First Quarter
Santa Clara quickly jumped out to a 10-1 lead after hitting a 3-pointer with 5:34 left in the opening quarter. Following a timeout, Whiting and Smiler hit back-to-back threes to cut the deficit to three at 10-7 before the Broncos retook a 14-9 lead, which they took to the second period.
Second Quarter
The Broncos opened the quarter with a floater, extending their lead to 16-9 with 8:27 left in the half. Amari Whiting responded with a drive to the basket that resulted in a layup, trimming the seven-point deficit to 16-12. Later, a floater from Whiting brought BYU within two with 4:49 remaining in the half before a Santa Clara 3-pointer put the Broncos ahead 19-14.
Smiler countered with her second 3-pointer before Santa Clara extended its lead to 21-17 with 3:44 remaining in the half. Following a media timeout, Smiler made a layup while being fouled and converted the three-point opportunity, giving BYU its first lead of the game at 22-21 with 2:24 left before the break.
With 1:54 remaining, Davenport sank a left-wing triple to extend the Cougars' lead to 25-21 with 1:54 left in the half before a bucket from the Broncos cut the deficit to 25-23. Davenport quickly responded by going right to the rack and scoring her second bucket of the evening, putting BYU ahead 27-23 with 54 seconds left in the half. The Cougars maintained their four-point advantage heading into the locker room.
Third Quarter
BYU opened the half with back-to-back layups from Amari Whiting, extending its lead to 31-23 leading to a Santa Clara timeout. After the break, Whiting continued the scoring with a floater while drawing a foul, and made the ensuing free throw, pushing the Cougars' lead to nine with just over eight minutes left in the quarter.
After BYU pushed the lead to 10 with 7:27 to go, Santa Clara scored 12-straight points with two triples and three buckets to take their first lead since the 3:14 point of the second quarter.
The Broncos grabbed a 39-38 lead with 1:25 left before Emma Calvert hit her second three of the quarter to put BYU back in front, 41-39, heading into the final quarter.
Fourth Quarter
The Broncos opened the final frame with a jumper, tying the score at 41-41 before taking a 44-41 lead with a 3-pointer at the 8:44 mark, leading to a BYU timeout.
After the break, Emma Calvert made a layup to cut BYU's deficit to 44-43, followed by baskets from Lauren Gustin and Davenport, pushing the Cougars ahead 47-44. Santa Clara then reclaimed the lead at 50-47 with two 3-pointers, but Smiler tied the game at 50 with a 3-pointer of her own with just under five minutes to go.
The teams exchanged 3-point shots before a Rose Bubakar triple knotted the score at 58 with just under a minute left. Santa Clara moved ahead 60-58 with a layup with just four seconds remaining. In the final moments, Gustin was fouled and made one of two free throws, but BYU fell short as the Broncos secured a 60-59 victory.