By John Crumpacker
#WCChoops Columnist
COMPLETE CRUMPACKER ARCHIVES
It started with a rout and ended with a rousing finish to the second day of the women's half of the WCC Tournament on Friday at the Orleans Arena as Monday's semifinals are now set.
In a predictable quarterfinal result, top-seed Gonzaga had an easy time of it against 9-seed Pacific and coasted to a 91-59 decision against the overmatched Tigers, who finished the season 10-21. Gonzaga, 24-6, will face 4 San Francisco on Monday at noon for a spot in Tuesday's championship game.
Up next, 7-seed San Diego practically ran 2-seed BYU out of the building by striking out to a 21-3 lead in the first eight minutes. The Cougars spent the rest of the game in catch-up mode, and catch up they did, eventually pulling into a 59-59 tie on Cassie Broadhead's 3-point shot from the top of the key with 11 seconds to go.
San Diego, playing its second game in as many days, had nothing left in the tank for the OT period and BYU went on to post a 75-66 victory. BYU, 20-10, will play 3-seed Saint Mary's in a 2 p.m. semifinal on Monday.
As brackets go, this one went exactly according to seeding with No. 1 Gonzaga, No. 2 BYU, No. 3 Saint Mary's and No. 4 San Francisco.
"Wow!'' BYU coach Jeff Judkins said. "Didn't look very good, I'm not going to lie to you. San Diego came out and played really hard. You've got to give San Diego a ton of credit for their aggressive defense. It was really nice to see my team respond when things weren't going right.''
Summing up his message to his team during the contested contest, "Stick together. Believe in each other. It showed tonight. Great win.''
Judkins' team made all of two field goals in the first period and trailed 21-7 after 10 minutes, prompting senior guard Makenzi Pulsipher to muse, "First of all, crap! What's happening? It was a matter of regrouping and coming together. We tried to cut the lead by halftime (36-25) and in the third period, whole new ballgame. ... We weren't ready to go home.''
In overtime, the Toreros showed the effects of having played in an opening-round game on Thursday, even though they had an easy time of it in dispatching 10 Portland 74-47. San Diego was outscored in OT 16-7 and never seriously challenged BYU in the extra five minutes.
"When the game got close, we had the advantage because of their game yesterday,'' Judkins said. "Why did we start bad? What happened was, we threw it away twice in a row and they scored. In the first half, they had 19 points off turnovers. In the second half, they had none.''
Judkins said he and his staff told the players that San Diego would come out with a relentless effort on defense, using this analogy to get his point across: "If I tell you there's a cat behind the garbage can and the cat attacks you when you walk by the garbage can, it's your fault, not mine.''
The remark had Pulsipher and senior forward Kalani Purcell, sitting to their coach's left on the interview dais, laughing heartily. They could afford to be jolly. They won and are one game away from playing in the championship game again.
Pulsipher had a poor shooting night, making only 3 of 11 attempts and just 1 of 6 from 3-point range, but the trey, in OT, was a big one. It gave the Cougars a 66-61 lead and the Toreros never got closer than four points the rest of the way.
"Great! Hallelujah! It was a poor shooting night. It's amazing how you make one shot as a shooter, it makes that rim feel 10 feet wide,'' she said.
Pulsipher finished with 16 points and four steals and was one of four Cougars to score in double figures. Purcell was a force on the front line with 20 points, 16 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. San Diego guards Aubrey Ward-El and Katherine Hamilton hounded BYU's conference Player of the Year, Broadhead, from start to finish and she still scored 22 points.
For the Toreros, Ward-El had 18 points and 4 steals while Hamilton stepped up with 16 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists.
The first game was a contest that quickly became no-contest. The high point for Pacific was its 2-0 lead at the outset. Gonzaga started slowly with leads of 15-13 after the first period, 37-30 at halftime and then, in a rush of scoring, 63-36 after three periods by out-pointing the Tigers 26-6 in the third stanza.
The taller and more skilled Zags had a 38-14 edge on points-in-the-paint and a huge 49-28 advantage on the boards. Forward Jill Barta was unstoppable with 23 points while fellow forward Kiara Kudron had 11 rebounds. Point guard Laura Stockton performed her role splendidly with 6 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals.
For Pacific, mainstay GeAnna Luaulu-Summers had 18 points and freshman forward Jenelle Grant had 11 points and 9 rebounds.
"Hat's off to Gonzaga. They're a solid team top to bottom,'' Pacific coach Bradley Davis said. "They really showed why they're the No. 1 team in the conference. We knew it was going to be a battle. They made us pay for playing before (on Thursday, a 73-55 win vs. Pepperdine).''
Pacific finished the season 10-21 but Davis noted, "We split with (Gonzaga) each of the last two years. We're not that far off.''
The Tigers were far, far off on Friday, however, in what served as a warmup for much better things to come with BYU and San Diego.