Video HighlightsLAS VEGAS – The San Francisco women's basketball team made an historic run to the 2016 West Coast Conference title, taking down the No. 1-seeded BYU Cougars 70-68 at the Orleans Arena on Tuesday afternoon.
Winning as the No. 6, USF is the lowest seeded team to ever win the league title, defeating No. 3 San Diego and No. 2 Saint Mary's en route to the championship. The Dons now stand at 21-11 on the season, and eagerly await the first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 1997.
"Wow. What a game. Our team fought so hard again tonight," remarked a smiling
Jennifer Azzi. "In all three games of this tournament they put their heart and soul into it, and obviously BYU is an incredible program and amazing team.
"Certainly when we were down 10-0 you were kind of going 'oh no,' but to see our players just fight, fight, fight for everything. Especially these two – for Z and Taylor – as seniors to do what they set out to do when they came to USF and that's to win a conference championship and go to the NCAA Tournament."
USF didn't make the trip to Las Vegas an easy one. Against San Diego in the quarterfinals, the Dons had to rally from a 12-point third-quarter deficit before claiming the victory in dramatic fashion. In the semifinal contest against Saint Mary's, the margin was seven at the close of the third quarter. And for the final game of the week in Vegas, USF saw BYU up by 15 as the first quarter wound down. The 15-point comeback is the largest of the season for the feisty Dons' squad.
"My best word to describe the team would be relentless," noted senior and All-Tournament team selection
Zhane Dikes. "I mean if you guys could see us in practice, we get down to the nitty gritty. We're practically killing each other out there. We just want to play as hard as we can play.
"Coach Azzi stressed conditioning all preseason and all season long and it's definitely paid off. In order to be as spicy and scrappy as we are and go after every single loose ball and own every single rebounding possession you've got to be in good condition. We might have hated it when she said on the line about 50 times throughout practice but I'm happy now because we were able to play that relentless style of play."
The comeback required a relentlessness and desire that the Cougars couldn't match. The Dons found themselves down 26-11 after Cassie Broadhead drove in for the layup and made her free throw with 17.4 seconds to play in the first quarter.
By the halftime break, USF had cut the margin to five when
Taylor Proctor's layup set the score at 42-37 in favor of the top-seeded Cougars. Heading into the fourth quarter down four, the Dons remained poised for the late-game comeback. The Dons knotted the game at 58 apiece after
Anna Seilund scooped up the steal and Proctor nailed the triple with 8:08 to play. The game was again tied at 60 and 62 points, but WCC Player of the Year Lexi Rydalch slid in for the layup with 2:58 remaining to put the Cougars ahead by four.
BYU remained in the lead but could never separate from the pesky Dons. With 1:22 to play, the Cougars were up 68-64 after Amanda Wayment made one of two from the line. Proctor cut the deficit to two after getting the layup to go despite being fouled by Rydalch with 1:10 on the clock. The Dons gained their first lead of the afternoon when Dikes connected on both of her free throw attempts with 17.2 ticks to play. BYU's Kristine Nielsen missed a 3-point attempt with 8.9 seconds to play and Proctor swooped in for her 10th rebound of the game. With one more point from the line with 5.9 to go and a last-second steal for Dikes to thwart BYUs final possession, the Dons' ticket to the tournament was punched.
Proctor led all scorers with 27 points and 10 rebounds, her 11th double-double of the season, and Dikes added 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting in the win. For BYU, Rydalch led the way with 23 points, but also committed five of the Cougars' 15 turnovers in the contest.
Now, the Dons celebrate their fourth WCC tournament victory in school history, and look ahead to a momentous trip to the NCAA Tournament.
"This is what we set our minds on years ago and to see it become a reality – I couldn't be more excited," said Azzi. "It's a beautiful team. It's built on love. They play for one another and I don't think that happens enough in sports, and I couldn't be happier for them."