Gonzales scores 35, No. 20 BYU women top Saint Mary’s 84-69

MORAGA, Calif. (AP) — Shaylee Gonzales scored a career-high 35 points with seven steals and six assists and No. 20 BYU pulled away from Saint Mary’s for an 84-69 win on Saturday.

The Gaels led for a good part of the first half but a Gonzales jumper in the final minute of the third quarter had the Cougars on top 64-61.

Then Gonzales and the Cougars took over, outscoring Saint Mary’s 20-8 with a 7-0 run before closing the game with an 11-0 run. Gonzales had nine points in the quarter.

Paisley Harding scored 18 points for BYU (21-2, 11-1 West Coast Conference), Lauren Gustin scored 15 points with 11 rebounds for her 13th double-double, and Tegan Graham added 11 points.

Ali Bamberger scored 17 points with nine rebounds to lead the Gaels (12-12, 6-7) with Madeline Holland and Tayla Dalton adding 13 apiece.

Saint Mary’s, which lost the first matchup 78-36, kept the pressure on the Cougars, shooting 53% with seven 3-pointers. The Gaels were 10 of 13 from the foul line and had a 34-26 rebounding advantage.

However, BYU forced 28 turnovers and turned those into 31 points. Ten of the miscues came in the fourth quarter, which matched the BYU game total. The Cougars also shot 56% in the second half to finish at 51% for the game.

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More AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25