Peterson lifts BYU to 1st WCC title

LAS VEGAS - Even with 25 wins, Brigham Young figured the NCAA selection committee might look the other way.

The Cougars left nothing to chance, upsetting three-time defending West Coast Conference tournament champion Gonzaga 78-66 on Monday to earn the automatic bid.

Dani Peterson scored a career-high 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead BYU (26-6).

"Whatever Dani Peterson drank today I'll make sure she drinks again," BYU coach Jeff Judkins said of the senior forward, who left the interview room still wearing the cut-down net. "She played the game of her life."

So did Haley Steed, who was named tournament most valuable player after scoring 17 points and handing out eight assists while playing 39 minutes Monday.

"Haley is a dream," Judkins said of the shortest player in the field at 5-foot-4. "People don't realize how lucky you are as a coach. That's why I'm going to convince her to come back next year because I need her. To me she's Peyton Manning. She runs her team."

Steed, who has overcome three torn anterior cruciate ligament injuries, has a year of eligibility remaining because of a medical redshirt, and has indicated she would decide after the season whether to return.

Now the season goes on.

Steed is the lone holdover from the last BYU squad to qualify for the NCAAs but she was out with the first ACL tear and didn't play in 2007.

"It's been forever," Steed said. "We've (also) been in a drought in conference tournaments, and haven't won a conference tournament game (since 2007). So Saturday (a semifinal win over San Diego) was fun and we wanted to take one more step to win this. We really didn't feel like we'd get into the NCAA tournament unless we won this game. That was our No. 1 goal over anything else."

While BYU was playing in its first WCC tournament after 12 years in the Mountain West Conference, the Bulldogs had owned the WCC.

The top-seeded Bulldogs were playing in a record sixth straight championship and seeking to become the first team to win four straight WCC women's tournament titles.

After trailing by eight in the first half, BYU grabbed control in the second by turning up its defense, holding Gonzaga to 34.4 percent shooting after the break.

It also dominated the boards, holding a 36-21 advantage overall.

No rebounds were bigger than the one Peterson pulled down after Gonzaga (26-5) cut the lead to nine and Kristen Riley missed a 3-pointer with 3:22 remaining. Stephanie Vermunt would follow with a 3-pointer that bumped BYU's lead back to 12 points.

BYU (26-6)

Parker 1-3 4-4 7, Eaton 4-6 0-0 8, Peterson 8-10 2-2 18, Steed 5-9 4-5 17, Riley 2-4 0-0 5, Rovetti 0-0 0-0 0, Garfield 0-0 0-0 0, Hamson 7-11 3-4 17, Kaufusi 0-0 0-0 0, Harry 0-0 0-0 0, Vermunt 2-5 0-0 6, Bailey 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-48 13-15 78.

GONZAGA (26-5)

Palmer 12-17 0-2 28, Karr 2-6 0-0 4, K. Redmon 3-11 3-4 10, Standish 6-16 5-6 18, Bowen 0-3 2-2 2, Walter 0-1 0-0 0, Greinacher 1-2 0-0 2, Winters 0-0 0-0 0, Albanez 0-0 0-0 0, Golden 0-1 0-0 0, Reader 0-0 0-0 0, J. Redmon 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 25-61 10-14 66.

Halftime_BYU 36-35. 3-Point Goals_BYU 7-14 (Steed 3-4, Vermunt 2-3, Riley 1-2, Parker 1-3, Peterson 0-2), Gonzaga 6-15 (Palmer 4-6, K. Redmon 1-1, Standish 1-3, J. Redmon 0-1, Karr 0-2, Bowen 0-2). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_BYU 36 (Peterson 12), Gonzaga 21 (Palmer 5). Assists_BYU 21 (Parker 10), Gonzaga 11 (Karr 5). Total Fouls_BYU 10, Gonzaga 15. A_2,941.