No. 2 seed BYU to face No. 3 San Francisco in WCC semifinals

LAS VEGAS — No. 2 seed BYU women’s basketball will take on No. 3 seed San Francisco in the semifinal round of the 2021 West Coast Conference Tournament on Monday, March 8, at 2 p.m. PST. The contest will be broadcast live on BYUtv and streamed on the WCC Network.

The Dons defeated No. 7 seed Saint Mary’s 69-63 in the quarterfinal round Saturday to earn a shot at the Cougars. BYU will be making its 2021 WCC Tournament debut on Monday, as the Cougars earned first, second and third-round byes after securing the No. 2 seed in the regular season.

BYU split the regular season series with San Francisco, with the Dons most recently beating the Cougars 86-72 on Feb. 27 in the regular season finale. BYU defeated San Francisco at home on Dec. 28, 70-46.

No. 2 BYU vs. No. 3 San Francisco Game Notes

2021 UCU WCC Women's Basketball Tournament Bracket

ABOUT NO. 2 BYU

• 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
• 2020-21 WCC Co-Player of the Year 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, a 2020-21 All-WCC First Team honoree, leads the WCC in rebounds per game (12.9 rpg) and ranks second nationally in the category. Gustin also ranks 10th in the country in double-doubles with 13
• Sara Hamson, a 2020-21 All-WCC Honorable Mention, 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
• In addition to Gonzales and Gustin, Harding was named to the 2020-21 All-WCC First Team while Graham was named an All-WCC Honorable Mention
• Head coach Jeff Judkins was named the 2020-21 WCC Coach of the Year
• As a team, BYU ranks 16th in the nation in assists per game (16.9 apg) and 26th in field-goal percentage defense (.362)

ABOUT NO. 3 SAN FRANCISCO

• The Dons earned a spot in the WCC semifinals after pulling away late to defeat No. 7 seed Saint Mary’s 69-63 in Saturday’s quarterfinal round
• After starting the season with a 5-8 record, San Francisco won nine of its last 10 regular season games to boost themselves into third place in the WCC standings
• Freshman guard Ioanna Krimili finished the regular season as 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) also averaged double figures in scoring on the season
• Sophomore forward Lucija Kostic led the team in rebounds (5.4 rpg), assists (4.4 apg) and blocks (0.8 bpg) on the year
• As a team, the Dons finished the regular season ranked first in the WCC in 3-pointers per game (7.74) and second in scoring offense (72.4 ppg) and 3-point percentage (.354)

SERIES HISTORY

• BYU leads the all-time series over San Francisco, 21-7
• The Cougars are 1-1 against the Dons when playing in the WCC Tournament
• BYU and San Francisco split the 2020-21 regular season series