By Sebastian Dunlap
The BYU women”s basketball team came away from their contest with Cal State Northridge Saturday, Dec. 9, 2006, with a 55-48 win, but it was not pretty.
“This game is good because we won, but it feels like we lost.” coach Jeff Judkins said. “I am just disappointed.”
Judkins also emphasized that his team needs to work on their execution.
“We can”t score,” Judkins said. “I”ll bet we missed 20 lay-ups tonight.”
Missed opportunities, and seemingly “freshman” mistakes from experience players also contributed to the frustrations of the night.
“[Dani] Wright cannot get in foul trouble,” Judkins said. “We can”t have that. She is our best player.”
Additional stress in the win came from the opponent. The Matadors led by one point at halftime, riding the hot shooting of senior center Kristen O”Rourke.
The Cougars came out in the second half and quickly took back the lead less than a minute into the period.
The Cougars held the lead for the rest of the game but were never able to extend it past 13 points. The Matadors” second-leading scorer, LaJoyce King, did not play as a result of a violation of team rules. King”s absence no doubt hurt the team.
Without King, Cal State Northridge had trouble controlling the paint. BYU outscored the Matadors 24-8 inside.
Defensively BYU performed well. Ofa Tulikihihifo, the Matadors top scorer with an average of 15.9 points per game coming into the contest was held to only 11 points. Senior guard Jennie Keele was assigned to defend Tulikihihifo for part of the game.
“I thought Jennie Keele played a nice game tonight.” Judkins said. “She gave us some shots when we needed them, and defended well.”
The players were more excited about the victory than their coach but still recognized it could have been a better game.
“We did not play the best that we could have.” junior guard Mallary Gillespie said. “But we pulled it out.”
BYU plays Weber State on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Marriott Center. The Cougars have only three more games until Mountain West Conference play begins.
