SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The BYU women's basketball team extended its win-streak to 11 games after earning a 65-56 win over San Diego at Jenny Craig Pavilion on Saturday.
"We made some key plays when we had to," BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "We also executed our game plan when we needed to so those are good things. I thought Jasmine Moody had a really good game for us today. She made some critical free throws that were huge for us."
Shaylee Gonzales led the team with 17 points, five steals, four rebounds, two assists and one block. Paisley Johnson and Jasmine Moody contributed 13 points apiece. Moody added 12 rebounds to her career-best points for her first career double-double.
The Cougars took a 9-8 lead in the first quarter as three players combined for five free throws and Shalae Salmon went 2 of 2 from the field.
BYU put together a 9-3 run as four different players managed to put points on the scoreboard and give the Cougars an 18-12 advantage. However, four-straight points by the Toreros and a free throw by BYU's Moody brought the score to 19-16 as the quarter ended.
Brenna Chase opened the second quarter with five-straight points to aid the Cougars to a 24-16 lead. San Diego answered with back-to-back buckets from beyond the arc but Maria Albiero went down to the other end of the court and knocked in one of her own to keep BYU on top 27-22 with 7:47 on the clock.
With 1:28 remaining in the first half, the Toreros scored four-consecutive points to bring the game within one, 31-30, as the two teams headed into the locker room.
San Diego came out in the second half and took a 34-33 lead early on but Moody hit a jumper to give the Cougars the lead again.
In the final three minutes of the third quarter, BYU outscored the Toreros to extend its advantage to 43-38 as the final quarter began.
San Diego evened the game at 43-all but Johnson gave the momentum to the Cougars as she converted on a 3-point play and was followed by a bucket by Gonzales to extend the lead to 48-43 with 8:30 remaining.
Back-to-back buckets by the Toreros brought the deficit to one point, 53-52, but Moody finished at the charity stripe to keep BYU on top.
Johnson hit two-consecutive 3-pointers in the final two minutes to lead the Cougars to a 65-56 win.
On the game, BYU shot 35.6 percent from the field, 23.1 percent from 3 and 63 percent from the free throw line. San Diego recorded 40.7 percent from the field, 38.5 percent from beyond the arc and 63.6 percent from the charity stripe.
The Cougars continue on the road as they take on Loyola Marymount on Jan. 31, at 5 p.m. PST. The game will take place at Gersten Pavilion and will be streamed on TheW.tv.
Postgame Notes
Team
With the 65-56 road win over San Diego, BYU women’s basketball (17-3, 9-0) extended its win streak to 11 games and remains in first place in the West Coast Conference race.
For the game, the Cougars pulled down 40 rebounds to the Toreros 38, improving its record to 8-1 when grabbing more boards than their opponents.
BYU went into the locker room with a one-point 31-30 edge. Saturday’s game improved the team’s record to 12-1 when leading at the break.
For the ninth time on the season, three BYU players finished scoring in double figures. Shaylee Gonzales (17), Paisley Johnson (13) and Jasmine Moody (13).
The Cougars had recorded six steals through the first 20 minutes of play. At the conclusion of the contest, BYU had 11 steals to USD’s five.
San Diego finished with the advantage in the assists category with 21 to BYU’s 14.
Player
Senior forward Jasmine Moody came off the bench to record her first-ever double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. The boards tied for game highs while the points were career bests.
At the break, sophomore guard Maria Albiero led the Cougars in assists with four. She finished the game with a game-high five assists along with three points, one rebound and one steal.
Freshman Shaylee Gonzales picked up her 20th straight game recording double figures in points with a game-best 17. She also had a game-high five steals, along with four rebounds and two assists.
Sophomore Paisley Johnson tallied 13 points for her 17th game and seventh straight with 10+points. Johnson’s stat line also included one rebound, one assist and one steal. She went 3 of 7 from the free-throw line and 2 of 7 from behind the arc.