PROVO -- The BYU women's basketball team gave the No. 24 Arizona Wildcats all they could handle before finally giving way, 76-73, on Saturday at the Marriott Center.
"I'm really proud of our team," BYU coach Jeff Judkins said. "We got down, but we came back. If the game had been three or four minutes longer, we'd have won."
The Cougars used a balanced effort to play even with the Wildcats. Five Cougars scored nine or more points, led by junior forward Ambrosia Anderson who scored 17 points. Julie Sullivan, Kristen Kozlowski and Danielle Chessman all scored in double figures for the Cougars, while freshman Mallary Gillespie added another nine points.
Strong rebounding leading to second chance points also helped the Cougars compete with the Wildcats.
Chessman pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds, six more than any other player in the game, to give her the eighth double-double of her career. Thanks to Chessman's efforts, the Cougars outrebounded the Wildcats 36-31, which led to 17 second-chance points.
The Cougars came out strong opening up an early 20-11 lead behind the sharp shooting of Anderson and forward Nancy Seljaas, who each nailed two 3-pointers.
Arizona came charging back behind a quick and aggressive defense that forced the Cougars into 13 turnovers by halftime. Judkins said Arizona switched defenses to get the Cougars out of their pattern.
"They've got size and quickness," Judkins said. "They can pressure. We turned the ball over too many times."
The Wildcats' defense was led by lightning-quick guard Dee-Dee Wheeler who finished the game with four steals. The change in defenses allowed the Wildcats to finish the half on a 28-8 run to go up 45-33 at half time.
BYU regrouped and came out focused and fought their way back into the game during the second half. With less than three minutes to go, Gillespie hit a jumper to cut the lead to 72-69. A little more than a minute later, Gillespie dropped in another bucket to cut the lead to 76-71. The Wildcats missed two free-throws, while Anderson hit two, cutting the lead to three, with less than 10 seconds to play.
Wheeler missed two more free throws to give the Cougars one last chance to tie the game with 6.8 seconds left, but the quick Arizona defense kept the Cougars from getting off a final shot.
Judkins said he was pleased with his team's effort and the game was a good learning experience for the Cougars.
"This is why we scheduled this game," Judkins said. "We'll face teams like this in the NCAA tournament."
The Cougars (2-1) head on the road to face the University of Portland on Tuesday, before returning home on Dec. 6 to host George Washington at 5:30 p.m. in the Marriott Center.
Official Basketball Box Score
AZ vs Brigham Young
11-27-04 2:00 PM at MARRIOTT CTR, BYU, PROVO, UT
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VISITORS: AZ 3-1
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
00 POLK,Shawntinice.... * 7-14 0-0 0-1 0 6 6 2 14 3 1 5 0 30
11 WHEELER, Dee-Dee.... * 6-10 0-2 7-10 0 1 1 4 19 8 2 0 4 31
20 ARNOLD, Jessica..... * 3-7 3-4 0-0 0 2 2 2 9 2 2 0 0 27
23 JONES, Natalie...... * 5-9 1-3 0-0 1 1 2 2 11 2 3 0 3 35
50 HOBSON, Shannon..... * 6-9 0-0 0-0 3 2 5 4 12 1 3 0 0 26
10 PACE, Linda......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 3
12 WHISONANT, Ashley... 2-6 0-1 1-3 0 4 4 2 5 3 2 1 3 22
22 OH, Che............. 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 3 4 3 2 2 1 0 0 21
33 SMITH, Chari........ 2-2 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 4 0 2 0 0 5
TEAM................ 3 2 5
Totals.............. 32-58 4-10 8-14 9 22 31 20 76 21 17 6 11 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 19-34 55.9% 2nd Half: 13-24 54.2% Game: 55.2% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-7 42.9% 2nd Half: 1-3 33.3% Game: 40.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-6 66.7% 2nd Half: 4-8 50.0% Game: 57.1% 2
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HOME TEAM: Brigham Young 2-1
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 SELJAAS, Nancy...... * 2-6 2-4 0-0 1 3 4 1 6 1 1 0 0 22
14 SULLIVAN, Julie..... * 2-8 0-2 6-6 1 1 2 4 10 4 4 0 0 31
32 KOZLOWSKI, Kristen.. * 4-8 0-0 5-7 1 2 3 1 13 2 3 0 0 28
35 JOHNSEN, Melinda.... * 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 1 20
51 CHEESMAN, Danielle.. * 5-9 0-0 2-2 6 7 13 2 12 2 1 0 1 28
10 STRATTON, Laura..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+
13 GOOLD, Tiari........ 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 3 3 1 0 0 10
15 KEELE, Jennie....... 1-3 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 3 1 0 0 0 3
30 GILLESPIE, Mallary.. 4-10 0-6 1-2 1 1 2 2 9 1 1 0 1 25
33 ANDERSON, Ambrosia.. 4-11 2-3 7-8 1 6 7 2 17 1 3 1 1 26
50 ABELL, Mary Martha.. 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
52 RILEY, Lauren....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 3 0 1 6
TEAM................ 4 1 5
Totals.............. 23-57 6-19 21-25 15 21 36 17 73 15 19 1 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-27 40.7% 2nd Half: 12-30 40.0% Game: 40.4% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-10 50.0% 2nd Half: 1-9 11.1% Game: 31.6% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-7 85.7% 2nd Half: 15-18 83.3% Game: 84.0% 1
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Officials: RANDY CAMPBELL, SUE KENNEDY, & RICK MORRIS
Technical fouls: AZ-None. Brigham Young-None.
Attendance: 661
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
AZ............................ 45 31 - 76
Brigham Young................. 33 40 - 73