LAS VEGAS – No. 12 Gonzaga fell to BYU 82-68 Tuesday afternoon in the WCC Tournament championship at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. With the win, BYU earns the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
 
Zykera Rice led the way for the Zags with 25 points off 6-of-10 from the floor including a perfect 12-of-12 from the charity stripe to tie a GU and WCC tournament record. Chandler Smith also finished in double figures for the Bulldogs with 13 points while Jenn Wirth added 10.
 
"As a basketball team, this is just part of the journey," assistant coach Jordan Green said. "We obviously didn't have the outcome that we wanted, but the team has done so well and played so well together this year that they've put themselves in a position that we get to keep playing. We'll learn from what happened here. It was a tough weekend for us."
 
Gonzaga (28-4) had a hot start to the game, shooting 62.5 percent to open the game. Rice hit four of her first five shots and the Zags forced five turnovers on BYU (25-6) to take a 23-19 lead after the first 10 minutes.
 
The Zags quickly cooled off and went without a field goal for the first 7:30 of the second period; meanwhile, BYU rattled off 16 unanswered points to take a 12-point lead (35-23) with 4:08 to go. Gonzaga converted five free throws in the second period and put together a short 6-0 run to cut the Cougars' lead to six with 1:47 to go. But another BYU run, this time six unanswered, put GU behind by 12 heading into the break, the largest halftime deficit the Zags have faced this season.
 
The Bulldogs came out strong to start the second half, shooting 57.1 percent from the floor. The Zags also drew eight fouls against BYU and capitalized at the line, converting 15-of-18 attempts. Gonzaga outscored BYU 26-23 in the third quarter, thanks in part to back-to-back treys from Smith, to cut BYU's lead to single digits (65-56) with 10 minutes to go.
 
The momentum shifted in favor of the Cougars in the fourth, and BYU shot 44.4 percent from the floor while limiting Gonzaga to 13.3 percent shooting. GU was outscored 17-12 to give BYU the 82-68 win.
 
BYU finished with three players in double figures, led by Brenna Chase with 25 points. Shaylee Gonzalez added 20 while Paisley Johnson finished with 19.
 
Rice, who averaged 23.0 points per game and 6.5 rebounds per contest while shooting 46 percent from the floor, was named to the WCC All-Tournament Team for the second time in her career. BYU's Paisley Johnson was named the Most Outstanding Player.
 
Gonzaga will learn more about its postseason plans once the NCAA Tournament field is finalized following Selection Monday on March 18 at 4 p.m. PT.
 
2019 WEST COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Paisley Johnson, Soph., G, BYU – Tournament Most Outstanding Player
Shaylee Gonzales, Fr., G, BYU
Megan McKay, Sr., F, Saint Mary's
Zykera Rice, Sr., F, Gonzaga
Yasmine Robinson-Bacote, Sr., F, Pepperdine