NORMAN, Okla. — Despite double figure performances from Lexi Eaton Rydalch and Makenzi Morrison Pulsipher, BYU women’s basketball fell to No. 24 Oklahoma 73-47, Thursday night.
“It seemed like we didn’t work well as a team tonight,” BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. “Defensively we gave them easy baskets which gave them momentum early. You’ve got to give Oklahoma a lot of credit. They did a good job of not letting us penetrate and kick the ball out to open shooters. We are a great shooting team, but we didn’t swing the ball enough tonight to get great quality shots. We'll learn from this and move forward."
Rydalch finished the game with a team-high 15 points, while Pulsipher, who had a career-high 27 points last week against UVU, chipped in 10. Junior transfer Kalani Purcell grabbed a game-high, and and season-best 14 rebounds. Purcell also finished the game with a game-high five assists and six points.
The Sooners (2-1) started the game on a 15-5 run over the Cougars (1-1) ending the quarter up 26-17. Oklahoma shot 11 for 16 through the first 10 minutes of play, while BYU shot a solid 7 of 14 from the field shooting 2 of 4 from behind the arc. Pulsipher and Rydalch contributed 12 of the Cougars 17 points scored.
Both teams were plagued by turnovers throughout the first half, giving away nine apiece, with the majority of the giveaways coming in the second period. Oklahoma outscored BYU 14-8 in the second quarter. Rydalch, who played all 20 minutes of the first half, chipped in six of those eight points, which came from back-to-back 3-point plays as she was fouled driving to the hoop. She finished the half with a team-high 13 points with BYU going into the half down 40-25.
Pulsipher got the Cougars on the board to start the second half with her second 3-pointer of the game at the 8:52 mark for a 43-28 score. The Sooners then went on an 11-1 run triggered by a series of BYU turnovers to go up 54-29. The Cougars finished the game with a total of 24 turnovers to the Sooners 16.
Amanda Wayment came in off the bench and stopped the Sooner run with back-to-back buckets. The first was an 18-foot jumper, which was then followed by a 3-point play. Wayment finished the game with a career-high five points.
Oklahoma outscored the Cougars 25-15 in the third period to go up 60-45 going into the final period of play.
It was a low scoring fourth quarter with just 15 total points scored between both teams, with six of those points coming from the free-throw line. BYU finished the game shooting 13 for 21 from the charity stripe while the Sooners went 8 for 16.
The Cougars grabbed 35 boards to the Sooners 36.
BYU’s bench outscored Oklahoma’s bench 14 to 10. Wayment and teammate Kristine Fuller Nielson both contributed five points each. Freshman Jasmine Moody added another four points, and sophomore Cassie Broadhead added four rebounds.
BYU will travel to Fort Collins, Colorado, to play Colorado State Saturday at 7 p.m. MST. The game can be heard live on BYU Radio on Sirius XM 143 and on the internet at byuradio.org/listen. The game can also be seen on the Mountain West Network.
Postgame Notes
Team
For the game, the Cougars concluded the game with the advantage in points scored by the bench, 14 to 10.
The Cougars shot 62 percent from the free throw line compared with just 50 percent for the Sooners.
In the rebound category, the Cougars had 14 compared with 16 for the Sooners at the break. For the game, BYU finished with 35 boards while Oklahoma grabbed 36.
BYU shot just 37 percent from the field in the first half and finished the game shooting 32 percent from the field and 29 percent from behind the arc.
Player
Kalani Purcell
Kalani Purcell had the most rebounds for BYU after two periods with five. She also dished out the most assists with four. For the game, Purcell finished with a game-best 15 rebounds and a team-high five assists. She also contributed six points in the game.
Lexi Eaton Rydalch led the way for the Cougars in the first half with 13 points. Rydalch finished the game with a team-high 15 points for her second straight double figure outing in points on the year. The total points are the 86th career game with double digits in points for Rydalch.
Makenzi Morrision Pulsipher picked up her second straight game scoring in double figures with 10 points. It’s the 18th career outing putting up double figures in points. She also had three rebounds and went 2 for 2 from the free throw line.
Amanda Wayment came off the bench for the Cougars and recorded season-and career-bests in points with five.