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Basketball

BYU women's basketball falls short against Saint Mary's

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Kylie Maeda brings the ball down the court againt Saint Mary's. (Maddi Dayton)

The BYU women's basketball team lost to Saint Mary's College 61-51 Saturday evening.

The two teams fought hard the entire game, but sloppy defense and missed opportunities proved to be the Cougars' downfall.

'The game was lost defensively,' head coach Jeff Judkins said. 'We need to work on our one-on-one defense; we got beat too much.'

The game went back and forth for the first half. The score was 18-18 with nine minutes left in the first half. BYU forward Morgan Bailey made her second 3-pointer of the game to put BYU up 23-18. Makenzi Morrison was then fouled taking a 3-point shot and converted two of her free-throws. Alohi Robins-Hardy took a three and was fouled as well, converting two with one minute left in the first half. BYU led Saint Mary's 31-24 going into the second half.

The Cougars led through most of the second half, but with four minutes left to play Saint Mary's started to break away with a score of 53-45. Lexi Eaton went on a five-point run to bring the Cougars within four points with 40.6 seconds left in the game. Saint Mary's sealed the deal by making six free-throw shots after BYU chose to foul. Saint Mary's Lauren Nicholson led all scorers with 20 points and 11 rebounds.

'We need to just play tougher all-around basketball and work on our defense,' Bailey said.

Bailey gave the Cougars her ninth double-double this season during the game. She scored 17 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. Eaton contributed 17 points and seven rebounds. Robins-Hardy gave the Cougars four points and brought down five rebounds.

The Cougars remain optimistic despite the loss.

'We're not worried about this loss,' Bailey said. 'I am confident the next time we meet them we will win.'