PROVO, Utah — Shaylee Gonzales scored 16 points, Paisley Harding scored the last four points to clinch the game and BYU ended No. 16 Gonzaga’s 17-game winning streak with a 61-56 win on Thursday night.
After the Cougars scored eight-straight points to lead by 10 — the only time a lead touched double figures — and the Bulldogs came back with an 11-2 run, Harding came up with the key plays.
Leading 57-56, BYU used up all of the shot clock before Harding hit a floater in the lane with 13 seconds to go. After a Gonzaga miss and two fouls, Harding went to the line with five seconds to go and finished it off.
Harding scored 12 points and Lauren Gustin and Sara Hamson had 10 each for BYU (15-3, 11-2 West Coast Conference), which has won six straight since losing 63-56 in Spokane. Gustin had 10 rebounds, Gonzales seven assists and Hamson five blocks.
Gonzaga led 29-23 but with Gonzales scoring all five of her first-half points in the final minute the Cougars closed within 31-30. She then had nine in the third quarter, including a buzzer-beating 3, for a 47-43 lead.
Jenn Wirth had 18 points and 10 rebounds for Gonzaga (18-3, 13-1) and Melody Kempton added 10.
BYU, the only WCC team to be within single digits of the Zags since Loyola Marymount in the opener in late December, shot 49% (24 of 49), the highest percentage allowed by Gonzaga this season, helping the Cougars overcome 16 turnovers and 7 of 13 shooting from the foul line.
Gonzaga went 4 of 16 from 3-point range and shot 38% (22 of 58), their worst shooting game since the conference opener.
Gonzaga is at third-place San Diego, the other WCC team to defeat BYU, on Saturday. Portland is at BYU on Saturday.
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