SPOKANE, Wash. — Despite 18 points from junior guard Cassie Broadhead, BYU fell to Gonzaga 87-52 at the McCarthey Athletic Center on Thursday.
"Gonzaga played a great game tonight," BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "They shot the 3 as good as any team has against us all year. I thought we competed, but we just didn’t execute on offense or defense. We played a little better in the second half."
Broadhead had a game-high 18 points, while Kalani Purcell tallied a game-high 10 rebounds.
On the first possession of play, Broadhead put the Cougars (13-9, 7-4 West Coast Conference) on the board as she came off a Purcell screen and nailed the jumper. Gonzaga (18-4, 9-2,WCC) then scored 12 consecutive points to take the 10-point 12-2 lead.
With 3:57 to go in the first quarter, Broadhead scored again for the Cougars. Her layup made the score 12-4, giving BYU its first two points since the opening possession. The Cougars trailed the Bulldogs by 11, 17-6, going into the second quarter.
Liz Eaton entered the game in the second quarter providing instant offense for BYU. Eaton made her first three attempt of the game to make the score 20-9.
The Bulldogs then went on a 9-1 run, backed by six points from Emma Stach to make the score 29-10. Broadhead and Makenzi Pulsipher then cut into the Bulldog lead, hitting five free throws between the two of them.
The Cougars went into halftime trailing by 23, 39-16. Broadhead scored eight of BYU’s 16 first half points.
After three Gonzaga points to open the half, Broadhead pushed the ball up court and finished a fast break layup. At the 6:20 mark, Micaelee Orton finished the 3-point play to cut into the Bulldog advantage, making the score 45-24. BYU then continued its 10-0 run as Nielson and Broadhead both made baskets.
Gonzaga went on an 8-2 run increasing the lead back to 23, 53-30. BYU went into the fourth quarter down by 25, 57-32.
Broadhead scored the Cougars’ first four points of the quarter. Gonzaga extended its lead to 30, 67-37, with 6:05 to go. Jessica Chatman came off the bench for the Cougars and hit two three throws for BYU.
BYU women's basketball will travel to Portland Saturday to take on the Pilots for the first time this season. Teams will tip off at 3 p.m. MT. The game can be streamed on theW.tv and can be listened to on BYU Radio - Sirius XM 143. Links to live stats can also be found on the BYU women's basketball schedule page.
Postgame Notes
Team
With the 87-52 loss at Gonzaga, BYU is now 13-9, 7-4 on the season.
For the game, BYU had 20 points in the paint to Gonzaga’s 16.
The Bulldogs scored 21 points off of Cougar miscues while BYU put in 14 points from Bulldog turnovers.
BYU finished the game shooting 72.0 (18-25) percent from the free-throw line. Gonzaga shot 72.7 (16-22) percent from the charity stripe.
Player
Cassie Broadhead led the Cougars in the first half of play with eight points. She picked up her 21st game scoring in double figures with a game-high 18 points. Broadhead went 4 of 4 from the charity stripe, grabbed three rebounds, had two assists and one block in the game.
Kalani Purcell had the most rebounds by any player through the first 20 minutes of action with six. She also had two assists for team bests in that category in the first half of play. She finished the game with a game-high 10 rebounds along with six points and a team-best four assists.
Makenzi Pulsipher was perfect from the free-throw line in the first half going 4 of 4. She finished the game with seven points, two rebounds and a team-high three steals.
Micaelee Orton came off the bench scoring five points while going 3 of 3 from the free-throw line. She also had one block.
Jasmine Moody and Liz Eaton both came off the bench for the Cougars, contributing four points each. Eaton grabbed three rebounds while Moody pulled down two boards.