Another victory came for BYU women’s basketball against Loyola Marymount as senior Kim Beeston took the lead with a career high of 27 points, leading the Cougars to a 91-67 blowout victory in Los Angeles.
“Tonight Kim was feeling it,” said BYU head coach Jeff Judkins. “It was probably the best all-around game of her career.”
Beeston had a career-high nine three-pointers, tying her with All-American Erin Thorn as the only other player in BYU women’s history to make nine shots from beyond the arc in a single game. Beeston had 21 points, seven for seven in the first half, leading all scorers.
Senior Jennifer Hamson wasn’t far behind with 23 points and a career high of 19 rebounds. Hamson was only one point away from a double-double in the first half with 10 rebounds and nine points. She made up for it 30 seconds into the second half, when making two free throws gave her her 19th double-double of the year and the second straight.
Apparently it was the night for setting records; junior Stephanie Rovetti made it off the bench to score a career high of 12 points.
After sophomore Kylie Maeda scored the first basket of the game, the Cougars took off full speed with three three-pointers from Beeston. Junior Morgan Bailey followed with a layup, putting BYU at a 22-12 advantage.
The Lions kept up for a while with seven consecutive points. Beeston’s fifth straight three-pointer finished off the Cougars’ 8-0 run, putting BYU up by 11.
Beeston hit her career-high fifth three-pointer two minutes before halftime, raising the Cougars to a 24-point advantage. After halftime both teams traded points before the Lions ran a 7-0 followed by Judkins’ first timeout of the game. Nine more points from Loyola Marymount set BYU back to a 14-point lead.
Beeston made her ninth three-pointer with 4:49 left in the game, followed by Hamson making eight of BYU’s next 10 points before the media timeout. Following the break, Hamson collected her 19th board.
BYU finished the game out-shooting the Lions 45 percent to 32 percent from the floor and outscoring 14-7. The Cougars left with a 91-67 road victory, not far off from their first matchup win over Loyola Marymount at 90-72.
“The last few weeks everyone has been really consistent offensively and defensively,” Judkins said. “We can use this win to continue to build on that heading into next week.”
After two weeks on the road, BYU will return home for the last home game of the season against San Diego, also serving as senior night. The game will begin at 1 p.m. (MST) and will be broadcast live on BYUtv.
