The BYU women’s basketball team couldn’t recover from losing Morgan Bailey to injury, losing 69-59 to San Diego on Saturday.
Lexi Eaton led the Cougars with 24 points, six rebounds and five assists. Alohi Robins-Hardy recorded eight points, and Kylie Maeda added seven. BYU shot seven percent better than San Diego, but the Toreros attempted 13 more shots in the game. San Diego out-rebounded the Cougars by 20 while also scoring 21 points off turnovers and 19 second–chance points.
The game started slow, with both teams playing well defensively. An Eaton drive–and–score gave the Cougars an early four–point lead.
Things turned south for BYU when Bailey injured her back on a play and was forced to exit the game with 12:06 left in the first half. Bailey was able to make it back into the game three minutes later after being examined by the medical staff.
The Cougars’ defense held San Diego to just seven points after eleven minutes of play to lead 15–7.
Bailey was later injured again as she trying to make a play down low and would come out of the game with 6:28 left in the game. Bailey appeared to be in a lot of pain and did not put any weight on her left ankle.
San Diego took advantage of Bailey’s absence, making a run to tie the game 17-17.
Slick passing from Maeda found Robins-Hardy on a 3-pointer to give the Cougars a five-point lead. But San Diego would come back to tie the game at 22 on back-to-back shots to end the half.
Following the break, San Diego went on an 10-1 second-half run by controlling the rebounds on both ends of the court. The Cougars were able to get back their shooting rhythm on another drive from Eaton to cut the lead to five.
Another big 11-1 run put the Toreros up by 13 with 10:00 left in the game. Eaton led the push to close in on San Diego’s lead, as the junior guard scored nine of the Cougars’ final 12 points.
The Cougars would ultimately be done in by San Diego’s Sophia Ederaine, who scored 28 points in Bailey’s absence.
