Gustin earns third WCC Player of the Week honor

SAN MATEO, Calif. — BYU forward Lauren Gustin was named the West Coast Conference Co-Player of the Week on Monday, her third weekly honor this year. Gustin shares the award this week with San Francisco's Ioanna Krimili. 

With her first rebound against San Francisco on Saturday, the WCC Player of the Year candidate set the single-season West Coast Conference record for total rebounds with 428, passing the 427 set by Danielle Mauldin of Saint Mary's in 2014. Gustin finished the game with 13 rebounds and is currently at 440 with two games to play in the regular season. 

Gustin, the nation’s leading rebounder at 16.3 boards per contest on the year, didn’t leave the court in either of the Cougars’ contests last week while averaging 19.5 points, 14.5 rebounds, three assists and one steal per game. Against Santa Clara, Gustin led BYU to a come-from-behind win with 30 points to tie a career high and pulled down 16 rebounds. She also went over 1,000 career points with the effort. 

In 27 games, the 2021 AP All-America honorable mention has notched three 20-point and 20-rebound performances and ranks second in the country with 24 double-doubles. Gustin has posted 20 or more points 10 times this season and hit 30 twice. She has logged double-digit rebounds in all 27 games and pulled down 20 or more in seven games. 

The 6-foot-1 junior, is one of 15 players named to the Naismith Women’s Defensive Player of the Year midseason watch list. The Salem, Utah native, was also named a top-10 candidate for the Katrina McClain Award by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame which honors the nation’s best power forward.

Gustin and the Cougars return to the Marriott Center on Thursday, Feb. 23 to take on the second-place Portland Pilots at 7 p.m. MST.