USF comes back to beat BYU for WCC title, earns NCAA tourney bid
By STEVE CARP LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
March 8, 2016; Las Vegas, NV, USA; San Francisco Dons players celebrate against the BYU Cougars after the game in the finals of the women’s West Coast Conference tournament at Orleans Arena. (Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports)
Zhane Dikes’ two free throws with 14 seconds to play gave San Francisco a one-point lead and the sixth-seeded Dons held off No. 1 Brigham Young, 70-68, to win the West Coast Conference women’s basketball tournament Tuesday at Orleans Arena.
USF (21-11) will represent the WCC in the NCAA Women’s Tournament next week. It is the Dons’ first tournament appearance since 1997.
The Cougars (26-6), who led by as many as 15 late in the first quarter, found themselves in a battle in the fourth as USF ratcheted up its defense and held BYU to just 10 points for the quarter. Led by Dikes and Taylor Proctor, the Dons kept chipping awasy until they caught the Cougars in the final seconds.
Proctor, the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, finished with 27 points while Dikes had 21. BYU was led by Lexi Rydalch with 23 points and Kalani Purcell had 17 points along with 16 rebounds.
