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BYU's Lauren Gustin places her team's logo into the next round of the West Coast Conference Tournament at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on Friday, March 3, 2023.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's Nani Falatea takes a jump shot against Pepperdine in a West Coast Conference Tournament second round game at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on Friday, March 3, 2023.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU women's basketball coach Amber Whiting reacts to a play during a second round West Coast Conference second round game against Pepperdine at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on Friday, March 3, 2023.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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Players on the BYU bench celebrate a basket during a West Coast Conference second round women's basketball game at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on Friday, March 3, 2023.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's Lauren Gustin goes up for a shot against Pepperdine during a West Coast Conference second round game at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on Friday, March 3, 2023.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU’s star players showed up big-time in the second round of the West Coast Conference women’s basketball tournament.

Lauren Gustin and Nani Falatea were named the the All-WCC first team earlier this week and on Friday at Orleans Arena showed why, scoring 23 points apiece as the No. 5 seed Cougars pulled away with a great third quarter and defeated No. 9 Pepperdine 74-59.

“These girls came to fight at this tournament and they are ready for it,” BYU coach Amber Whiting said. “They’ve had some really big character-building things that have happened to them. I’m excited for what they’re bringing tomorrow because they are going for it and not holding back.”

The Cougars (15-15) will play No. 4 seed San Francisco (19-11) on Saturday at 2 p.m. MT in a quarterfinal matchup.

Gustin, the nation’s leading rebounder, added a WCC Tournament record 18 boards to her totals and Falatea contributed seven assists (against just one turnover) for her afternoon.

“Credit to my teammates for getting me the ball and having faith and confidence in me,” Gustin said. “They put me in a lot of good positions and everyone was helping contribute to that. Nani won’t say it, but she’s the best passer I’ve ever played with. She reads the play before it even happens, which is crazy. Her passes are always crisp. I don’t know how she does it. Her passes are insane and she knows where I’m going to be before I’m even there.”

BYU led by seven at halftime and took firm control of the game in the third quarter, outscoring the Waves 24-13. The Cougars led 58-38 after a 15-2 run, with Falatea scoring the last eight points. The sophomore guard made a pair of 3-pointers, including a filthy step-back triple, and followed that up with a slick hesitation move to the basket for a layup.

“By the third quarter we were a little more settled in,” Gustin said. “We went in at halftime and talked about some things we needed to work on. Our mentality was that we just want to win and keep the lead up, all gas out there, you know? I think we all just stepped up and came together a little more.”

BYU led Pepperdine by nine with 2:54 to play in Provo a few weeks ago, only to allow the Waves to tie the game and win it in overtime. This time, the Cougars led by 11 with 2:47 remaining and made that lead hold up.

Arielle Mackey-Williams added 13 points and three steals for BYU, which also got a nice defensive performance from Kaylee Smiler and critical first-half minutes off the bench from reserve forward Heather Hamson when the Cougars had some foul trouble.

Theresa Mbanefo score 18 points and Jane Nwaba had 17 for Pepperdine (10-19).

BYU got some separation from the Waves in first quarter, breaking an 8-8 tie with a Mackey-Williams 3-pointer and a pull-up jumper from Falatea. With the quarter winding down, Falatea beat the buzzer with another triple for a 16-10 Cougar lead. She scored 12 in the first half and Gustin added eight points and six rebounds for a 34-27 lead at the break.

BYU spit two games with San Francisco during the regular season. Gustin and Falatea combined for 50 points in Provo in a 78-59 victory but the Cougars lost 72-59 in San Francisco on February 18.

“Defense creates offense, right?” Whiting said. “So when we were there we didn’t take care of our defense. We’re going to make sure we have our game plan set and ready to go.”

Falatea said, “Definitely the last time we played them our defense was not up to par, specifically mine, was not up to the standard we set for ourselves. Tomorrow is going to be all about defense.”

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