Rydalch, Purcell help Cougars down Waves to advance to WCC semifinals

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LAS VEGAS — Double-doubles from Lexi Eaton Rydalch and Kalani Purcell helped BYU women’s basketball defeat Pepperdine, 72-59, in the second round of the West Coast Conference tournament, Friday.

"These young ladies have been looking forward to the tournament," BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "We've learned to play together and that's good. I thought Kalani had a great second half and she's a tough matchup of teams. I am really happy to see the team bounce back after the loss to Gonzaga."

Rydalch finished the game with a game-high 28 points and 12 rebounds to record her fifth double-double of the season. She also added a career-high five steals.

Purcell also recorded a double-double, her 17th of the year. She finished the contest with a career-high 19 points and 11 rebounds. She also recorded a game-high eight assists and one steal.

Makenzi Morrison Pulsipher and Amanda Wayment added eight points each for the Cougars. Pulsipher pulled down five rebounds and also had two assists, while Wayment had three rebounds.

Pepperdine (7-24) struck first on a layup by Yasmine Robinson-Bacote. On the next possession, Rydalch hit a deep 3-pointer in transition to give the Cougars (25-5) the early 3-2 lead.

At the 6:46 mark, Pulsipher drove to the hoop and got fouled. She hit the pair of free throws to extend BYU’s lead to three, 5-2.

The Waves then went on a 6-0 run to retake the lead, 8-5. On the next play, Kylie Maeda answered back with a 3-point field goal to tie the game at 8-all. With 4:16 to go in the first, Maeda found Purcell wide open on the block to score the layup to take the 10-8 lead. Teams went into the second period tied at 14.

Cassie Broadhead opened the period sinking a pair of free throws to give BYU the 16-14 advantage. At the 8:01 mark, Rydalch also went 2 of 2 from the charity stripe. The Cougars shot 9 of 10 from the line in the first half.

BYU continued its 8-0 run as Purcell banked in a jumper to take the 22-14 lead. The Cougars extended their lead to 12, 26-14, as Rydalch and Pulsipher both made baskets.

Paige Fecske scored the first point of the second period for the Waves at the free throw line with 2:39 to go in the half. Fecske’s free throw made the score 26-15. Rydalch extended the lead to 13, 30-17, with a minute to go, converting her second 3-pointer of the contest. Rydalch led all scorers with 14 at the break.

Both teams shot 31.0 percent from the field in the first half. BYU outrebounded Pepperdine 22 to 15, while both teams dished out eight assists in the first 20 minutes of action.

The Waves opened the second half with a 3-pointer by Allie Green to cut the BYU lead to seven, 30-23. On the next play, Rydalch hit her third 3-point field goal of the contest to regain the 10-point Cougar lead, 33-23.

Rydalch scored four more straight points to give BYU the 37-26 advantage. Pepperdine then pushed the ball up the court into the hands of Devin Stanback to convert the 3-point play.

Fecske cut the Cougar lead to eight, 39-31, on a layup at the 6:18 mark. Pulsipher answered the Pepperdine score with a trey, her first of the game, to take the 43-31 lead. Amanda Wayment then scored four quick points to extend the Cougar lead to 16, 49-33, forcing a Pepperdine timeout.

On the next possession, Pulsipher found Purcell on the baseline to continue fueling BYU’s 8-0 run. The Cougars scored four more straight points to give BYU the 20-point lead, 55-35, going into the final period.

BYU began the fourth period of play scoring seven straight points to increase the lead to 27, 62-35. The Waves then cut the Cougar lead back to 20, 62-42, scoring seven straight points of their own.

At the 4:34 mark, Rydalch converted her fourth 3-pointer to give her 28 for the game. The 3-point field goal gave BYU a 24-point advantage, 70-46. Stanback made a pair of free throws with 3:13 to go to cut the BYU lead to 18 points, 70-52. Maeda ended the Pepperdine run with a long jumper to make the score, 72-56.

The Cougars finished the contest shooting 41.3 percent from the field to the Waves’ 41.7. BYU grabbed 38 rebounds to Pepperdine’s 27, and the Cougars had 13 offensive rebounds to the Waves’ three. BYU dished out 16 assists, while Pepperdine had 13.

No. 1 seed BYU will continue WCC tournament play Monday, as they will take on No. 4 Santa Clara in the semifinals. Teams are set to tip off at 12 p.m. PST. The game will be broadcast on BYUtv and TheW.tv. It will be simulcast live on BYU Radio – Sirius XM 143. Links to live stats can be found on the BYU women's basketball schedule page.

Postgame Notes

Team

With the 72-59 win over Pepperdine, No. 1 seed BYU (25-5) advances to the semifinals of this year’s WCC tournament. It’s the fifth straight time since joining the league that the women’s team has advanced to the semifinals. They won the title in 2012 and in 2015.

In the second period, the Cougars went on a 12-0 run to take a 26-14 advantage. Pepperdine only scored six points in that period. At the break, BYU had a 10-point, 30-20 advantage. The Cougars had their largest lead over the Waves with 8:29 left in the fourth period by 27, 62-35.

BYU ended the first half with a 22-15 edge in the rebound category. The Cougars concluded the game with 38 rebounds to the Waves 27.

In the assists category, BYU finished the contest with three more assists than Pepperdine, 16 to 13.

BYU shot 41.3 percent from the field, 31.8 percent from behind the arc and 81.3 percent from the charity stripe in the win over the Waves.

Player

Lexi Eaton Rydalch led all scorers through the first half of play with 14 points, while grabbing five rebounds and going 4 of 4 from the free-throw line. She finished with her 29th double digit outing of the season with 28 total points, making it the 23rd time this year that she has scored 20-plus points. The points were game highs. Rydalch finished the game with her fourth double-double of the year with a game-best 12 rebounds. She also had the most steals in the contest with five, for new career highs in that category.

Kalani Purcell had the most rebounds in the first half with seven to go along with seven points and three assists. She picked up her 17th double-double of the year with a season-high 19 points and a 11 rebounds. Purcell nearly had a triple-double with a game-high eight assists.

Kylie Maeda dished out three assists in the first half, tying for team bests. She finished the game with four assists, seven points, two steals and one rebound.

Makenzi Morrison Pulsipher contribute eight points, five rebounds and two assists in the win.

Amanda Wayment came off the bench and tallied eight points and grabbed three rebounds.