PROVO, Utah – A tough day from the field was too much to overcome as Santa Clara women's basketball's fourth quarter comeback attempt came up short in a 69-64 defeat at BYU Saturday afternoon in the regular season finale.
Both teams struggled shooting the basketball with the Broncos (13-16, 6-12 WCC) posting a 33.3-percent mark and the Cougars (23-6, 15-3 WCC) shooting just 35.5-percent. Santa Clara helped make up the difference by knocking down a season-high tying 14 3-pointers but BYU connected on 19 free throws.
"Both teams were guarding and it pretty much came down to them getting the foul line more than us," Santa Clara head coach Bill Carr said. "The 3-point shot was more of a necessity for us today because Sara Hamson was so dominant around the rim that it forced us to take our game a little further out."
Despite trailing by as many as 21 in the second half and by 17 after three quarters, Santa Clara was able to get as close as three in the final minute of action when Tia Hay made it 67-64 with two seconds remaining. BYU closed out the game at the free throw line on the other end.
"It's nice to see us have the resiliency and fight to make a run at it there at the end," Carr said. "We didn't start great in the second half and dug big hole that we tried to fight out of."
The Broncos started the comeback with a 13-3 run in the fourth quarter to get within 63-58. Hay, Lexie Pritchard, and Charise Holloway all connected from downtown with Holloway's making it 63-58 with 1:45 to go.
"It's nice to see us have the resiliency and fight to make a run at it there at the end," Carr said. "We didn't start great in the second half and dug big hole that we tried to fight out of."
Hay finished with a team-high 18 points while adding five assists. Holloway scored all nine of her points in the fourth quarter and Lauren Yearwood grabbed a team-leading eight rebounds.
After scoring the final four point of the first half, the Cougars scored the first 14 of the third quarter to make it an 18-0 run that saw a one-point lead turn into a 46-27 advantage. Jennifer Hamson led the way with 12 of her 18 points during the run.
Hamson was 10-for-10 from the free throw line while adding nine blocks and seven rebounds. Paisley Johnson scored 17 with nine rebounds and Shaylee Gonzales had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds while also adding seven assists.
Ashlyn Herlihy helped get the Bronco offense going in the third with six in a row, including a 3-pointer that broke the scoring drought. She finished the day with 13 points.
An 11-0 run for Santa Clara that spanned the end of the first quarter and start of the second gave the Broncos a two-point lead and Hay's 3-pointer made it 25-22 with 4:43 left in the second before six in a row for the Cougars would give them the lead for good.
NOTES
- Santa Clara is now 2-18 all-time against BYU.
- Lauren Yearwood is still at 72 blocks on the year, good for second on the Santa Clara single-season list and No. 8 on the career list. She is two blocks away from setting the single season Bronco record.
- The Broncos used the same starting lineup (Hay, Wolph, Jimenez, Herlihy, Yearwood) for the 11th consecutive game.
- Santa Clara was without Joeseta Fatuesi because of injury for the third straight game.
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