PROVO, Utah – Senior guard Malia Nawahine and BYU women’s basketball routed Portland 73-35 Thursday night at the Marriott Center on Senior Night.
“I thought it was a great game today,” BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. “I thought we played the best defensively during the first quarter than we have in a long time. The way they played, the way they moved and the way they helped each other is the way that defense is supposed to be played.”
Nawahine led the Cougars with 23 points to go with six rebounds. Cassie Broadhead Devashrayee had six assists and collected 13 points, pushing her into 18th all-time in BYU scoring history. Brenna Chase picked up 10 points and four assists while Paisley Johnson came off the bench to score nine points. Sara Hamson had five blocks and seven boards while Shalae Salmon added eight rebounds in the win.
Nawahine collected the first seven points of the game for BYU (16-12, 11-6 West Coast Conference) from a pair of free throws, a 3-pointer and a fast-break layup.
Broadhead Devashrayee followed that up with three-straight buckets to help make it 20-3, forcing a timeout from Portland (6-22, 2-15 WCC).
A trey and free throw from Johnson and another two shots from the charity stripe by Nawahine then ended the first quarter with the Cougars in front 26-3.
Johnson and Nawahine combined to score 10-straight points to increase the advantage to 30, 36-6, with just under seven minutes left in the quarter.
The Pilots then went on an 8-2 run to cut the lead to 28, 42-14, but a jumper from Maria Albiero ended the half with BYU ahead 44-14.
The second half began much more competitively as a Salmon jumper kept the Cougars in front 54-20 with under five minutes to go.
A Chase 3-pointer helped BYU stay ahead 62-29 to end the quarter. Treys from Liz Eaton and Nawahine then started things in the fourth as the Cougars led 68-32.
BYU eventually collected the 73-35 win, its largest lead of the night, after another Albiero bucket.
Following the conclusion of the game, the Cougars’ three seniors (Devashrayee, Nawahine and Amanda Wayment) were honored for their careers at BYU.
The Cougars hit the road next, traveling to Gonzaga for their final regular-season game of the year. The game will be broadcast live on BYU Radio and streamed live on TheW.tv. Links to the video and audio streams can be found on the BYU women’s basketball schedule page.
BYU vs. Portland Postgame Notes
Team
BYU led Portland 26-3 at the end of the first quarter. Three points makes for the least points allowed by the Cougar defense in any quarter this season. The Cougars took the 44-14 lead into halftime, their largest halftime lead of the 2017-18 campaign. BYU is now 14-1 when leading at the break.
The Cougars won the contest against Portland 73-35 and claimed their largest margin of victory this year.
For the ninth time this season, three Cougars scored in double figures: Nawahine (23), Devashrayee (13) and Chase (10).
BYU finished the game with 23 bench points to Portland’s 11. The Cougars also outscored the Pilots in points in the paint for the third-straight game, 18 to 14.
The Cougars tallied 39 team rebounds, while the Pilots had 35. BYU has outrebounded its opponent in 13 games during the 2017-18 season.
Player
Cassie Broadhead Devashrayee knocked down two 3s in the first quarter to pass Mindy Nelson Bonham in all-time 3-pointers, with 97. She finished the contest going 3 of 6 from behind the arc. With her 13 points, Devashrayee continues her streak of scoring in double figures in every game this season. The senior now has 1,297 points as a Cougar, passing Haley Hall Steed for 18th in all-time career points. The senior also recorded six assists in the win to move to 15th in all-time assists.
Malia Nawahine scored the Cougars’ first seven points. She led all scorers with 18 points at halftime. Finishing the game with a game-high 23 points, Nawahine recorded her third 20+ point game of the season. The graduate student went 3 of 5 from behind the arc to log her sixth game this season with three or more 3-pointers.
Brenna Chase scored in double figures for the 22nd time this season. Chase finished the game with 10 points, three steals, four assists and two rebounds.
Amanda Wayment finished Senior Night with two points, three rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Paisley Johnson had nine points, one assist and one steal.
Quotes
Head Coach Jeff Judkins
What do you say about the seniors? I’ve been through a lot of war with those three. Amanda and Cassie were great here for their four years and they’re hard to replace. This is a sad day for a coach. The only thing that makes it a little easier is that I’ve done this for 17 years.
Cassie is probably one of the best players that has every played here and she will be missed. Amanda just does her work. She just does whatever her team needs to win and you have to have players like that. You can’t have everybody shooting the ball and trying to be stars. You have to have people do the little work for your team to be successful.
It was nice to see Malia play one of her best games offensively tonight. She has been a great addition to this team and I wish I had her for three more years.