No. 2 seed BYU gears up for WCC Tournament

PROVO, Utah — BYU women’s basketball will make its 2021 West Coast Conference Tournament debut in the semifinal round on Monday, March 8, at 2 p.m. PST, as the No. 2 seed. The contest will be broadcast live on BYUtv and streamed on the WCC Network.

“We’re excited to compete in the tournament this year,” said BYU head coach Jeff Judkins. “It’ll be good having this week to rest up and prepare. We have a few things we need to work on to make sure we’re physically and mentally ready.”

The Cougars (17-4, 13-3) will play the winner of the second quarterfinal matchup, which will feature No. 3 seed San Francisco and the winner of the second-round No. 6 Pacific-No. 7 Saint Mary’s contest. A win in the semifinal round would send BYU to the championship game, which is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, March 9, at 1 p.m. PST on ESPNU.

The 2021 University Credit Union WCC Basketball Tournament will take place March 4-9 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Teams are seeded based on an adjusted conference winning percentage due to the unbalanced nature of the conference schedule due to COVID-19 interruptions. The WCC teamed with Ken Pomeroy this season to develop a model that uses a proprietary algorithm that best reflects conference games completed.

Women’s Basketball Final Adjusted Winning Percentage Standings

*San Diego will not compete in the tournament due to a COVID-19 pause. All of the following teams will move up one position.

ABOUT BYU (17-4, 13-3)

• Despite the Cougars’ 86-72 loss to San Francisco in the regular season finale, BYU has won eight of its last nine games and 11 of its last 13
• The last time the Cougars entered the WCC Tournament as the No. 2 seed was in 2019, when BYU defeated Pepperdine in the semifinal round and Gonzaga in the championship game
• Shaylee Gonzales finished the regular season as the WCC’s second-leading scorer (18.52 ppg). Gonzales also leads the team in assists (3.71 apg) and steals (2.38 spg)
• Lauren Gustin leads the WCC in rebounds per game (12.9 rpg) and ranks third nationally in the category. Gustin also ranks eighth in the country in double-doubles with 13
• Sara Hamson is the WCC’s leading shot-blocker with a 2.62 blocks-per-game average
• Following Gonzales, Paisley Johnson Harding (13.7 ppg), Gustin (11.8 ppg) and Tegan Graham (7.9 ppg) round out the Cougars’ top-four scorers
• As a team, BYU ranks 17th in the nation in assists per game (16.9 apg) and 26th in field-goal percentage defense (.362)

ABOUT SAN FRANCISCO (14-9, 10-7)

• After starting the season with a 5-8 record, the Dons won nine of their last 10 games to bolt themselves into third place in the WCC standings
• Freshman guard Ioanna Krimili is the WCC’s leading scorer with an 18.7 point-per-game average
• Along with Krimili, senior guard Lucie Hoskova (14.0 ppg) and sophomore guard Amalie Langer (10.3 ppg) are also averaging double figures in scoring
• Sophomore forward Lucija Kostic leads the team in rebounds (5.4 rpg), assists (4.4 apg) and blocks (0.8 bpg)
• As a team, San Francisco ranks first in the WCC in 3-pointers per game (7.74) and second in scoring offense (72.4 ppg) and 3-point percentage (.354)

ABOUT PACIFIC (11-10, 9-9)

• The Tigers have won five consecutive games, with their last loss coming to BYU on Feb. 11
• Senior guard Valerie Higgins (16.6 ppg) and senior forward Brooklyn McDavid (11.7 ppg) pace Pacific in scoring
• Higgins also leads the team in rebounds (7.5 rpg) and steals (3.7 spg) per contest
• The Tigers rank fourth in the WCC in scoring offense (68.8 ppg), 3-point percentage defense (.315) and fifth in field-goal percentage defense (.411)

ABOUT SAINT MARY’S (6-18, 4-14)

• The Gaels have lost eight of their last nine games, with their last win coming against LMU on Feb. 18
• Junior guard Taycee Wedin (12.2 ppg) and senior guard Madeline Holland (11.3 ppg) lead Saint Mary’s in scoring
• Senior guard Brianna Simonich is the team’s rebound (6.3 rpg), assist (2.6 apg) and steal (1.6 spg) leader
• As a team, the Gaels rank second in the WCC in 3-pointers per game (7.1) and fifth in field-goal percentage (.411)