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Provo • The night was made for hoisting trophies and wearing celebratory T-shirts as the BYU Cougars won the regular season West Coast Conference title on Thursday night.

The Cougars beat San Diego, the only team left on the WCC docket with any chance of catching them, by a 68-60 count. And it was senior Lexi Rydalch, the all-time leading scorer in conference history, who displayed all of her talents in amassing 33 points.

"What a great career. [Rydalch has] won a lot of big games and you can't replace that no matter what," said BYU coach Jeff Judkins.

Rydalch's biggest play was of the four-point variety in the third quarter, when the BYU senior was fouled on a made 3-pointer with the game tied at 39. She then made the ensuing free throw and the Cougars led the rest of the way.

"That was pretty sweet," Rydalch said. "They're always hounding me on my shots and are in my face. It's nice to finally catch a break and get a call."

Down the stretch, Rydalch blew by a defender with four minutes left for a bucket and a 60-52 lead. With 1:40 left, she banked a 14-foot jumper to top the 30-point mark.

Rydalch and 5-foot-5 guard Kyle Maeda are the only seniors on the Cougars roster. But both start for BYU and Judkins sang the praises of both after the team was given the WCC trophy.

"She's a force out there with her leadership," said the BYU coach of Maeda. "She gets in people's faces. I never thought she would do that when she was a freshman."

"Winning a regular season championship requires being good the whole season," Maeda said. "Last year, we won in the tournament but we had some lapses in the [regular] season. It's just nice to win a regular season conference championship, it shows our hard work and how much we've improved since the first game."

BYU (23-4, 15-1) also got 13 points and 12 rebounds from junior Kalani Purcell. San Diego (21-6, 11-5), the only team to hand the Cougars a conference loss, had 12 points each from Maya Hood, Malina Hood and Katherine Hamilton.

BYU has won 15 games in a row since a Dec. 23 loss at San Diego, 78-65.

"They've surprised everybody, even me, the way they've come together, the way they trust each other," Judkins said. "They stuck together when things were tough early. We got pounded pretty good by San Diego, but I remember walking out of there telling my team, 'Hey, we're gonna win this conference.'"

Rydalch also remembered that moment.

"After that loss, we knew we were better," Rydalch said. "That's the kind of confidence Juddy was trying to instill in us — that we're a great team."