PROVO, Utah – Despite being without four-year starting forward Marie Bertholdt for the second straight game with an Achilles' injury, Santa Clara women's basketball put up a valiant effort, including a big second half comeback, but fell at BYU 72-66 in double overtime on Thursday night in Provo.
After a wild end to regulation and the first overtime, BYU (13-7, 7-2 WCC) was in complete control of the second extra period, outscoring Santa Clara 7-1. The Cougars scored the first seven points of the period, getting four from leading scorer Cassie Broadhead.
Broadhead led all scorers with 28 points on 11 of 20 shooting from the field. She added seven assists and five rebounds. Kalani Purcell just missed a triple-double with 10 points, 17 rebounds, and nine assists. Makenzie Pulsipher added 15 points but was just 5 of 20 shooting from the field.
The Broncos (9-11, 4-5 WCC) caught fire from behind the arc in the final five minutes of regulation and hit four consecutive from downtown. Emily Wolph hit two and Morgan McGwire and Lori Parkinson each added one to help Santa Clara finish regulation on a 19-4 run that sent the game to overtime.
Wolph scored a team-high 22 points and was 9 of 10 from the free throw line. Parkinson had her fourth double-double of season with 13 points and 11 rebounds while Taylor Berry grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds and scored nine. Despite battling the flu all week, starter Morgan McGwire came off the bench to score 10 points and add nine rebounds in 34 minutes.
With seven seconds to go in the first overtime, Wolph knocked down a pair of free throws to put Santa Clara up 65-62. On the ensuing possession, Broadhead drilled a 3-pointer as time expired to send the game into a second extra period.
Santa Clara went cold midway through the second quarter and didn't hit a field goal for the final 5:11 of the first half. BYU took advantage and ended the period on a 7-0 run while hitting four of five shots to take a 31-24 lead. The Broncos turned the ball over five times during the run and missed five straight field goals.
Broadhead scored eight points in a 10-0 run for BYU over two and a half minutes in the third quarter. After a layup by Shalae Salmon at the 8:22 mark, Broadhead scored the next eight, ending with a 3-pointer at 5:45 to put the Cougars on top 41-26.
The Broncos close-out a four-game road trip Saturday at 1 p.m. at Saint Mary's. In addition to being on TheW.tv, the game will on broadcast on Twitter Live via the WCC.
Notes: Despite missing Bertholdt on the interior, the Broncos still grabbed a season-high 56 rebounds. They also shot a season-high 35 3-pointers. Berry's 16 rebounds were the most by a Bronco this season and the most since McGwire had the same number against Hope International on Dec. 6, 2015.
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