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STANFORD, Calif. — It wasn't the way they wanted the season to end.
Nobody likes to lose, and nobody wants to go home.
But the BYU women's basketball team honestly felt confident as it matched up with the No. 6-ranked team in the nation, a Stanford squad that drew a No. 2 seed in this year's NCAA Tournament — and with it, the right to host the first two rounds at Maples Pavilion.
Don't tell the Cougars they were underdogs against The Tree, just as they were in some circles in a first-round matchup with Auburn. BYU went on to beat the Tigers, 73-64 — and they expected the same result Monday night agains the host Cardinal.
At the very least, they knew they belonged on the same court, that a team from the West Coast Conference wasn't vastly inferior to the Pac 12 Tournament champions.
And BYU proved one thing last night: they did.
The Cougars ultimately lost to Stanford, 72-63. And this won't be a place to mention moral victories or talk about how or why BYU lost on the road while representing as one of the top 32 teams in the nation.
Stanford (30-4) is good, and led by Australian senior Alanna Smith, Dijonai Carrington and Kiana Williams, advanced to its 12th-straight Sweet 16. That's a feat similar across women's basketball only by the likes of UConn, Baylor and Tennessee, at one time.
What head coach Tara VanDerveer has built at Maples Pavilion is a remarkable program with consistency barely matched in the sport.
But BYU learned something in its road trip to the Bay Area: the Cougars (26-7) aren't that far off.
"We know this is just the beginning," BYU forward Jasmine Moody said after the game. "It’s just the start. We got a little bit of a taste of the NCAA Tournament and we know that we want to keep coming back here, consistently — forever. We know with this young team that we can only get better from here."
For stretches of Monday night's late game — the final tipoff in the Round of 32, thanks to ESPN — BYU was in control. The Cougars led 15-11 after the first quarter, only trailed by two at halftime, and got a career-high 32-point effort from Shaylee Gonzales.
By the way, she's only a freshman.
"It wasn't just all me. It was my team, too," said Gonzales, who shot 12-of-21 from the field, including a perfect 4-of-4 from 3-point range. "They were the ones that were getting me open, play making and spacing. It’s an amazing experience to be where I am at right now.
"I feel very blessed to be with this amazing team."
Even if Gonzales doesn't accept the credit for what she is becoming at BYU, her teammates and coaches recognize the talent.
She can be something special.
"She really listens and tries to adjust her game and I think that’s honestly what’s helped her, is being open and listen," Moody said of the freshman starter. "She knows she’s a good player, but listening to her teammates and her coaches is what helps her to develop her game to be even better. She’s only going to get better from here and we’re so blessed and happy to have her as part of our team."
Gonzales won't be the only player returning next year. Neither will Moody.
Barring transfers, the Cougars could return every player on the active roster except for Caitlyn Alldredge, the fifth-year senior who led the BYU softball team to four-straight West Coast Conference titles and added a fifth ring via a WCC Tournament crown in Las Vegas to clinch an NCAA Tournament bid.
That’ll include Gonzales, a 5-foot-1 freshman who averaged 16.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. It’ll also include Paisley Johnson, who scored 14.8 points per game, and Brenna Chase, who had 12.7 points and makes up the third "Splash Sister" on the triple-threat guard line that will return for 2019-20.
It will also include Sara Hamson, the 6-foot-7 center who started just 10 games while rehabbing a torn meniscus suffered while practicing with the top-ranked BYU women’s volleyball team.
Hamson came on late but averaged 4.7 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game as a sophomore — the latter mark ranking among the top 10 in the country.
And the former Pleasant Grove dual-sport standout made some news this week, when BYU coach Jeff Judkins let slip that Hamson will step away from volleyball this fall so she can work exclusively on the hardwood.
It wasn't an easy decision for Hamson, whose mother Tresa Spaulding is a legend with BYU basketball and whose sister Jennifer was a standout dual-sport athlete for the Cougars.
"It was a very difficult decision," Sara Hamson said. "It just came down to two high-level teams with different expectations, and I couldn't meet both at the same time. It was literally tearing me apart.
"I love both teams so much, and it was a really hard decision. But I'm glad I made it, and I feel so much better. I feel a lot more free."
One thing that brought Hamson back to basketball full time was the chance to be a part of something special with BYU women's basketball.
The Cougars received a taste of that in the NCAA Tournament, winning their first game since a magical Sweet 16 run in 2014. They finished with 26 wins for the fourth time since joining the West Coast Conference in 2011, and became the only team in the country that beat WCC regular-season champion Gonzaga three times.
But the Cougars feel like they are just scratching the surface.
"There's so much hope for the future," Hamson said. "If we did this and come back with almost the same team, we can set a precedent. We’ll start a tradition, and keep it rolling. We might be able to potentially host (in the NCAA Tournament) in a couple of years."
The future starts now, too. After flying home late Monday night — almost immediately after the elimination game in Maples Pavilion — many of the players wanted to get back in the gym.
That includes Gonzales, who has proven to be a gym rat in her lone season at BYU. It'll include Johnson, who played an uncharacteristic 35 minutes against the Cardinal while struggling with foul troubles.
They'll need to get back in the weight room, especially if they want to contend with a physical team like Stanford the next time around. More muscle, more strength, and more ability to push off the ball on drives and kick-outs and the like.
It'll take a lot more work.
But with this group, it doesn't always feel like work. This group likes being with each other — whether that's in the gym, in the weight room, on campus or going out to dinner.
That's a special friendship and chemistry with this group of BYU women's basketball players.
And that's not going anywhere.
"These girls have a special place in my heart," Johnson said. "This season was everything that I hoped college basketball would be. It's promising, because we have everybody but one super senior coming back. It's an exciting progression and I think we have a lot more in us.
"We’re fighters and we’re going to come back fighting next season."
