PROVO, Utah—BYU women’s basketball (7-3) will play its final nonconference game of the 2015-16 campaign this Saturday when it hosts Utah (5-2) at 2 p.m. in the Deseret First Duel between the two in-state rivals.
The game can be seen live on BYUtv and will be simulcast on BYU Radio on Sirius XM 143 and on the Internet at byuradio.org/listen. Video streaming is also available on byutv.org
ABOUT BYU
BYU has three players that are scoring in double figures. All-American senior guard Lexi Eaton Rydalch leads the way with 22.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. Junior Makenzi Morrison Pulsipher follows with 11.7 points. All-American Kalani Purcell, a junior college transfer, from Hutchinson Community College and Hamilton, New Zealand, is the third player scoring in double digits with 10.4 points and with a team best 12.1 rebounds is averaging a double-double.
The Cougars are scoring 67.4 points per game, shooting 42 percent from the field, 69 percent from the free throw line and 37 percent from 3-point range.
• Head coach: Jeff Judkins (Utah, ‘78) 15th season
• Team’s leading scorer: #21 L. Eaton Rydalch, 22.8 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #32 K. Purcell, 12.1 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #32 K. Purcell, 3.8 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #23 M. Morrison Pulsipher, 1.9 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #32, K. Purcell, .60 bpg
ABOUT UTAH
The University of Utah enters Saturday’s Deseret First Duel game with a 5-2 record and is coming off a 74-58 home victory over Creighton.
The Utes return 10 letterwinners and two starters from a team that compiled a 9-21 record and finished in 12th place in the Pac-12 last year with a 3-15 mark. In this year’s conference, Utah was selected to finish in 11th place.
Emily Potter and Paige Crozon top the leaderboard in scoring for Utah with 18.1 and 10.0, respectively. Potter is averaging a double-double with a team-best 11.4 rebounds per game.
As a team, Utah is scoring 69.9 points per game while shooting 46 percent from the field, 73 percent from the free throw line and 28 percent from behind the arc.
• Head coach: Lynn Roberts, first year
• Team’s leading scorer: #12 E. Potter, 18.1 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #12 E. Potter, 11.4 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #22 D. Rodriguez, 5.0 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #14 P. Crozon, 1.4 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #12 E. Potter, 2.6 bpg
Series History
Utah leads the series 62-41. In last year’s matchup between the two in-state foes, BYU won 60-56 in Salt Lake City, on Dec. 13, 2014.
Morgan Bailey led the Cougar effort in last year’s victory with a double-double from 18 points and 10 rebounds. The points were game highs and the boards led the team in that category. Kylie Maeda tallied career bests at that point in the year with 16 points along with a team-best five assists. Lexi Eaton rounded out the double figure scoring for BYU with 13 points along with two rebounds, one assists and one steal. Ashley Garfield tied for team bests in assists with five and had the second-most boards, pulling down seven.
BYU went up by three, 32-29 at the break and eventually won by four. For the game, the Cougars shot 45.3 percent from the field, 71.4 percent from the free throw line and 58.3 percent from behind the arc.
Taryn Wicijowski led the Utes in the game with her own double-double from 15 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. The only other player that finished with double digits in points was Tanaeya Boclair with 11. Utah shot 45.8 percent from the field, 66.7 percent from the charity stripe and 47.1 percent from 3-point range.
In Provo, the Utes have a three-game advantage over the Cougars with a 22-19 mark. The last time Utah won in Provo was during the 2013-14 season when they recorded the 82-74 double overtime victory on Dec. 14.
Up Next
The game vs. Utah concludes BYU’s nonconference portion of the 2015-16 schedule. The Cougar women will begin preparations for the West Coast Conference race. They open up league play on Dec. 23 in San Diego. The Toreros and Cougars tip at 1 p.m. PT.