Morgan Bailey and Lexi Eaton brought the Cougars back from an early deficit to seal a 71-63 win over Loyola Marymount University Thursday night in Los Angeles.
Bailey led all scorers and recorded her seventh double-double this season, finishing with 22 points and 16 rebounds. Eaton scored 20 points and shot an impressive 75 percent from the 3-point line. Makenzi Morrison also added 14 points and contributed two of the Cougars’ seven made 3-pointers on the night.
After the two teams playing neck and neck for much of the second half, consecutive 3-pointers from Eaton, Xojian Harrry and Morrison gave BYU a commanding 61-54 lead with seven minutes left in the game.
The Cougars were able to hold off LMU’s comeback bid thanks to an in-rhythm Eaton and Bailey and some clutch free throws down the stretch. The win puts the Cougars at 12-4 on the season.
The game started off slow for BYU, which trailed 20-8 just 10 minutes into the game. LMU’s Emily Ben-Jumbo came out strong with six points and three rebounds in the game’s first 12 minutes.
LMU shot 46.4 percent from the field in the first half but only 14.1 percent from the 3-point line. BYU shot 31 percent from the field and 28.6 percent from the 3-point field. A strong push by Eaton and Bailey helped the Cougars finish the half on a 15-8 run to close the deficit to 28-23 at the break.
The Cougars began to catch their rhythm on both sides of the court in the second half, forcing three turnovers in the first six minutes while controlling rebounds.
Notes: BYU’s Ashley Garfield collided with an LMU player and seemed to injure her knee with two minutes left in the first half. She did not come back into the game.
