By Anne Hansen
For the first ten minutes of the women’s basketball game Friday, Nov. 3, it was almost a nail-biter.
The rest of the game was spent feeling bad for the other team as BYU killed the Manukau Auckland’s team from New Zealand 86-52 in an exhibition game.
“It was the first game out of the shoot, we still have a long ways to go,” coach Trent Shippen said. “It was an opportunity to grow and develop defensively.”
Senior guard Kaly Gillette Shippen said she was glad to get the first game out of the way, and put the nervousness behind her.
“It’s good to have exhibition games to go out and try to get the routine down,” she said.
Players and coaches said they felt the defense “struggled” the first half, but it got a much-needed boost the second half.
Coach Shippen said the team needs to work on not giving up easy catches and stopping fouling.
Sophomore Erin Thorn said, “We need to hold them, to rely on defense rather than offense.”
The offense was amazing.
Thorn made 50 percent (6) of her 3-point shots.
Sophomore Chanell Rose, a new transfer from UVSC had a double-double putting up double digits in rebounds (10) and total points (16).
Junior Lisa Osguthorpe and senior Jorja Cox led the team with five assists each.
A defensive highlight was sophomore Brittany Larson’s four steals.
The game was very physical, which coach Shippen said he expects.
“It will be a tough conference race. We have a very competitive schedule,” he said.
Kaly Shippen, who is married to coach Shippen’s youngest brother, received stitches after the game from hitting heads with a New Zealand player during the first half.
Every woman on the team had a chance to play in Friday’s game, except for sophomore Jennifer Lietner, who is out with torn ligaments in her foot.
“I tried to give everybody some minutes to play tonight,” coach Shippen said.
He said there is a lot to the game than just scoring.
“We had a lot of different people contributing in a lot of different ways,” he said.
The women clearly dominated in a sometimes-unforgotten aspect of basketball – the free throw.
BYU made 65 percent of it’s free throws, while Manukau successfully shot 38 percent.
The women see the upcoming season as an occasion to do well.
“The sky’s the limit if we work hard and do what we talk about in practice,” Kaly Shippen said.
Thorn agreed.
“If we put our practice defense into our game we can do great things,” she said.
The women will continue their season with an alumni game Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
