PROVO, Utah – Cassie Broadhead Devashrayee’s 24 points were not enough as the BYU women’s basketball team lost to Gonzaga 84-70 Saturday afternoon at the Marriott Center.
“I want to give Gonzaga a lot of credit,” BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. “They played really well today, especially (Jill) Barta. They are really hard to guard because they spread you out so well. We were too anxious and missed a lot of open shots we usually hit. The positive thing is that we hung in there as poor as we shot the ball today. I am proud of my team and I thought some of the girls showed some things tonight that they can build on.”
BYU (13-10, 8-4 WCC) couldn’t match Gonzaga’s (19-4, 12-0 WCC) 48.1 percent shooting from the field. Devashrayee scored 24 points to lead the Cougars in scoring. Teammates Sara Hamson and Malia Nawahine were the only others to score in the double digits, with 10 points each. Gonzaga’s Jill Barta scored 34 points to go along with 15 rebounds.
Hamson took control of the paint early on, grabbing three offensive rebounds and blocking a Bulldog shot. Gonzaga took a 6-0 lead after back-to-back 3-pointers.
Nawahine scored a 3-pointer to give BYU its first points of the game, but the Bulldogs answered with a pair of free throws and their third 3-pointer to make the score 11-3 with 6:11 left in the period.
Brenna Chase scored her first points of the contest on a driving layup after a Gonzaga jumper. The Bulldogs answered with six-straight points to make the score 17-5.
Shalae Salmon scored a basket in the post and Nawahine scored her second 3-pointer of the contest to make the score 19-10. Gonzaga scored a layup on the ensuing possession and led BYU 21-10 at the end of the first period. The Bulldogs had no trouble scoring after shooting 61.5 percent from the field to start.
Maria Albiero scored the first basket of the second period for the Cougars and Devashrayee hit all three free throws after being fouled on a 3-point shot to cut the Bulldog’s lead down to 21-15.
Gonzaga’s Barta made her third 3-pointer of the contest to push the Bulldogs' lead to 28-17. Barta scored 19 points after not missing any of her six first half shots or four free throws.
Hamson scored on back-to-back BYU possessions with a jump shot and a layup to cut the lead to 32-23 with 3:27 left in the second quarter.
Devashrayee scored her eighth point and her sixth free throw of the half with Salmon scoring a jumper for the Cougar’s last basket of the half. Gonzaga made a pair of free throws to make the score 38-26 going into halftime.
BYU opened up the second half scoring four-straight points, fueled by a layup by Hamson and a basket by Devashrayee. Gonzaga answered with seven-straight points of its own to regain the 45-30 lead .
Devashrayee scored her 14th point on a jump shot to stop the Bulldogs’ run. Both teams traded baskets until Gonzaga took a 17-point lead of 53-36 with 3:18 left in the third period.
The Cougars scored twice in the final minute of the period after Devashrayee found Nawahine under the basket for a layup on the final two offensive possessions. The Bulldogs finished the period with a basket at the buzzer to lead the Cougars 59-42.
Gonzaga continued their hot shooting and outscored the Cougars 7-2 to start the fourth period. Liz Eaton and Hamson scored for BYU on back-to-back possessions as the two teams continued to trade baskets.
BYU trailed the Bulldogs by a game-high 21 points with 6:42 left. A pair of free throws by Hamson and a layup by Chase helped the Cougars start a run of their own. A basket and 3-pointer by Paisley Johnson capped off an 11-1 run to make the score 70-60 with 4:05 left.
Gonzaga stopped the run with a jumper and answered with a 9-2 run to push the lead to 17. Devashrayee scored five of BYU’s eight points in the final minute of the game. The Cougar’s run came up short as they fell to the Bulldogs 84-70.
The Cougars remain in second place in the WCC standings, four games behind the Bulldogs. BYU will continue conference play on the road next to take on Santa Clara on Thursday, Feb. 8 at 7:00 p.m. PST at the Leavey Event Center in Santa Clara, California. The game can be streamed live on TheW.tv.
BYU vs. Gonzaga Postgame Notes
Team
BYU trailed Gonzaga 38-26 going into halftime, and recorded its fourth conference loss, losing to the Bulldogs 84-70. The Cougars are now 5-1 at home in conference play.
For the sixth time this season, three Cougars scored in double figures: Devashrayee (24), Nawahine (10) and Hamson (10).
The Bulldogs outrebounded the Cougars 45 to 29, while BYU had the advantage in steals, 13 to six. The Cougars have recorded more steals than their opponent in two-straight games and in nine games to date.
BYU tallied four blocks, while Gonzaga had one. The Cougars have recorded more blocks than their opponent in 16 games this season.
The Cougars had 32 points in the paint, while Gonzaga had 12.
BYU is 1-1 in the month of February. The crowd of 1,327 at the game against Gonzaga makes for the largest attendance at the Marriott Center in conference play this season.
Player
Cassie Broadhead Devashrayee led the Cougars with eight first-half points, going 6 of 7 from the line in the first 20 minutes of play. Devashrayee finished the game with a team-high 24 points, logging her 14th game with 20+ points this season. She also had four rebounds, three assists and two steals. The senior went 8 of 9 from the charity stripe in the loss.
Malia Nawahine scored 10 points against Gonzaga. She made two of the Cougars' three 3-point field goals. Nawahine finished with a team-high six assists and five steals. She also had five rebounds. The graduate student ended the game with five fouls, fouling out for the second-straight game.
Sara Hamson finished in double figures for the third time this season, scoring 10 points in the loss. The freshman also had a team-high eight rebounds and four blocks. Hamson went 4 of 6 from the field.
Shalae Salmon had eight points for BYU. She went 3 of 3 from the field and made two free throws. The sophomore also brought down four rebounds.