BYU women’s basketball team gets back to WCC title game, routing San Francisco in semifinals

No. 3 San Francisco had something to prove. The Dons didn’t like that they were picked to finish last in the West Coast Conference and were looking to challenge top-seeded Gonzaga in the WCC Tournament championship game — but No. 3 BYU had too much to lose.

The Cougars knew they to overcome the challenge of USF in Monday’s semifinal to keep their dreams of returning to the NCAA Tournament alive, and did just that with a complete 85-55 rout of the Dons in Las Vegas.

Even after Monday’s win, BYU senior Paisley Harding is not convinced the Cougars have a guaranteed ticket to the NCAA Tournament — making Tuesday’s championship game against Gonzaga that much more important.

“The real, solid chance of us going is winning [Tuesday]” Harding said. “We’re all focused in on doing that. It was such a great opportunity and experience for me my sophomore year — two years ago — and I want to go again because what’s better than going to a dance? I love dancing and I want to go dance over there, too.”

The Dons ended their 2020-21 season with a 15-10 overall record and ended the regular season having won nine of their last 10 games.

“Tremendous credit to BYU today; they came and were certainly the better team today,” San Francisco coach Molly Goodenbour said. “They played like a team that’s got tournament experience. They played like a team that expected to be here from the beginning of the season and had high aspirations for their program.”

The same San Francisco team that the Cougars beat on Monday was the one to put BYU in jeopardy of being left out of the NCAA Tournament when the Dons beat the Cougars in the regular season finale nine days ago.

Because the sting of that defeat was so recent, the Cougars were excited to face the Dons again, but knew they had to do better.

San Francisco once again started hot, thanks in large part to its three-point shooting — but just like a team can win by the three, it can die by the three. And the Dons soon found themselves struggling offensively.

In the first half, San Francisco made just one two-point field goal.

The Cougars put up their best defensive performance in the second quarter, when they outscored San Francisco 19-3 in to go into halftime with a 34-22 lead.

BYU coach Jeff Judkins knew he was going to have to change up his team’s defense to prevent more trouble against the Dons, so the long-time coach changed schemes and went to a box-and-one in the second half.

“It’s our defense, really, that won us that game tonight,” “Harding said. “I’m so proud of us, we did really good. We came in and we adjusted a lot from this last time we played them and we ended up coming up on top with that.”

What helped the Cougars offensively was the fact that they have so many good shooters.

The Dons opted to focus their defense on Shaylee Gonzales and Lauren Gustin early, leaving Harding open to have a big game. Harding led the Cougars with a game-high 23 points on 9 of 17 shooting from the field, and added seven rebounds, four steals and two assists.

By the end of the game, both Gonzales and Gustin were able to put up 10 points each, with Gustin posting a double-double with 10 rebounds as well.

The Cougars will look to keep the momentum going into the championship game against Gonzaga, a team they split the regular-season series with.

“This is going to be a battle,” Judkins said. “Both teams are very well known to each other. They have size, we have size. They have toughness, we have toughness. They have Jill [Townsend], we have Paisley. ... Whatever team, I think, makes the fewest mistakes will probably win tomorrow.”