SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Lauren Gustin’s 23-point double-double led BYU women’s basketball to a bounce-back 72-59 win over the Nevada Wolfpack in the final game of the Lady Bear Classic on Thursday afternoon.
BYU shot its highest percentage from the field in the last six games as Whiting’s squad went 27-of-51 for a 52.9 clip. The Cougars outrebounded the Wolfpack 46 to 24, assisted on 17 of 26 made field goals and recorded seven blocks in the win.
Gustin paced BYU with 23 points on 11-of-15 shooting while recording 13 boards and an assist en route to her 67th career double-double and 10th of the season, which leads the NCAA. The senior also inched closer to overtaking the all-time BYU rebounding record of 1,482 as she now sits with 1,392, just 91 shy of the record set by 1980 national player of the year Tina Gunn.
Four Cougars finished with 10 or more points, including Gustin, with Kailey Woolston, Amari Whiting and Lauren Davenport each scoring in double figures with 12, 11 and 10 respectively.
Woolston went 2-for-6 from the field, and a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe with six assists, two rebounds and a block. Whiting was 4-of-7 from the field, 2-for-4 from three with eight rebounds, two assists and a steal. Davenport made 4-of-7 shots going 2-for 5 from deep with five rebounds, three assists and two blocks in the win.
First Quarter
The Cougars jumped out to an early 7-0 lead with a jump-hook from Gustin to open the scoring followed by a kick-out corner three by Davenport. Another left-handed score by Gustin put BYU up 7-0 just two minutes into the game.
The Wolfpack countered with a 5-0 run of their own before Calvert ended the run with a scoop-and-score assisted by Davenport. On the next Cougar possession, the Boston University transfer collected a pass from Woolston, pump-faked a defender and hit a floater to extend the lead to 12-7 with 5:25 left in the first.
Nevada held BYU scoreless for the final 4:47 of the first quarter, opening up a four-point lead before Gustin snapped the scoreless streak with a layup with 38 seconds to go.
Second Quarter
The Cougars opened the second quarter with six straight points from Gustin and Davenport to take a four-point lead at 20-16. Nevada knotted the game at 22 with 3:57 left in the half before a layup by A’lia Matavao and a floater in the lane by Whiting.
Off a baseline inbounds play, Rose Bubakar found Woolston for a left-corner triple to extend the lead to seven with 1:12. After a miss by Nevada, Woolston drove down the lane and found Whiting in the right corner for a buzzer-beating triple to take a 10-point lead at the half.
Third Quarter
At the 7:31 mark of the third, Whiting found Davenport for a kick-out triple followed by a top-of-the-key three from Calvert to spark a 6-0 BYU run over the next 1:04 and give the Cougars a 42-28 lead.
After the timeout, two layups from Gustin followed by a Woolston triple grew the BYU lead to 21 with 1:33 left in the third. The Wolfpack used a 6-2 run to cut the deficit to 17 at the end of the third.
Fourth Quarter
The Cougars led 57-38 with 6:24 left before another 6-0 run from Nevada cut the Cougar lead to 13 with 5:30 to play.
After again extending the lead to 20 with scores from Gustin, Woolston and six points from Heather Hamson, the Pack had one more run up their sleeve that pulled them within 12 with 52 seconds left. Back-to-back perfect trips to the line for Woolston all but secured the Cougars' 72-59 win over the Wolfpack.
The Cougars are off for the next nine days before traveling to Fort Worth, Texas for their Big 12 opener against the undefeated No. 25 TCU Horned Frogs. The game will be broadcast live on Big 12 Now on ESPN+. Fans can also tune in to play-by-play with Jason Shepherd on BYU Radio 107.9, byuradio.org and the BYU Radio app.