By Leigh Dethman
It takes more than winning to make coach Jeff Judkins happy.
Despite two victories last week, the women”s basketball head coach said he wasn”t impressed with his team”s performances.
“The team played very selfish,” Judkins said after the win over Boise State. “It is the most selfish I have ever seen them play. It happens when you take a shot whenever you want.”
Despite the close victories, the No. 22 Cougars kept rolling through their preseason schedule last week, beating both Boise State and Weber State at home.
BYU showed a poor offensive performance in the first half of its 51-41 victory over Weber State on Saturday Nov. 30.
Both teams were sluggish, with BYU shooting 28.6 percent from the field and Weber State only hitting three of 25 shots. The teams went to the locker room with the score tied at 16-16.
“We really struggled offensively,” coach Jeff Judkins said. “We came out and didn”t move the ball.”
Weber State put out a great defensive effort against the Cougars, keeping the game tight at 32-32 with close to eight minutes left in the game.
Senior guard Erin Thorn took control of the game, sinking two treys to put the Cougars up 38-35.
Thorn said the team finally kicked it up a notch in the last eight minutes of the game.
“We just decided to play the last eight minutes hard,” Thorn said.
Judkins agreed, but credited Weber State”s defense in keeping the game so close.
“About the last ten minutes of the game we really got everything together,” Judkins said. “We have to give Weber credit, though. They played good defense.”
Senior forward Jennifer Leitner led all scorers with 15 points. Thorn added 14. Lisa Hansen had three blocks and six rebounds.
The Cougars picked up their shooting percentage in the second half, lifting their overall shooting percentage to 40 percent.
Senior forward Crystal Howe led the Wildcats with 13 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. The Wildcats out-rebounded the Cougars 37-33 and shot 26 percent from the field.
Judkins did find some good points in the game.
“I was very happy with our team defense,” Judkins said. “We know our offense will come.”
BYU picked up another notch in the win column last Wednesday night with a 67-53 win against the Boise State Broncos.
Leitner scored 18 points and tore down a game-high 17 rebounds in the win. Thorn also played a great game, scoring 18 points, including 4-of-8 from three-point land and dishing out seven assists.
Thorn said the Cougars big upset over Texas made BYU a little complacent going into the game.
“We underestimated them,” Thorn said. “We just didn”t take it as serious as we need to, and I hope that doesn”t happen again.”
The wins raised the Cougars record to 3-0.
The Cougars begin a tough three-week road trip Tuesday night against Southern Utah University. BYU will play its first ever contest at the University of San Francisco on Dec. 5. The Cougars finish this week”s leg of the trip on Saturday, Dec. 7 in Portland, Ore. at the Rose Garden.
