Cougars screech past Broncos in close conference win

Box Score

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — In a hard fought battle at the Leavey Event Center, BYU topped Santa Clara 68-63 in its fourth conference game of the season, Thursday.

“The win came down to execution and pivotal stops in the final few minutes of the game,” BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. “We missed some foul shots we usually make, but we were able to convert in other ways. It was a great team win.”

BYU (11-4, 3-1) finished the game shooting 33.9 percent from the field to Santa Clara’s (12-4, 3-2) 33.8. The Cougars outrebounded the Broncos 44 to 43, and both teams dished out 13 assists apiece. The Cougars finished the contest with 14 turnovers to the Broncos 15. BYU is now 11-1 all-time against Santa Clara.

Lexi Eaton Rydalch finished the game with 27 points, five rebounds and three assists. Rydalch now has scored 20 or more points in 11 of BYU’s 15 games this year. Kalani Purcell recorded a new career-high 17 points to go along with 12 rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks. Purcell shot 9 for 12 from the free throw line. Makenzi Morrison Pulsipher added seven points, five rebounds and three steals.

With less than three minutes to play in the contest, Rydalch converted a pair of free throws to give the Cougars the 62-58 advantage over the Broncos. At the 1:14 mark, Pulsipher gathered a loose ball in Santa Clara’s back court and dribbled the ball towards BYU’s basket to convert the fast break layup, but was fouled hard by Marie Bertholdt. Pulsipher was unable to shoot the free throws, instead Cassie Broadhead came in to shoot the pair for the injured Pulsipher. Broadhead’s made free throws gave the Cougars the 64-58 lead.

On the next possession, Kyla Martin was fouled by Amanda Wayment sending her to the free throw line where she went 0 for 2. Kylie Maeda was fouled on the inbounds pass from Purcell and was then sent to the line with 54 seconds to go. Maeda made both free throws to put BYU up eight, 66-58.

The Broncos then cut the Cougar lead to five, 66-61. Santa Clara fouled Rydalch with 19 seconds to go, but she missed the pair of free throws. The Broncos pushed the ball up court and Martin’s last desperation shot was blocked by Purcell with 11 seconds to go and was brought down by Rydalch. She sank the next two free throws to ice the game.

After four quick total fouls called within the first two minutes of the first period, BYU led Santa Clara 6-3, with three of its six points coming from the charity stripe. Rydalch extended the Cougar’s lead to five, 10-5, hitting an 18-foot jump shot as she capitalized on the Broncos 2-3 zone. Teams then traded baskets through the middle part of the first period with Santa Clara cutting the lead to one, 16-15, at the 2:15 mark.

The Broncos went into the second 10 minutes of action with the 20-16 lead, while Rydalch led BYU with a team-high five points. Santa Clara outrebounded BYU 12 to 6 through the first 10 minutes of play.

BYU started the second period strong on a 5-0 lead to put the Cougars up 21-20. The Broncos then regained the lead, 25-21, on a pair of free throws and a 3-point field goal by Marie Bertholdt. After Santa Clara extended its lead to seven, Pulsipher cut the Bronco lead to five, 28-23 on a long jumper from the corner. With 4:23 to go in the half, Purcell beat her defender to the basket for the score, cutting the deficit to three, 28-25.

With 1:49 to go in the second period, Kristine Fuller Nielson hit her two points of the game to make the score 35-32. Santa Clara then increased its lead to finish the first half going into halftime up 39-32.

The Cougars shot 50.0 percent in the first half to the Broncos 43.2 percent, while BYU turned the ball over nine times and Santa Clara gave the ball away four times.

Going into the half, Purcell led BYU with a team-high nine points and four rebounds. Rydalch added seven points and three assists, while Pulsipher chipped in four points to go along with four first half rebounds.

Rydalch gave BYU its first two points of the second half as she sank a pair of free throws at the 9:24 mark. Rydalch then cut the Santa Clara deficit to two, 39-37, hitting her second 3-point field goal of the game on the next possession. Purcell continued to keep the Cougar run alive by converting two free throws to tie the score at 39-39.

With 5:02 to go in the third period, BYU put Santa Clara in the bonus after committing five second half fouls. The Broncos took the lead again, 45-39. Minutes later, Purcell gathered an offensive rebound and got fouled. She made one of two free throws to cut the lead to two, 47-45. As the third period buzzer sounded, Rydalch hit a deep three to make the score 49-48 going into the fourth period.

BYU opened the quarter with another 3-point field goal by Rydalch to give the Cougars the 51-50 lead. With 6:38 to go, Kyla Martin converted a 3-point play for the Broncos to tie the game at 52-all.

At the 4:25 Santa Clara took the lead 55-54 on a layup by Lori Parkinson. Rydalch then converted her fifth 3-point field goal of the game to give the Cougars the 58-57 advantage. BYU finished the contest on a 10–5 run.

BYU women’s basketball will continue its Bay Area road trip to take on the University of San Francisco, Saturday. Teams will tip off at 3 p.m. MST. The game will be carried live on BYU Radio on Sirius XM 143 and on the internet. Links to the audio stream,  live stats and streamed video for the game can be found on the BYU women’s schedule page.

Postgame Notes

Team

Despite being down by seven, 39-32 at halftime, BYU shot 50 percent from the field compared with 43 percent for Santa Clara. For the game, the Cougars shot 33.9 percent from the field and the Broncos shot 33.8 percent from the field.

After two periods, the Broncos had the advantage in assists, 10 to eight and in rebounds with 18 to the Cougars 16. BYU finished the game with the advantage in rebounds, 44 to 43. Both teams concluded the contest tied in assists with 13 each.

The 68-63 win over Santa Clara snapped the Broncos six-game home win streak.

For the fourth time this season, two players finished the game scoring in double digits. Rydalch (27), Purcell (17).

Player

Kalani Purcell had nine points and four rebounds to lead the Cougars at the break. Purcell totaled 17 points and a game-high 12 boards for the game for her sixth double-double of the year.  The points are new BYU career highs. Purcell also had a team-best two blocks and tied for team bests in steals with three. She also played all 40 minutes for the third time this year.

Lexi Eaton Rydalch had seven points and three assists in the first half of action. Rydalch finished the contest with a game-high 27 points for her 11th 20-plus outing in points and seventh straight. She also had five rebounds, made five treys and dished out three assists.

Makenzi Morrison Pulsipher tied for team bests in rebounds with four in the first half, had four points and had the only steal of the first two periods of action for BYU. Pulsipher ended the game with seven points, grabbed five boards and tied for team bests in steals with three.

Kylie Maeda led the team in assists with five, which tied for game bests in that category.