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LAS VEGAS — Caroline Buhr had 15 points and eight rebounds, and Aubrey Ward-El added nine points, four rebounds and two assists to lift San Diego to a 61-56 win over BYU in a West Coast Conference women’s basketball tournament opener Thursday night at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
“What an amazing battle we have had with BYU all year. All three games have been under five points and just awesome games,” San Diego coach Cindy Fisher told reporters after the game. “I can’t say enough about our girls to step up, especially Maya Hood. This is her sixth year here, and she hit some big shots tonight and had an outstanding performance.”
The loss was the first opening-round loss for BYU since joining the West Coast Conference in 2011-12, and capped a season sweep by the Toreros against their former travel partners in the WCC
“That’s what we play basketball for,” Ward-El told BYUtv. “We were excited.
“We knew coming in that it’s hard to beat a team three times, and we beat them twice earlier. But we’ve been here, we’ve lost and we felt that. We lost to them on this very court, and no one wanted to feel that again.”
Brenna Chase and Malia Nawahine each scored 16 to lead BYU (16-14), which got 12 points and five rebounds from Cassie Broadhead Devashrayee in the loss.
San Diego (16-14) out-rebounded the Cougars 37-19, including a 15-3 margin on the offensive glass that helped make up the five-percentage point deficit against the Cougars’ 46 percent shooting.
“Going into each game that we played them, we bring so much intensity,” said USD sixth-year senior Maya Hood, who had 13 points and seven rebounds. “One of the main focuses is rebounding. They have Sara Hamson there, a great presence, but I feel like we rebounded well and gave ourselves extra opportunities.”
