No. 16 Gonzaga women top BYU, advance to WCC title game

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Yvonne Ejim had 21 points, 11 rebounds and five assists for her ninth career double-double, Brynna Maxwell made four 3-pointers and scored 18 and No. 16 Gonzaga beat BYU 79-64 on Monday to advance to the championship game of the West Coast Conference Tournament.

Gonzaga (28-3) was coming off a 58-51 win over BYU on Feb. 25 — led by Ejim’s 19 points and 10 rebounds — to win its 18th WCC regular-season title. The Bulldogs have now won four straight in the series.

Gonzaga started the second half on a 9-0 run to extend its lead to 40-25 and closed the quarter on a 12-2 run for a 23-point advantage. Ejim scored 12 points in the third quarter and BYU was held to just 10 on 3-of-10 shooting. Maxwell kept Gonzaga in control with three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.

Kaylynne Truong added 13 points and seven assists with just one turnover for Gonzaga. Kayleigh Truong, Kaylynne’s twin sister, played in just her seventh game this season because of injuries and finished with six points in 21 minutes.

Gonzaga scored 19 second-chance points and added 25 points off 23 BYU turnovers.

Nani Falatea, averaging 15.1 points, scored 13 of her 17 points in the fourth quarter to lead BYU (16-16). Falatea didn’t make her first field goal of the game until a steal and fast-break layup with 3:51 left in the fourth quarter. Emma Calvert added 13 points and Lauren Gustin, coming off a 27-rebound performance against San Francisco, had nine points and nine rebounds.

___ AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25