The BYU Cougars women’s basketball team is the champion of the West Coast Conference, at least as far as the regular season is concerned.
With their 82-52 thrashing of the Pacific Tigers on the road Saturday, the Cougars locked up their first regular-season conference crown since 2016.
It marks the fifth conference title overall for BYU since Jeff Judkins became head coach in 2001. The Cougars will enter next week’s WCC tournament as the top seed, and thus they’ll get byes all the way to the semifinals.
“I knew that this team had a chance to be one of the best we’ve had at BYU,” Judkins said postgame. “A lot of players sacrificed to get here and now they have chance to do something special.
“We have a lot more work to do but I couldn’t be more proud of the hard work they’ve put in this year.”
BYU (25-2), ranked No. 19 in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll, has a chance for a top 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament, which would mean it would host its first two games (should it win in the first round).
On Saturday, the Cougars jumped out to an 11-0 lead and cruised to the win. Shaylee Gonzales led the way with 18 points, Paisley Harding added 14, Tegan Graham scored 12 and Lauren Gustin contributed 11.