The BYU women's basketball team (15-4, 6-0 MWC) remained unbeaten in conference play by beating San Diego State at Cox Arena 54 to 49 Thursday night in San Diego. The victory did not come easy as both teams struggled to find the bottom of the net in the first half.The Cougars struggled in the opening minutes of the game offensively but played great team defense and rebounded the ball well.
The game started out on an offensive high note with BYU's Jennie Keele scoring the game's first two points on a lay-up with 19:41 to go in the first half. The lay-up was answered by San Diego State's Jennifer Layton hitting a jump shot to tie the score at two all. After trading baskets for the next five minutes, the Cougars found themselves trailing the Aztec's 10-9 with 13:44 left to play. Neither team scored again until San Diego State's Desiree Johnson scored on a free throw. BYU finally broke the scoring drought when Melinda Johnsen hit a jump shot with 7:19 left in the half bringing the score to 13-11 for SDSU.
The Cougars' Cassie King tied the game at 13 all with a made lay-up which was followed by the Aztec's Kate Eveland hit a jump shot to bring San Diego State lead to 15-13. BYU's Lauren Riley scored the next three points to give the Cougars a 16-15 lead with 3:48 left to play in the first half.
BYU continued to play strong defense and rebound well as they started to pull away as the first half came to a close. Two free throws by Riley brought the Cougar lead to five, 20-15, with 2:29 remaining before halftime.
San Diego State answered with a four point run led by Quenese Davis to cut the Cougar lead to two, 21-19. BYU countered with a run of their own getting scoring from three different players, Shawnee Slade, Keele, and Mallary Gillespie to give BYU a 30-21 lead going into halftime. BYU finished the half strong shooting 50 percent from the field led by Riley's seven points.
The Cougars came out in the second half strong with Mallary Gillespie scoring a three-pointer to give BYU a 33-21 lead. A combination of Cougar lay-ups, three-pointers, jump shots, and free throws brought the BYU lead to 15, 42-27 at the 10:15 mark of the second half.
BYU continued to maintain a double digit lead with balanced scoring and team defense leading the Aztecs 48-33 with 8:16 remaining in the second half.
San Diego State countered the Cougar attack with an attack of their own, scoring 10 unanswered points and cutting the BYU lead to five, 48-43 with 5:51 left in the game.
Mallary Gillespie hit a jumps hot to bring the score to 50-43 with 4:25 remaining. Johnsen followed her teammate by making a jump shot of her own to bring the Cougar lead back to nine, 52-43.
San Diego State answered with a lay-up by Shanna Demus to cut the score to 52-45. A pair of jump shots by the Aztecs' Lauren Hoisington and Shannon Clay cut the BYU lead to three, 52-49 with 49 seconds remaining.
San Diego State's Jennifer Layton missed a three point shot which was quickly rebounded by the Cougars' Shawnee Slade who was immediately fouled. BYU rebounded the missed Slade free throw and Jennie Keele was fouled. Keele hit both of her free throws and gave the Cougars a 54-49 victory.
"This was a great effort," said BYU Head Coach Jeff Judkins. "We played very well specifically in the first few minutes of the second half."
BYU finished shooting 47.6 percent from the field against the Aztecs making it the best against a league opponent so far this year. This was the seventh time that two players scored in double figures with Dani Kubik-Wright scoring 12 points and Mallary Gillespie adding 10.
Lauren Riley lead the Cougars with 10 rebounds and nine points
"Riley played one of her best games all year," said Coach Judkins.
BYU stays on the road, but close to home as they battle the University of Utah, who is also 6-0 in league play, Saturday at the Huntsman Center. Tip off is set for 1 p.m. The game will air live on the mtn.
Official Basketball Box Score
Brigham Young vs San Diego State
1-25-07 7:05 p.m. at San Diego, Calif. (Cox Arena)
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VISITORS: Brigham Young 15-4 (6-0 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 2-6 0-1 0-0 0 3 3 3 4 3 5 3 0 34
45 WRIGHT, Dani........ f 4-5 1-1 3-4 1 3 4 4 12 1 5 0 0 29
52 RILEY, Lauren....... c 3-6 0-0 3-6 2 8 10 3 9 2 4 2 1 29
15 KEELE, Jennie....... g 3-4 1-1 2-2 1 3 4 3 9 1 4 2 1 25
30 GILLESPIE, Mallary.. g 3-12 1-7 3-4 1 4 5 1 10 3 3 1 0 35
05 CHEESMAN, Ashley.... 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 0 2 1 0 0 0 11
13 JUDKINS, Jaime...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+
32 SLADE, Shawnee...... 2-4 0-1 0-1 2 3 5 1 4 2 1 0 1 28
54 KING, Cassie........ 2-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 4 1 0 1 0 9
TEAM................ 1 3 4 1
Totals.............. 20-42 3-11 11-17 9 30 39 15 54 14 23 9 3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-20 50.0% 2nd Half: 10-22 45.5% Game: 47.6% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-7 28.6% 2nd Half: 1-4 25.0% Game: 27.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 8-12 66.7% 2nd Half: 3-5 60.0% Game: 64.7% 1
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HOME TEAM: San Diego State 9-8 (2-4 MWC)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
22 DEMUS, Shanna....... f 2-8 0-3 0-2 5 3 8 2 4 2 2 0 4 38
24 LAYTON, Jennifer.... f 3-13 1-3 1-2 2 0 2 1 8 0 1 0 1 26
32 JOHNSON, Desiree.... c 0-4 0-0 1-2 1 2 3 2 1 1 0 1 0 14
01 LIPFORD, Tamika..... g 1-3 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 1 2 0 1 0 1 17
03 DAVIS, Quenese...... g 4-16 1-4 3-3 1 3 4 3 12 3 3 1 3 34
11 EVELAND, Kate....... 5-10 3-7 2-2 1 0 1 4 15 0 1 0 2 30
15 HOISINGTON, Lauren.. 1-2 0-0 3-4 2 2 4 2 5 0 1 0 0 12
25 CLAY, Shannon....... 1-5 0-0 0-0 2 3 5 2 2 0 2 0 1 27
30 JACKSON, Erin....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
TEAM................ 2 2 4 1
Totals.............. 17-62 5-17 10-15 17 17 34 17 49 6 12 2 12 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 6-36 16.7% 2nd Half: 11-26 42.3% Game: 27.4% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-8 12.5% 2nd Half: 4-9 44.4% Game: 29.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 8-11 72.7% 2nd Half: 2-4 50.0% Game: 66.7% 3,1
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Officials: Jack Jones, Mazetta Garrett, Kent Johnson
Technical fouls: Brigham Young-None. San Diego State-None.
Attendance: 456
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Brigham Young................. 30 24 - 54
San Diego State............... 21 28 - 49
ID-468107
Points in the paint-BY 28,SD 16. Points off turnovers-BY 9,SD 16.
2nd chance points-BY 10,SD 12. Fast break points-BY 2,SD 6.
Bench points-BY 10,SD 22. Score tied-3 times. Lead changed-2 times.
Last FG-BY 2nd-03:54, SD 2nd-01:03.
Largest lead-BY by 15 2nd-10:47, SD by 6 1st-16:51.