PROVO, Utah – In the first road WCC game of the year, Santa Clara women's basketball fell to BYU by a final of 84-55. The loss puts the Broncos at 5-7 overall and 0-3 in WCC play while the Cougars are now 10-4 and 2-1 in conference action.
Santa Clara shot 26.0% (20-77) from the field and 37.5% (6-16) from three. The Broncos had 41 rebounds, 12 assists, nine turnovers, three blocks, and six steals. Raquel Avila led the offense with 11 points on 5-10 shooting with three rebounds, three assists, and three steals. Emily Wolph added 11 points with three threes while Marie Bertholdt scored 10 points with six rebounds.
BYU shot 54.5% (30-55) from the field and 53.3% (8-15) from three. The Cougars had 50 rebounds, 23 assists, 16 turnovers, four blocks, and two steals. Lexi Eaton led the offense with 22 points, six rebounds, and four assists. Xojian Harry scored 12 points on 5-6 shooting while Morgan Bailey grabbed 14 rebounds.
The Cougars started the game on a 6-0 run behind six points from Eaton in the first 42 seconds of the game. A layup by Bertholdt got the Broncos on the board at the 18:34 mark and matched Eaton with six straight points to tie the game at 17:01.
After BYU took a two-point lead, Avila hit a three and Wolph followed with a layup to give Santa Clara a three-point lead. After trading buckets, BYU went on a 13-0 run over 5:26 to get the lead to double-digits. A jumper by Taylor Berry made the score 23-15 with 7:24 remaining in the opening half.
Santa Clara was able to get within six but the Cougars answered with a 12-0 run over 2:13. Eaton hit a pair of threes to lead the way for BYU. Two from the free throw line by Bertholdt at 3:18 ended the run and made the score 35-19.
Avila had two buckets in the final 47 seconds of the first half to send the teams to the locker room with the score 40-25 BYU.
Santa Clara shot 23.8% (10-42) from the field and 25.0% (1-4) from three in the first half. The Broncos had 26 rebounds, five assists, six turnovers, one block, and three steals. Bertholdt led the offense with 10 points on 4-9 shooting and had five rebounds. Avila scored seven with two assists while Taylor Berry had six rebounds.
BYU shot 50.0% (15-30) from the field and 55.6% (5-9) from three in the first half. The Cougars had 24 rebounds, 11 assists, eight turnovers, three blocks, and two steals. Eaton led the offense with 17 pints on 6-11 shooting. Bailey grabbed 10 boards and had six assists to go with four points.
The Cougars scored the first four of the second half but the Broncos came back with four of their own to keep the deficit at 15. Santa Clara got the score to 53-39 but BYU came back with a 6-0 run to get the lead to 20 points for the first time. Wolph's three with 10 and a half minutes remaining in the half ended the run and made the score 59-42.
A three by Sidney Rielly made it a 15-point game again but BYU again answered with a run. The Cougars scored 11 straight, including threes from Harry, Eaton, and Alohi Robins-Hardy. Vanessa Leo's jumper at 5:43 ended the run and made the score 71-47.
With just under three minutes remaining, Kristine Fuller made a jumper to put BYU up a game-high 31-points. Wolph and Brooke Gallaway hit threes for Santa Clara to make the score 81-55 but it was too little as the Cougars held on for the win.