WCC Basketball Tournament Central | BYU Game Notes

WATCH | JR Payne Previews Semifinal

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Heading to the West Coast Conference tournament semifinals for the first time since 2010, Santa Clara women's basketball faces top-seeded BYU Monday at noon in Las Vegas.

The Broncos took down Gonzaga 59-58 in the quarterfinals for their 23rd win.

This is the first year Santa Clara has taken down Gonzaga twice in the same season since 2002-03.

The 23 wins are the most since 1997-98 when the Broncos also won 23 and won both the WCC regular season and WCC tournament titles. They also made the first round of the NCAA tournament.

NO. 4 SANTA CLARA (23-7, 13-5 WCC) vs. No. 1 BYU (25-5, 16-2 WCC)

Monday, March 7, 2016 • Orleans Arena (9,500) • Noon PST

TV: BYUtv

Live Stream: TheW.tv

Live Stats: www.StatBroadcast.com

Tickets: Click here to purchase tickets.

Santa Clara is outscoring opponents 65.8-57.4 and outrebounding teams 40.6-33.2. The Broncos are tops in the WCC in scoring defense a 19th nationally in offensive rebounds per game.

They are third in the country in steals (386) and steals per game (12.9) and place seventh in turnovers forced per game (22.0).

The Broncos are also sixth in the country in free throws made with 466 and sixth in attempts with 668.

Lori Parkinson leads Santa Clara in scoring with 11.3 ppg and is second with 6.4 rpg. She is sixth in the conference with 2.2 spg and fourth with 1.0 bpg.

Marie Bertholdt is second on the team with 11.1 ppg and leads the Broncos with 6.5 rpg. She is also tops on the roster with 120 free throws made and 151 attempted.

Savanna Hanson leads Santa Clara with 2.7 apg and 24 3-pointers made. She is scoring 7.9 ppg and is fourth in the WCC with 2.3 spg.

Taylor Berry is third in the conference with 2.3 spg while adding 7.6 ppg and 4.2 rpg.

Santa Clara is 1-12 all-time vs. BYU with the first meeting coming in 1998-99. The Cougars took both meetings during the regular season.

BYU is outscoring opponents 69.2-61.1 and outrebounding teams 38.0-35.6. The Cougars are shooting 42.3 percent from the field and 36.7 percent from beyond the arc.

Lexi Rydalch, the WCC Player of the Year, leads the conference with 24.3 ppg and is adding 5.9 rpg. She has hit 76 3-pointers and is adding 2.8 apg and 1.6 spg.

Kalani Purcell is tops in the WCC with 12.5rpg and is scoring 11.8 ppg. She also leads BYU with 4.9 apg.

Makenzi Pulsipher is scoring 12.5 ppg to go with a team-high 65 steals.

WCC Tournament Schedule
Thursday, March 3
No. 9 Pepperdine def. No. 8 Pacific 81-72
No. 7 Loyola Marymount def. No. 10 Portland 85-72
No. 6 San Francisco def. No. 3 San Diego 84-80
No. 4 Santa Clara def. No. 5 Gonzaga 59-58

Friday, March 4
No. 1 BYU def. No. 9 Pepperdine 72-59
No. 2 Saint Mary's def. No. 7 LMU 85-71

Monday, March 7
No. 1 BYU vs. No. 4 Santa Clara, Noon (BYUtv, TheW.tv)
No. 2 Saint Mary's vs. No. 6 San Francisco, 2 p.m. (BYUtv, TheW.tv)

Tuesday, March 8
Championship Game, 1 p.m. (ESPNU, WatchESPN)
All times Pacific