It feels good to be home.
The BYU women’s basketball team recovered from a tough stretch of road games to cruise past San Francisco 81–47 in one of its better defensive performances of the season.
“I am really happy tonight,” BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. “I thought the first half was one of our best defensive efforts we’ve had in a while, and to be able to start off 11–0 and not give too many easy baskets early, that was one of the best jobs we’ve done all year.”
The Cougars started off hot in the first few minutes, spurred on by consecutive 3-pointers from sophomores Lexi Eaton and Kylie Maeda. BYU never looked back, leading San Francisco the entire game.
“Everyone played really well tonight. Everyone was aggressive and in attack mode, and that builds confidence, for sure,” Eaton said.
Eaton had 15 of the Cougars’ points at halftime and finished with a game-high 23 points. However, Eaton was just one of four players who scored in double figures for BYU. Junior Morgan Bailey had a double-double of 13 points and 12 rebounds, while senior Jennifer Hamson, who is ranked 16th in the nation in double-doubles nearly finished with a triple-double. She tied her career high for the second straight game with 17 rebounds, and also recorded 14 points and eight blocks.
The Cougars recorded a season-high 58 team rebounds.
“I thought rebounding-wise, we dominated,” Judkins said. “It’s just nice to see two of your bigs have double-doubles and really dominate inside, which I think gave us an advantage today. Hopefully when we play other teams, [Hamson and Bailey] will continue to come out like that.”
Bailey held San Francisco’s leading scorer, Taylor Proctor, to just seven points.
Senior guard Kim Beeston recorded her first ever double-double, as she dished out a career-high 10 assists to go along with 11 points.
“Kim is a great passer and she does a great job of getting the ball where she needs to— she has a great feel,” Judkins said.
BYU used a 12–1 run late in the second half to push the lead to 68–35. Judkins eventually took all of the starters out of the game, allowing a total of 14 players to see time on the floor.
“When we play like that, we are really tough to beat,” Judkins said.
The Cougars are at the Marriott Center again Saturday Jan. 25, as they host Santa Clara at 2 p.m. MST. The game will be shown live on BYUtv.
