PROVO, Utah (Dec. 7) - The BYU women's basketball team overcame a 12-point halftime deficit to beat Northern Iowa 69-68 in overtime, Thursday, at the Marriott Center.
Good free-throw shooting and tough defense down the stretch proved to be the winning combination for the Cougars. A driving lay-up by junior guard Stacy Jensen tied the game at 61-61 with 16 seconds remaining in regulation. BYU then played stellar defense, not allowing the Panthers to get a shot off and forcing overtime.
In overtime, Jensen hit two free-throws, Caroline Beus made a basket and sophomore All-American Erin Thorn hit four free-throws to put the Cougars up by one as time expired. BYU shot 60.9 percent from the field in the second half compared to a cold 25.9 percent in the first half. Northern Iowa shot 57.7 percent from the field in the first half but the Cougar defense held the Panthers to 40.7 percent shooting in the second half.
"We did a good job adjusting defensively on the interior," head coach Trent Shippen said. "We had to climb back slowly the whole game but the team had the desire and focus to win."
Thorn got off to a slow start but ended the game with 20 points, eight rebounds and six steals. Beus chipped in 15 points and seven boards while freshman Heather Cheesman scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds. BYU made 7-of-9 second half free-throws.
"They (Northern Iowa) are a very good team," Shippen said. "They only had one loss coming in to tonight's game. This is a great win for us on our floor."
BYU improves to 5-2 while the Panthers suffered only their second loss of the season. The Cougars play Montana, Saturday, at 7 p.m., in the Marriott Center.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
PANTHERS vs BYU
12-07-00 4:30 PM at PROVO UT MARRIOTT CENTER
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VISITORS: PANTHERS 7-2
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
41 SPETTEL NIKKI....... f 4-8 0-0 0-0 1 3 4 4 8 3 3 0 3 37
42 MILLER KATIE........ f 3-7 0-1 2-4 1 3 4 4 8 1 2 0 1 26
02 SCHUTTLE ABBI....... c 7-14 0-0 1-2 1 4 5 4 15 2 0 2 0 37
03 DAWSON KARY......... g 4-12 4-8 0-0 0 5 5 1 12 5 5 0 1 34
10 OPP KARA............ g 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 5 0 0 1 0 0 21
30 SEIDL JILL.......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 10
35 BRANDT NADINE....... 2-7 1-4 0-0 0 2 2 4 5 3 0 0 0 21
43 SORRELL KATIE....... 0-0 0-0 2-2 0 2 2 1 2 0 0 0 0 5
44 SWISHER AMY......... 7-10 0-1 0-1 3 0 3 0 14 2 4 0 0 22
51 CLINE KATE.......... 2-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 1 4 0 1 0 0 12
TEAM................ 1 2 3
Totals.............. 29-60 5-14 5-9 9 22 31 25 68 16 16 2 5 225
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-26 .577 2nd Half: 11-27 .407 Game: .483 DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-6 .500 2nd Half: 2-6 .333 Game: .357 REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-4 .750 2nd Half: 1-2 .500 Game: .556 3
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HOME TEAM: BYU 5-2
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
31 OSGUTHORPE, Lisa.... f 0-1 0-0 3-4 1 4 5 2 3 2 2 0 1 31
50 CHEESMAN, Heather... f 6-14 0-1 0-0 1 6 7 0 12 4 1 0 0 31
44 BEUS, Caroline...... c 6-13 0-0 3-4 6 1 7 3 15 1 2 1 1 37
11 THORN, Erin......... g 5-12 2-5 8-9 2 6 8 1 20 0 2 0 6 39
22 JENSEN, Stacy....... g 1-6 0-3 6-6 0 0 0 4 8 6 6 0 2 36
04 SHIPPEN, Kaly G..... 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 1 1 1 3 0 2 0 1 10
14 WHETTEN, Julie...... 0-1 0-1 1-2 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 9
15 COX, Jorja.......... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 9
20 LARSON, Brittany.... 1-2 0-1 0-0 1 0 1 1 2 0 1 0 0 5
23 ROSE, Chanell....... 2-3 0-0 1-2 0 3 3 1 5 1 2 0 0 18
TEAM................ 3 1 4
Totals.............. 22-54 3-12 22-27 15 23 38 15 69 14 19 1 12 225
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 7-27 .259 2nd Half: 14-23 .609 Game: .407 DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-6 .167 2nd Half: 2-4 .500 Game: .250 REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half: 9-12 .750 2nd Half: 7-9 .778 Game: .815 0
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Officials: THOMAS DUKAS, MIKE PETTY, CAROLEE STREEPER
Technical fouls: PANTHERS-None. BYU-None.
Attendance: 311
Score by Periods 1st 2nd OT Total
PANTHERS...................... 36 25 7 - 68
BYU........................... 24 37 8 - 69