.

With 57 seconds to go, Amanda Wayment went 1 of 2 from the line to tie the score at 40-all. Maeda then made a running layup with just seconds to go in the period to give BYU the 42-40 advantage going into the fourth.

The Bulldogs started the fourth period on a 6-0 run to take the four-point lead, 46-42, with 7:47 to go. BYU then made four straight points as Wayment made a layup and Purcell then made a long jumper to cut Gonzaga’s lead to 50-48.

On the next play, Bulldog guard Emma Stach hit her second 3-point field goal of the game to extend the Gonzaga lead to five, 53-48.

Pulsipher, fouled on a three pointer, went 2 of 3 from the line to then cut the lead to three, 53-50. With under five minutes to play, Jill Barta sank a pair of free throws to push the Gonzaga lead back up to five, 55-50.

After two BYU turnovers, the Bulldogs increased the lead to seven, 57-50. With 2:03 to go, Stach extended Gonzaga’s lead to 11, 61-50. Maeda hit her fifth 3-pointer to keep the Bulldog lead at 11, 64-53. Gonzaga then finished the game on a 9-2 run.

BYU women's basketball now prepares for next week's 2016 West Coast Conference Women's Basketball Championships to be played at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Mar. 3-8. The Cougars come into the event as the defending WCC tournament champions and are this year's  No. 1 seed after winning their first outright WCC regular season crown.

Postgame Notes

Team

In the first half of action, BYU led the way in the rebound category with 20. Gonzaga had 18. For the game, the Bulldogs had the advantage, 37 to 31.

BYU shot 37.5 in the first 20 minutes of action and finished the game shooting 39.1 percent from the field and 68.4 percent at the free throw line.

For the game, the Cougars got 10 assists and three steals.

For the 10th time this season, BYU had two players score in double digits. Maeda (19) and Purcell (10).

Player

Kylie Maeda led all scorers with 14 points, 12 of which were from 3-point range through the first 20 minutes of play. The points are the most she’s scored in a half in her career. Maeda finished with a career-high 19 points to lead the Cougars. She went 5 of 6 from the 3-point line. Her five treys are a career-high.

Kalani Purcell pulled down a first-half high, 10 rebounds. She also had six points, two assists and one steal. Purcell concluded the contest with her 16th double-double of the season with a game-high 13 rebounds and 10 points.

Lexi Eaton Rydalch led the team in assists with four. She also tallied eight points and grabbed four rebounds.

Amanda Wayment came off the bench scoring five points and had a game-best two steals.