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PROVO — It may have been an exhibition game that won't count on BYU's win-loss record, but Thursday night's exhibition opener for the BYU women's basketball team had new coach Amber Whiting's fingerprints all over it, metaphorically.
Physically, of course, those fingerprints belonged to Lauren Gustin.
The junior power forward who averaged a double-double last year totaled 25 points and 24 rebounds in 37 minutes to help the Cougars roll to a 72-51 win over Division II Westminster inside the Marriott Center.
Nani Falatea added 17 points, six rebounds and seven assists for BYU, which got 10 points, three rebounds and three assists from Emma Calvert. But the biggest key was defense: the Cougars held the Griffins to just 30% shooting, including a 9-point second quarter.
"The first game of any season is always a little ugly," Whiting said. "But I was proud of how they fought and learned our system without getting frustrated.
"My goal tonight was to hold them to 12 points a quarter. We didn't get that goal, so we'll try again."
Instead, BYU kept Westminster to 13, 9, 15 and 14 points in each quarter. And though they led just 14-13 after the first period, they never trailed as Gustin played 37 minutes and Falatea rarely came off in 36 minutes of play.
A couple of times, Whiting glanced over at Gustin to ask if she needed a sub. Each time, Gustin said no — and two early fouls by Calvert might have messed with her substitution pattern a bit, the first-year coach admitted.
It didn't matter to the Salem Hills product, though.
Like clockwork ⏰
— BYU Women's Hoops (@byuwbb) October 28, 2022
BYU 48
Westminster 26 pic.twitter.com/xuyT95Dv4X
"I love being out there," Gustin said. "I love that she has faith in me to be out there; I'm grateful for the minutes she's given me. I want to be in as much as possible."
Gustin had 5 of the Cougars' first 7 points, and five of their first 10 rebounds for a team that didn't score until the fourth-year junior's putback basket nearly three minutes into the game. But BYU shot just 29% from the field in the first quarter, with plenty of open makes and a 1-for-6 clip from 3-point range.
The Cougars struggled on offense … almost as much as their Division II opponents.
Former BYU guard Ashley Greenwood, a Dixie State transfer, scored 11 of the Griffins' first 13 points as the Cougars clung to a 14-13 lead after one quarter. But the senior had just one field goal over the next two quarters as the Griffins went cold.
That was before Nani Falatea hit back-to-back shots cutting inside to pace an 8-0 run over 90 seconds, and Gustin had her double-double after 15 minutes of play as the Cougars began to pull away with a 18-2 run midway through the second quarter, 34-17.
Greenwood finished with a team-high 15 points and six rebounds for the Griffins, who were outrebounded 48-28 while Gustin scored 15 of the Cougars' first 24 points, including a putback layup over three defenders in the opening minutes of the third quarter.
When in doubt, lob it up to Gustin; she'll know what to do.
"24 and 25; how do you get better than that?" Whiting quipped, staring at a copy of the box score in front of her. "She just has a nose for the ball. The ball is up in the air, and she comes up with it. She's been very on scoring. When you get a rebound, don't kick it out. She went up, and that was big for me to see."
We see you @nanifalatea 👀 pic.twitter.com/OW2LHwfWtc
— BYU Women's Hoops (@byuwbb) October 28, 2022
What BYU may have lacked in offense, it made up in defense — the hallmark of a Whiting-led team, though often at the high school level or while guiding four-star daughter Amari's AAU team through the summer circuit. The Cougars launched a full-court press from the opening tip, paced by Arizona State transfer Gabi Bosquez at the tip of the spear, forced four steals for 8 fastbreak points, and held the Griffins to just 8-of-31 shooting (25.8%) from the field en route to a 35-22 halftime lead.
"When you're in an ugly game, you've got to make easy ones first," Whiting said. "Defense creates offense. We got a lot of steals, and that created offense go inside or drive a lot more before settling for the threes."
But the first game is never pretty, and the Cougars will take plenty to work on into Friday's secret scrimmage with Southern Utah. Case in point: BYU shot just 4-of-14 from 3-point range, and had a single 3-pointer from Devry Millett until Amanda Barcello canned back-to-back triples to push the lead to 51-26 with 5:21 left in the third quarter.
The Cougars scored 48 points in the paint, 18 second-chance points, 10 on the fast break and led by as much as 25. But they also committed 15 turnovers and assisted on just 16 of 30 made baskets.
Still, a win is a win, Whiting can once again act like she's been there before. Before Thursday, she hadn't.
"It's like that therapy you're waiting for," she said. "You do all this work, and now you get to see it. But just seeing the girls out there, now we know what adjustments we can make, where we need to plug some holes, and what rotations can work. That's what we needed to see."
