By ANNA HAYNIE
Haynie@newsroom.byu.edu
It only took a few minutes into the second half before the BYU women's basketball team was able to kick back, relax and enjoy the ride.
A blowout game against UNLV Thursday night boosted the Cougars, and from the moment they hit the floor Saturday, they were ready to play.
With a 16-point half-time lead behind them, the Cougars came in and dominated the second half as well, securing the game with a 26-point margin, 58-84.
BYU opened the second half with a 21-2 run and built a 37-point lead in the second half.
'We did a good job coming out and playing hard those first five minutes of the second half,' said head coach Trent Shippen. 'That's something we've been trying to work on.'
Saturday night, everyone played and everyone scored.
For the first time this season, with the exception of Cady Williams who is out with an injury, everyone on the team saw playing time. The entire team contributed to a balanced-scoring game.
'It was a good team game,' Shippen said, 'one of our best.'
BYU was led by senior Lori Cuff, who brought in 14 points for the Cougars. Close behind Cuff was Stacey Jensen who added 13, and Alisha Griffeth came of the bench and hit two treys, adding 12 points total for the Cougars.
'It was good to get everyone in the game,' senior Jill Adams said. 'Everyone was out there having fun and scoring.'
'It was a fun game,' she said, 'but personally, I like the closer games -- they're more exciting.'
Defense was a key for BYU, who began the first half with 10 steals. They out rebounded the Aztecs 39-27, and had only 12 turnovers, to SDSU's 26.
The Cougs allowed only one Aztec within double-digit scoring range. Kacee Wheeler led the team with 11 points.
The Cougars have won twice against the Aztecs this year.
The last time the Cougars faced SDSU on the road, they held them to 37 points, SDSU's lowest scoring game of the year.
Now at 16-6 overall and 6-3 in the conference, the Cougars have as many wins as they did in the entire 98-99 season. The Aztecs dropped to 7-15, 2-7.
The Cougars will begin a two-week road swing with Colorado State on Thursday night and then Wyoming Saturday afternoon. Live audio coverage for both games can be found on KBYU's Web site.