Gustin powers BYU to 76-67 win on the road at Boise State

BOISE, Idaho – BYU women's basketball forward Lauren Gustin scored 24 points and added 17 rebounds to lead the Cougars to a 76-67 win over Boise State at ExtraMile Arena on Thursday night.

"It was a great team win on the road," BYU head coach Amber Whiting said. "I thought that was one of the most complete games we have put together. [Boise State] got shots and we responded. They played really well together."

In addition to Gustin’s eighth double-double in eight games, Arielle Mackey-Williams added 17 points, including 12 in the second half. Nani Falatea had 14 points and Rose Bubakar chipped in 12 points. Emma Calvert had nine points including two makes from downtown.

Gustin played all 40 minutes and dominated in the paint, scoring 16 of her 24 down low, leading BYU’s 42-20 edge in the category.

"Lauren is playing consistent night in and night out right now," Whiting said. "She brings everything."

The Cougars shot 52.8 percent from the field and never trailed after the first quarter. BYU (3-5) held the Broncos (3-5) without a field goal for nearly four minutes at the end of the game to seal the victory.

Box Score

First half
After Boise State opened the game with back-to-back threes, Calvert gave BYU its first lead with a triple from the top of the key at 9-8 with just over five minutes left in the quarter.

Down 18-17, Falatea gave BYU a deep 3-pointer at the buzzer to put the Cougars in front 20-18. The first quarter featured nine lead changes.

Both teams ratcheted up the defense in the second quarter over the next five minutes.

BYU pushed its lead to five points after Bubakar hit a trey for a 31-26 edge with 3:03 until halftime.  Boise State closed the gap to 34-32 at the break with a made three right before the half.

Gustin already had a double-double at halftime with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Second half
Both teams matched shot for shot starting the second half, with Bubakar hitting a short jumper from inside the key to match the Cougars largest lead of the game at 42-36 with five minutes to go in the third quarter.

Mackey-Williams shifted her way through two defenders to get a layup to go and made the foul shot after and Falatea glided through the defense for another layup a few possessions later to make it 49-41 with two minutes left in the third frame.

Gustin made two freebies to push BYU’s lead to double digits at 53-43 but Boise State benefited from the charity stripe too in the last minute of the quarter, cutting the lead down to 53-47.

Boise State made it a one-possession game with five points in a row but Mackey-Williams hit from distance to give BYU some breathing room at 61-55 with eight minutes left in the game.

Every time BYU pulled away the Broncos fought back with a shot on the other end, leading 65-56 a made triple reduced the lead yet again. Gustin made sure to get three more with an old-fashioned 3-point play for a 68-59 lead at the six-minute mark.

Falatea got a steal and a fast-break layup to go up 74-63 with 1:43 to go, taking the wind out of the Bronco sails and BYU would go on to win 76-67.

The Cougars are on the road again with a matchup against Utah State in Logan on Tuesday, Dec. 6 at 11 a.m. MT. The game will be streamed on the Mountain West Network.