After a 65-60 home win over Nevada, BYU women’s basketball (1-2) continues play on the road this week competing in the Tom Weston Invitational in Laie, Hawaii where they will play three games.
The Cougars battle Butler (0-4) at 3 p.m. HST on Wed. Nov. 26. On Thanksgiving Day BYU plays BYU-Hawai’i at 1 p.m. HST. The Cougars conclude the week with a matchup against No. 20 Oregon State Sat., Nov. 29 at 1 p.m. HST. All games will be played at the Cannon Activities Center on the BYU-H campus.
About BYU
BYU returns three starters and nine letterwinners from last year’s team that compiled a 28-7, 14-4 record. The Cougars finished second in the West Coast Conference and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. This year they were selected to finish second in the WCC regular season.
Morgan Bailey, a 6-foot-2 senior forward leads the team in points and rebounds with 19.7 points and 9.0 rebounds per game. Junior Kylie Maeda tops the list in the assists category for BYU dishing out 3.0 per contest.
The Cougars are scoring 61.3 points per game while shooting 40 percent from the field, 67 percent at the free-throw line, 38 percent from 3-point land and have recorded more assists than their opponents.
• Head coach: Jeff Judkins (Utah, ‘78) 14th season
• Team’s leading scorer: #41 M. Bailey, 19.7 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #41 M. Bailey, 9.0 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #15 K. Maeda, 3.0 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #21 L. Eaton, 2.0 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #20, Cassie Broadhead, 1.5 bpg
About BUTLER
Entering this week’s invitational the Bulldogs are 0-4 on the year. Butler returns five letterwinners from last year’s team that compiled a 16-16, 10-8 record, finishing sixth in the Big East Conference.
Ijeoma Uchendu leads the team with a double-double from 21.0 points and 13.5 rebounds a game. Loryn Goodwin follows with 20.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. Blaire Langlois rounds out the double digit scoring contributing 13.3 points and 3.8 rebounds and a team best 2.5 assists per contest.
Butler scores 58.0 points per game while shooting 34 percent from the field, 65 percent from the free-throw line and 28 percent from 3-point range.
• Head coach: Kurt Godlevske (Northern Michigan,1994) First season
• Team’s leading scorer: #01 I. Uchendu, 21.0 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #01 I. Uchendu, 13.5 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #2 B. Langlois, 2.5 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #32 L. Goodwin, 2.3 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #01 I. Uchendu, .75 bpg
Series History
This will be the first meeting between these two schools.
About BYU-HAWAII
The 2014-15 Seasider team features players from four countries (United States, Tonga, New Zealand and China). In the Tom Weston Invitational, BYU-Hawaii plays the Cougars on Thanksgiving Day and Butler on Saturday, Nov. 29.
BYU-Hawaii returns six letterwinners including four starters from a team that went 3-19, 3-14 last season. The four starters are Brydgette Tatupu-Leopoldo (16.7 ppg, 5.5 rpg), Whitney Fieldsted (6.9 ppg, 8.8 rpb), Marquessa Gilson (6.9 ppg, 4.4 rpg) and Jiashen Cui (7.1 ppg, 1.8 rpg).
This year, the Seasiders were selected to finish 12th in the Pacific West Conference.
• Head coach: Craig Stanger (Western Oregon,1995) 2nd season
• Team’s leading scorer: #22 B. Tatupu-Leopoldo, 16.7 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #35 W. Fieldsted, 8.8 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #33 J. Cui, 2.1 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #35 W. Fieldsted, 1.8 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #42 U. Tonga, .27 bpg
Series History
BYU leads the series 2-0. In the previous two meetings, the Cougars captured a 101-51 victory on Dec. 3, 2010 and an 88-27 win on Nov. 29, 2011. Both games were played on the BYU-Hawaii campus.
About No. 20 Oregon State
Oregon State has compiled a 3-0 record to date, recording home wins over Portland, Utah State and Concordia. In the Tom Weston Invitational, the Beavers play Butler on Thanksgiving Day prior to battling the Cougars on Saturday.
Oregon State returns nine letterwinners including all five of its starters from last year’s team that compiled a 24-11, 13-5 record and tied for second in the Pac-12. Oregon State played in the first round of the NCAA tournament. In this year’s Pac-12 race, the Beavers were picked to finish third.
Four Oregon State players are putting up double digits in scoring, led by 15.7 points from Ruth Hamblin - who nearly gets a double double as she pulls down 9.7 boards per game. Sydney Wiese follows with 11.7 points and 2.3 rebounds, while teammate Ali Gibson contributes 10.7 points and 5.3 boards. Rounding out the double figure scoring is Deven Hunter who tallies 10.7 points and pulls down 5.3 boards per game. The Beavers average 88.0 points a game, shoot 48 percent from the field, 67 percent from the free-throw line and 39 percent from behind the arc.
• Head coach: Scott Rueck (Oregon State, 1991) 4th season
• Team’s leading scorer: #44 R. Hamblin, 15.7 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #44 R. Hamblin, 9.7 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #24 S. Wiese, 6.7 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #14 A. Gibson, 3.0 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #44 R. Hamblin, 3.7 bpg
Series History
Oregon State leads the series 5-4. The two team have not played since the 2000-01 season when the two met in the first round of the postseason WNIT. In that matchup, BYU recorded the 78-63 win in Corvallis. When the two teams play on a neutral court, the record is 1-1.
Up Next
After the three games the team will play in Laie, the Cougar women return to Provo for two games. They host MWC foes UNLV on Thursday, Dec. 4 in the Smith Fieldhouse and then host Colorado State at EnergySolutions Arena on Saturday, Dec. 6. Both of the games will air live on BYUtv and will be simulcast on BYU Radio.