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PROVO — With six minutes left in the game and the Cougars up by 30, a timeout was called. BYU head coach Jeff Judkins took his starters and told his bench if they won by more than 30, the starters would owe them lunch.
The caveat: if they were unable to sustain and grow the lead, they would owe the starters lunch.
The simple deal was enough for the reserves to play their best minutes of the season as they outscored San Francisco (10-11, 4-5 WCC) 15-6 in the last six minutes of the game and safely secured a 99-58 win in the Marriott Center Saturday afternoon.
"There's been times a few years ago we'd be up 26 points and then we win by 12," Judkins said. "It was hard on (the starters) and it was hard on me because they work so hard to build a lead; and then I give people opportunity to play, and I want them to perform just as well as they did."
But the only way for Judkins to go deep in his rotation against the Dons was by building the 30-point lead through the first three quarters.
Thanks to Paisley Harding's 30-point game on 11-of-17 shooting, which included five made 3-pointers, BYU (18-1, 8-0 WCC) was able to jump out to a 19-point lead by halftime.
"I have to give a huge shoutout to my team because they allow me to feel proud of my success," the fifth-year senior said. "I had 30 tonight, but other nights Shaylee's gonna have 30, Tegan's gonna have 30, Lauren's gonna have 30; all these different people can have so many points. What's amazing about our team is we celebrate that with them, we allow them to feel proud of themselves."
Judkins said it was one of Harding's "best games, not just offensively."
"She scored in so many different ways tonight," he said. 'That's what makes her special is the way she can score and figure out how to help this team."
Gonzales added 18 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals for the Cougar's in their tenth win at home this season. Lauren Gustin posted her eleventh double-double of the season with 11 points and 14 rebounds and added two steals.
Maria Albiero and Tegan Graham combined for 15 of the team's 26 assists, which came in a game where the Cougar's shot an astonishing 52.1% from the floor and 48.1% from behind the arc.
"When you have 26 assists … that's how it's supposed to be played," Judkins said. "It's not played that way anymore; it's all one-on-one. This is the way the game is supposed to be played."
"That's how I like to play basketball. I don't like one-on-one basketball," Harding added. "I don't like clearing the floor and letting someone attack it every single possession. I love sharing the ball, I love getting other people open. That's what's so lovely about this team."
The Cougars will face their toughest test on the road next week as they will travel to Portland, Oregon, and Spokane, Washington, to face the Pilots and the Bulldogs, the second- and third-placed teams in the WCC only behind BYU.
