"I'm extremely proud of our team and the way we played the game," said Santa Clara head coach JR Payne. "We're down in numbers because of some injuries but everyone that played left their hearts out there. When it came down to playing such a great team, our lack of depth hurt us but I'm proud of our intensity."
Santa Clara stayed within striking distance for most of the game but BYU would go on a 9-0 run early in the fourth to all but put the game away. A 3-pointer by Makenzi Pulsipher with 5:09 on the clock was the dagger.
The Cougars absolutely dominated the fourth quarter by outscoring the Broncos 34-20.
Santa Clara (23-8, 13-5 WCC) struggled from the field, shooting 36.1 percent which was buoyed by
going 7 of 12 in the fourth quarter. The Broncos stayed in the game thanks to a 34-16 advantage in points in the paint.
"Whenever you're not making shots it's frustrating," said junior forward Lori Parkinson. "We worked on powering up and going to the hoop, which we did better in the second half. The coaching staff kept reiterating that if we went up strong we would get the calls. We kept going hard and rebounding."
Parkinson led Santa Clara with 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds as well.
Marie Bertholdt had a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
BYU (26-5, 16-2 WCC) dominated on the defensive glass, holding a 28-17 advantage. The Cougars were also 12 of 24 from beyond the arc.
WCC Player of the Year Lexi Rydalch led all scorers with 25 points and added eight rebounds.
Kylie Maeda was 4 of 6 from beyond the arc for 16 points and Pulsipher scored 17 behind three 3-pointers.
Kalani Purcell grabbed a game-high 17 rebounds.
"If you go down their roster, they have about eight kids that can shoot the lights out," said Payne. "It's also challenging to also have Purcell on the glass. They're very well coached and have a very experienced backcourt. If we did one thing, they did something else. They were effective doing that."
The Broncos started the second half with a flurry and got within 32-31 at the 9:41 mark. Santa Clara used its aggressive defense and full court press to spark the run.
"Any time we get up and press it gives us a jolt of energy," said Bertholdt. "We're aggressive and that fuels the energy. We were pretty effective off that for a while and it led to a couple easy buckets."
Santa Clara now waits on its postseason fate. The NCAA field will be announced March 14 at 4 p.m. PST with the WNIT field announced the same day before midnight.
"I certainly hope we're headed to the postseason," said Payne. "We played a tough nonconference schedule and fared very well and this conference is very strong. We did pretty well in league so we're expecting and hoping to continue playing."
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