SAN -- BYU picked up its first Conference road win Saturday night, beating the San Diego State Aztecs 82-50 in San Diego to wrap up the first half of Mountain West Conference play.
The Cougars played perhaps their best game of the season against the Aztecs. The 32-point margin of victory is the largest this season and the Cougars' 82 points ties their season-high offensive output. Saturday night's game was also the first time this season that the Cougars have shot over 50 percent from the floor, going 26-for-50 (.520).
All 14 Cougars played and contributed in the win as three Cougars scored in double figures and everyone put points on the board. Danielle Cheesman scored 13 points, including 11 in the second half, as did Nancy Seljaas, who hit three big three-pointers. Ambrosia Anderson added 12 in the Cougar victory. Freshman Heather Hansen came in late in the game and tied her season-high scoring output with six points and senior Melissa Brown scored her first points of the season, hitting the last bucket of the game. The BYU bench scored 52 points.
"This is a really great team effort," said BYU Head Coach Jeff Judkins. "Our girls stuck together as a team the whole 40 minutes."
After a quick start for both teams, the score was tied 15-15 midway through the first half. Enter Nancy Seljaas, who hit her first three-pointer of the game to spark a 14-0 BYU run. The Cougars went into the locker room up 31-19 and never looked back.
BYU was dominant in every aspect of the game. They out-rebounded SDSU 34-29, had three more steals than the Aztecs (9-6), and out-shot the Aztecs all over the place, shooting 52 percent from the floor compared to SDSU's 35.4 percent. The Cougars held SDSU to just 20 percent shooting from beyond the arc and 53.8 percent from the charity stripe. BYU shot 5-for-11 (.455) from beyond the arc and 25-for-32 (.781) from the line, making 20 of those free throws in the second half. Turnovers and fouls, which are usually a problem for the Cougars, were not even a factor as both teams racked up 22 fouls each and BYU committed only 13 turnovers compared to San Diego State's 20.
The road victory is a huge confidence booster for the Cougars as they get a road split and prepare to start the second half of Mountain West Conference play. BYU improves to 12-9 overall and 2-5 in Conference with the win, moving into a fifth place tie with the Aztecs who are now 7-13 overall and 2-5 in Conference. The Cougars will next be in action Thursday night against Wyoming at home. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
Brigham Young vs San Diego State
2/7/04 5:05 p.m. at San Diego, Calif. (Cox Arena)
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VISITORS: Brigham Young 12-9 (2-5 MWC)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
35 JOHNSEN, Melinda.... f 0-3 0-1 1-2 0 1 1 0 1 3 1 0 1 18
51 CHEESMAN, Danielle.. f 3-7 0-0 7-8 1 5 6 4 13 1 1 0 0 22
40 CHAMBERLAIN, A...... c 1-5 0-0 1-2 0 5 5 4 3 1 2 1 0 17
14 SULLIVAN, Julie..... g 3-5 0-1 1-2 0 1 1 2 7 4 2 0 2 24
15 OVERDIEK, Jennie.... g 3-5 0-0 0-0 2 1 3 3 6 1 0 0 2 17
01 SELJAAS, Nancy...... 4-5 3-4 2-3 0 0 0 3 13 0 1 0 2 16
04 DOOLEY, Kestlee..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 0 0 12
13 GOOLD, Tiari........ 0-0 0-0 3-4 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 1 7
23 HANSEN, Heather..... 2-3 0-1 2-2 0 1 1 0 6 0 0 0 0 6
24 HANSEN, Hollie...... 0-2 0-0 2-2 0 4 4 2 2 0 1 0 1 12
25 TAYLOR, Kali........ 3-4 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 7 0 1 0 0 12
30 BROWN, Melissa...... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 3
32 KOZLOWSKI, Kristen.. 3-5 0-0 1-2 1 3 4 2 7 0 1 1 0 18
33 ANDERSON, Ambrosia.. 3-5 1-2 5-5 2 3 5 0 12 0 0 0 0 16
TEAM................ 1 2 3 1
Totals.............. 26-50 5-11 25-32 7 27 34 22 82 11 13 2 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-29 .414 2nd Half: 14-21 .667 Game: .520 DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-5 .400 2nd Half: 3-6 .500 Game: .455 REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-7 .714 2nd Half: 20-25 .800 Game: .781 3,2
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HOME TEAM: San Diego State 7-13 (2-5 MWC)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
20 STRAWBERRY, Michelle f 3-7 1-3 3-4 0 1 1 1 10 1 3 0 0 26
24 MCCARTNY, Nicolette. f 1-4 0-0 0-0 1 5 6 3 2 2 2 1 0 16
35 DUNLAP, Ashlee...... f 5-12 0-0 1-1 0 4 4 3 11 3 1 1 1 26
04 FRITZ, Courtney..... g 0-5 0-3 1-2 0 0 0 1 1 1 5 0 1 34
05 ELLIOTT, Michelle... g 7-13 1-4 6-12 0 4 4 3 21 1 4 0 3 40
22 LEWIS, Farryn....... 0-1 0-0 0-1 1 2 3 3 0 0 1 0 0 22
23 MATTSON, Candace.... 0-1 0-0 3-6 2 2 4 5 3 0 1 0 0 13
30 JACKSON, Erin....... 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 2 0 0 1 0 1 9
42 CASEY, Lindsey...... 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 1 2 2 2 0 0 14
TEAM................ 1 2 3
Totals.............. 17-48 2-10 14-26 8 21 29 22 50 10 20 2 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 5-17 .294 2nd Half: 12-31 .387 Game: .354 DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-4 .000 2nd Half: 2-6 .333 Game: .200 REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half: 9-17 .529 2nd Half: 5-9 .556 Game: .538 6
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Officials: Sue Kennedy, Randy Coil, Cid Garcia
Technical fouls: Brigham Young-CHAMBERLAIN, A.. San Diego
State-MATTSON, Candace.
Attendance: 622
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Brigham Young................. 31 51 - 82
San Diego State............... 19 31 - 50
ID-211444
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