Led By Tegan Graham, No. 16 BYU Cruises To Victory Over Santa Clara
Jan 27, 2022, 9:33 PM
BYU Women's Basketball senior Tegan Graham drives to the hoop against Santa Clara on January 27, 2022. (BYU Photo)
(BYU Photo)
PROVO, Utah – The BYU women’s basketball machine keeps rolling through the WCC.
No. 16 BYU crushed Santa Clara on Thursday night at the Marriott Center 76-44.
#BYU women crush Santa Clara 76-44. Tegan Graham with a game-high 16 points.
Cougars are now 7-0 in WCC play.#BYUWBB @kslsports
— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) January 28, 2022
It was a balanced effort as eight players for BYU scored points, led by super senior Tegan Graham, who poured in a game-high 16 points. Graham had been struggling with her shot in recent games. When Graham, the former Colgate transfer is on, BYU becomes even more challenging to stop.
Star guards Shaylee Gonzales and Paisley Harding were the two other BYU players in double-figures scoring 13 and 11, respectively.
The win improves BYU’s record to 17-1 overall and a perfect 7-0 in West Coast Conference play.
Turnovers were an issue for BYU in their two previous games against San Diego. However, they cleaned that up against a Broncos team that was rattled by BYU’s pressure. SCU turned the ball over 23 times to BYU’s 10.
By comparison, BYU had 22 turnovers on Monday night against the Toreros.
The victory took place hours after the NCAA Selection Committee gave a sneak peek of its top-16 seeds. BYU was left out of that grouping of teams, but few are dominating their opposition like Jeff Judkins’ squad this season.
Add it to the list☑️ pic.twitter.com/9MUCsB2982
— BYU Women's Hoops (@byuwbb) January 28, 2022
Coming into tonight, BYU was ninth nationally in scoring margin as they have been beating their opponents by 18.8 points per game. That average now jumps up to 19.5 per game after crushing the Broncos by 32.
If the selection committee isn’t going to respect BYU’s resume to this point, they are delivering on style points to improve their seeding come March potentially.
Entering the fourth quarter, BYU held a 33-point lead opening the opportunity for promising freshmen Rose Bubakar, Emma Calvert, Kate Vorwaller, and Arielle Mackey-Williams to get some valuable minutes. Bubakar, a native of Frederick, Maryland, knocked down two three-pointers in the final quarter.
BYU put the clamp down on Santa Clara’s offense. The Broncos shot 33% from the field to BYU’s 46%.
BYU Women’s Basketball Tip-ins
- BYU coach Jeff Judkins said in the postgame feels he has the best bench in the WCC.
- Judkins called Shaylee Gonzales and Paisley Harding “money players” for how on point they’ve been throughout their careers.
- Judkins was asked if tonight’s game was one of the top defensive performances from his team, he felt it was among the best.
Next Up
BYU hosts San Francisco this Saturday at the Marriott Center at 2 p.m.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for KSLsports.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.
