Strong defense and 27 points off of turnovers were key as the BYU women’s basketball team beat the University of San Francisco 68-63 Thursday night, improving their record to 16-5 on the season.
Morgan Bailey led the Cougars with 19 points and 11 rebounds as she joined the 1,000-point club after scoring her first eight points of the game. Makenzi Morrison and Lexi Eaton both had 16 points, while Kylie Maeda had 10, putting four of BYU’s five starters in the double digits.
“This was a great team effort and a huge win on the road,” BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. “Our kids played hard and made huge baskets when we needed them to. We got some balanced scoring, and that’s nice to see. Morgan had another great game, and I’m happy for her and her accomplishment of reaching 1,000 points.”
BYU came out of the locker room strong and went on a 10-2 run to lead 41-29 with 14:30 left in the game.
Cougar turnovers enabled San Francisco to put together a 20-4 run in the last eight minutes of the game to bring the game within one point with 30 seconds left.
The Dons had to foul Morrison, who converted both of her free throws to give the Cougars some breathing room. San Francisco missed its next shot and fouled Eaton, who made one of two free throws.
San Francisco was able to make a three-pointer to bring the game back within one with two seconds left in the game. The Dons fouled Maeda, who made both of her foul shots. BYU then was able to force a turnover to secure the win.
