BYU drops 60-58 game at San Francisco on buzzer-beater

SAN FRANCISCO — Despite a season-high 25 points from Brenna Chase Drollinger, BYU women’s basketball fell 60-58 to San Francisco on a buzzer-beating put-back layup Saturday afternoon at War Memorial Gym.

BYU at San Francisco Final Box Score

"We didn't come ready to play," BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "Brenna kept us in the game in the first half. I thought we did a better job in the second half on defense, but we didn't make enough plays when we needed to to get the win."

Drollinger shot 10 of 21 on the game, including five of nine from 3-point range to reach 25 points while also adding four rebounds, three assists, two blocks and one steal. Paisley Johnson stuffed the stat sheet with 13 points, six assists, five rebounds, five steals and two blocks. Jasmine Moody added nine points and eight rebounds while Sara Hamson contributed seven rebounds, five blocks and three points.

With the Cougars (16-10, 11-5) trailing 58-56 with 49 seconds left in the game, Drollinger made a driving layup through traffic to tie the game up at 58. Johnson took a charge on the ensuing defensive possession, but a BYU back-court violation gave San Francisco (10-18, 3-13) back the ball with 20 seconds left.

After a block by Hamson, the Cougars forced a jump-ball with 1.8 seconds remaining, with the possession arrow going the Dons’ way. On San Francisco’s ensuing inbounds play, the Dons air-balled their initial shot attempt, but San Francisco’s Abby Rathbun caught the ball mid-air and laid it in as time expired to give the Dons the 60-58 win.

Drollinger opened the game with back-to-back triples to bring the score to 7-6 for San Francisco. Johnson then drained a step-back jumper and Drollinger hit another trey to give the Cougars a 14-12 advantage with three minutes left in the first. Consecutive baskets down low by Moody and Shalae Salmon closed out the quarter and put BYU up 18-14.

After a steal by Drollinger led to a fast-break layup, Drollinger made a pullup jumper to extend the Cougars’ lead to 22-14 two minutes into the second quarter. The Dons responded, however, with a 16-2 run to take a 30-24 advantage. Drollinger ended a four-minute scoring drought for BYU with back-to-back 3-pointers to tie the game at 30. San Francisco made one final jumper to take a 32-30 lead into the locker room.

A driving layup followed by a Johnson triple from the right wing tied the game at 35 three minutes into the third quarter. Albiero then drained a trey from the right wing and Johnson hit a jumper off the glass to put the Cougars up 40-38. The Dons ended the quarter on a 7-2 run to go up 45-42.

Moody made a layup to open the fourth quarter and Johnson hit a 3-pointer from the left wing to bring BYU within two, 49-47. San Francisco then scored five unanswered points to go up 54-47 with six minutes left. Johnson scored a driving layup and split a pair of free throws to bring the Cougars within four, 54-50, with 4:37 remaining in the contest.

Hamson scored a layup and Moody made a put-back lay-in to tie the game at 54 with just under three minutes left. After the Dons split a pair of free throws, Drollinger made a driving layup to put BYU up one, 56-55. San Francisco then banked in a 3-pointer from the top of the key to put the Dons back on top, 58-56, with 1:15 remaining.

The Cougars return home next week to host Pepperdine on Thursday, Feb. 27, at 7 p.m. MST. The game will be broadcast live on BYUtv and on the BYUtv App. Tickets are available on byutickets.com.

Team Notes

• With the two-point loss at San Francisco, the Cougars are now 16-10, 11-5 on the season.
• BYU went into halftime leading the way in assists with 10 to San Francisco’s six. The Cougars finished the game with 15 assists to the Dons' 11.
• For the seventh time on the year, BYU finished the game with two players scoring in double figures. Brenna Drollinger (25), Paisley Johnson (13).
• The Cougars shot 40.4 percent from the field, 42.1 percent from 3-point range and 44.4 percent from the free-throw line.

Player Notes

• Brenna Drollinger led all scorers through the first 20 minutes of play with 19 points for her 14th game with double-digit points. She also had two rebounds, one assist and one steal. For the game, Drollinger finished with 25 points on 10 of 21 shooting from the field. She also had four rebounds, three assists, two blocks and one steal.
• Paisley Johnson had first-half highs in assists with four and in steals with two along with two points. She ended the game with a total of 13 points for her 19th contest with double figures in points and the third straight.
• Sara Hamson finished the contest with a game-best five blocks along with three points and seven rebounds.
• Jasmine Moody scored four points in the first half and finished the game with nine points along with a team-best eight rebounds.