SAN FRANCISCO – A double-double from Morgan Bailey helped BYU women’s basketball hold on to a 68-63 victory over San Francisco on the road Thursday night.
"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 too. 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."
After playing all 40 minutes, Bailey led the Cougars with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Lexi Eaton and Makenzi Morrison both had 16 points and four rebounds apiece. Morrison also dished out a game-high five assists and had a career-high seven steals.
Bailey's 19 points helped her reach over 1,000 career points in this game. Two Dons also passed the 1,000-points milestone in this game: Taj Winston and Taylor Proctor.
The game was tied 4-4 early in the game before BYU (16-5, 8-2 West Coast Conference) went on a 9-0 run that was capped off by a corner three from Xojian Harry. The Cougars led the Dons (13-7, 4-5 WCC) 15-10 after Bailey grabbed an offensive board and made the putback layup with 14:06 remaining. Bailey had eight rebounds in just the first half.
BYU went up 28-18 after going on an 8-0 run made up of a couple of hook shots from Bailey. With 3:55 left, Makenzi Morrison nailed a 3-pointer to give the Cougars their largest lead of the first half, 31-20.
San Francisco closed out the first half on a 7-0 run, but BYU held on to the 31-27 lead going into the break.
The Cougars came out firing on all cylinders as they went on a quick 8-2 run to open up the second half, pushing the lead to 41-29 with 14:41 left in the game.
Eaton scored seven points in a row, including a trey after Bailey saved the ball going out of bounds, to make it 50-34 with under 11 minutes remaining.
Morrison kept it rolling for BYU by scoring a quick five points after a three and a jump shot. With 6:25 in the game, a layup from Bailey pushed the Cougars’ lead to 57-42 over the Dons.
BYU was held scoreless for three minutes, allowing San Francisco to close the gap. When Eaton got a jump shot to fall, the lead was 59-49.
A Dons 3-pointer shrunk the Cougars lead to 59-54 with one minute left. San Francisco went on a 9-0 run and held BYU scoreless for three minutes. Despite the Dons getting within one, 64-63, the Cougars hit key free throws down the stretch to close out the game and hold on to the victory.
BYU’s road trip continues on Saturday against Santa Clara at 2 p.m. PST. The game will be broadcast live on BYU Radio – Sirius XM 143. A live stream and live stats will be available on the BYU women’s basketball schedule page.
Postgame Notes
Team
The Cougars had seven steals in the first half and finished the game with 14 for season bests in that category.
BYU tallied 18 points in the paint compared with six for USF in the first half of play. The Cougars ended the game with 32 points in the paint, compared with 28 for the Dons.
The Cougars took advantage of the Dons turnovers, getting 10 points in the first half. BYU would finish the game with 27 points off of USF miscues. The Dons had 12 points off of Cougar mistakes.
For the third time this year and the first in WCC action, BYU had four players finish the game with double figures in points. Morgan Bailey had a team-high 19 points. Lexi Eaton and Makenzi Morrison finished with 16 points each. Kylie Maeda ended the game with 10.
In the rebound category, USF had the advantage in the game with 35. BYU had 32.
BYU finished the game with the edge in the assists category with 11. San Francisco ended the contest with eight.
Player
With 14:08 left in the first half, Morgan Bailey’s fourth basket of the game put her in BYU’s prestigious 1,000-point club. She becomes the 26th player to reach the milestone.
Bailey led all scorers at the break with 15 points. With the eight rebounds, she also topped the list in that category. She would end the game with 19 points and 11 rebounds for her 10th double-double of the season. The rebounds were game highs and the points tied for game bests.
Makenzi Morrison recorded career and game highs in steals with seven.
She also had 16 points, four rebounds and a game-high five assists. The 16 points marked the ninth double digit outing of the year for Morrison.
Lexi Eaton picked up her 19th game scoring in double figures with 16 points. She also had four rebounds, one assist and one steal.
Kylie Maeda recorded her fourth game with double digits in points with 10. She pulled down five rebounds, dished out three assists and had season bests in steals with three.