SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – A troublesome third quarter caused BYU women's basketball to fall 77-60 to Utah Saturday night at the Huntsman Center in the Deseret First Duel.
"We just got outplayed tonight—especially in the third quarter," BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "We came out flat and missed a few wide-open shots and they took it to us. When you have opportunities you have to take advtantage of them and we didn't tonight."
Cassie Broadhead led all scorers with 22 points as she set a new career record for herself. She also brought down three rebounds and had two assists, two blocks and two steals. Broadhead was perfect from the free-throw line, going 6-of-6 on the night.
Kalani Purcell chipped in 15 points and led the team in rebounds and steals with five of each. She shot 7-of-14 from the field. Makenzi Pulsipher added seven points, three rebounds, a team-high three assists and three steals. BYU shot 34 percent from the field and 67 percent from the charity stripe.
Purcell set BYU on a 6-2 run to start the game, scoring all six of the Cougars’ points. Shalae Salmon added two to the board before Utah caught up, 8-8, with 4:58 to go in the first period. Broadhead and Brenna Chase hit back-to-back 3s, extending the Cougars’ lead to 14-8. A layup from Purcell put BYU up 16-8.
A Utah team foul sent Broadhead to the line where she converted both free throws to give the Cougars a double-digit lead over the Utes, 18-8. Utah ended BYU’s 10-0 run on a layup from Joeseta Fatuesi. The Utes went on a 5-0 run to pull within five of the Cougars, 18-13. Broadhead converted two free throws to end the first period leading the Utes by seven, 20-13.
Both teams got off to a slow start in the second period. Utah put the first points on the board at 8:49, while BYU waited until 6:55 to get their first points. On a 6-0 run, the Utes caught up to the Cougars, 22-22. Pulsipher hit her first three of the night to help the Cougars take the lead again, but Utah’s Malia Nawahine put up her own 3-pointer to tie the score again, 25-25. Nawahine helped the Utes to their first lead as she converted 1-of-2 free throws.
Salmon assisted the Cougars in taking back the lead as she was fouled making a lay-in and hit her free throw. A Utah jumper tied the score again, but BYU jumped ahead as Broadhead went into double digits with her third basket from the field. The Utes ended the second period on a 4-0 run, going into the half with the lead, 33-30.
Halfway through the third period, the Cougars hadn't scored. The Utes went on a 14-0 run and led by 17. A Utah foul gave BYU its first points of the second half when Broadhead made two free throws. Purcell and Haley Rydalch chipped in points, but Utah held a 52-36 lead.
The Utes went on an 8-0 run to extend their lead to 24 points. With 1:11 to go in the third period, Purcell was fouled to send her to the line, where she hit 1-of-2. The third period ended with the Cougars trailing the Utes 60-37, scoring only seven points in 10 minutes.
The first two points of the fourth period went to the Cougars as Jasmine Moody put up her first points in the game with two free throws. The Cougars cut the deficit to 17 points as they went on a 7-0 run with a 3-pointer from Purcell. The run ended when Utah’s Paige Crozon hit a 3-pointer with 5:43 to go in the game.
Utah extended its lead to 70-47 with another Crozon 3-pointer before BYU went on an 11-2 run to come within 14 of the Utes with 1:18 to go in the game. Broadhead ended the game with a jumper giving her a career-high record in points with 22, as BYU fell to Utah 77-60.
The Cougars will return to action on Saturday, Dec. 17, in Logan, Utah, against the Utah State Aggies at 2:00 p.m. MST. Live stats for the game can be found on the BYU women’s basketball page.
Postgame Notes
Team
In the first half, the Cougars shot 36.7 percent from the field, while the Utes shot 42.3 percent. From the 3-point line, BYU shot 23.1 percent and Utah shot 44.4 percent. The Cougars finished the contest shooting 34.4 percent from the field, while the Utes shot 48.1 percent. The Cougars led for 12 minutes of the game.
BYU dished out six first-half assists to the Utes’ seven. At the end of the game, BYU tallied nine assists while the Utes had 16.
The Cougars finished the first 20 minutes of play with 13 rebounds while Utah brought down 25. At the end of the contest, BYU had 29 to the Utes 49.
BYU had four first-half turnovers to the Utes’ 11. Teams finished with nine and 20, respectively. In the steal category, the Cougars finished with 14 steals as the Utes ended with seven.
The Cougars scored 28 points in the paint, 25 points off of turnovers and 11 points from the bench. They had six second-chance points and nine fastbreak points.
Players
Cassie Broadhead set a new career record and led the team with 22 points. She added three rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two steals. Broadhead shot 6-of-6 from the free-throw line and 7-of-14 from the field goal line.
Kalani Purcell scored the Cougars’ first six points in the first three minutes of play. She ended the first quarter scoring eight of BYU’s 20 points. Purcell finished the game with 15 points and a team-high five rebounds and five steals after playing the full 40 minutes on the court.
Makenzi Pulsipher chipped in seven points going 2-of-15 from the field and 1-of-11 from beyond the arc. She had a team-high three assists and brought down three rebounds with three steals.
Shalae Salmon and Jasmine Moody both added three rebounds and scored five and four points, respectively.