PROVO -- To finish off the year, the BYU women’s basketball team added another win to its winning streak with seven (9-2) beating Arkansas State (5-7) at the Marriott Center on the hardwood Tuesday night 49-39.
“I am happy with the win,” said head coach Jeff Judkins. “While I didn’t think we were mentally in the game tonight, we had some solid play from key players.”
Sophomore sensation Mindy Nielson led her Cougars in scoring with 13 points on the night, as well as three assists and one steal to put away the Red Wolves of Arkansas State.
“Mindy got us going and made some good baskets for us,” said Judkins.
Senior Shawnee Slade followed her in points with seven and led the team in assists with four. Senior Cassie King had three turnovers, three steals and nine defensive rebounds.
Coriann Wood, Sarah Red-Hostetter and Kristen Riley all came off the bench scoring seven, five and six points, respectively. BYU’s bench outscored Arkansas State by 12 points.
Beginning the scoring drive for the Cougars was Nielson who scored the first four points for the Cougars. However, the Red Wolves stayed on their heels capturing an early lead.
Coming off the bench to score six points in a row was freshman Kristen Riley in her first five minutes of play. Riley would go on to play 14 minutes for the Cougars and post five rebounds.
Senior Sarah Red-Hostetter drained a three at the 11:14 mark at the shot clock buzzer to put the Cougars ahead for the first time since the start of the game at 15-12.
Without a Cougar score for over seven minutes, Red-Hostetter stopped the streak with a layup, making the score 17-21 at the 3:45 mark.
Sophomore Keilani Moeaki drained a three at the 1:17 mark, minimizing the deficit to 19-23, followed by Nielson ending the half the way she started it with a jumper and a made free throw to make it a one-point game (22-23) going into the locker room with the Red Wolves leading.
Senior Shawnee Slade led off the Cougars in the second half with a jumper from the right side to take back the lead at 24-23. Slade sparked a 13-2 run, giving the Cougars their largest lead of the game at 35-25.
“I’d say the eight minutes we got up on them by 10 points was the turning point in the game,” said Judkins.
The Cougars held their lead for the rest of the game, finishing off the Red Wolves 49-39 after many called fouls.
Tuesday’s win marks the first victory over Arkansas State for BYU. The first meeting of the two teams was last season with the Red Wolves picking up the one-point 54-53 victory.
“I am pleased with where we are in the preseason—I’d like to be better, but I think this team is on the right track,” said Judkins.
The Cougars will next travel to the University of Portland on Jan. 3 for a 3 p.m. MT game before the start of the Mountain West Conference race.
The 2009 league battle begins at home as BYU hosts CSU on Sat., Jan. 10 in a 3 p.m. tip off, before playing at TCU on Jan. 13.
Official Basketball Box Score
Arkansas State University vs Brigham Young
12/30/08 7:00PM at Marriott Center Provo Utah
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VISITORS: Arkansas State University 6-7
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 TAYLOR, Jazmine..... * 1-6 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 2 3 3 0 3 33
11 JEFFERSON Ebonie.... * 1-3 0-0 0-1 0 4 4 3 2 4 3 0 2 21
21 HURST, Shania....... * 4-8 2-2 0-1 0 2 2 3 10 0 4 0 0 26
22 SCOTT, Shay......... * 4-8 0-0 0-0 4 3 7 1 8 0 3 0 0 23
24 SMITH, Veronica..... * 3-14 0-5 5-6 3 5 8 5 11 1 3 0 0 27
15 HILES, Britney...... 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 2 0 2 1 0 1 26
25 STARR, Caroline..... 0-2 0-1 2-2 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 14
30 SCHLUP, Lyndsay..... 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 1 1 12
32 DUNN, Elyseia....... 2-8 0-0 0-2 1 3 4 1 4 0 1 0 1 17
50 HENKE, Linsay....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
TEAM................ 4 9 13 1
Totals.............. 15-53 2-9 7-12 13 31 44 17 39 10 19 1 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-32 31.3% 2nd Half: 5-21 23.8% Game: 28.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-7 28.6% 2nd Half: 0-2 0.0% Game: 22.2% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 1-5 20.0% 2nd Half: 6-7 85.7% Game: 58.3% 1
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HOME TEAM: Brigham Young 9-2
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
03 FOREMAN, Jazmine.... * 1-5 1-2 1-3 0 5 5 3 4 2 1 0 1 32
22 NIELSON, Mindy...... * 5-15 0-3 3-6 2 3 5 2 13 3 1 0 0 33
32 SLADE, Shawnee...... * 3-8 1-1 0-0 0 1 1 3 7 4 1 1 1 32
45 MOEAKI, Keilani..... * 1-4 0-1 3-4 2 1 3 2 5 0 2 2 1 21
54 KING, Cassie........ * 1-3 0-1 0-0 0 9 9 1 2 0 3 0 3 24
01 JACKSON, Jenteal.... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 8
13 JUDKINS, Jaime...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+
14 HOSTETTER, Sarah R.. 2-3 1-1 0-0 1 0 1 2 5 1 2 0 1 16
23 WOOD, Coriann....... 2-9 0-2 3-3 2 4 6 2 7 0 0 0 0 20
35 RILEY, Kristen...... 3-5 0-2 0-0 1 4 5 1 6 0 1 0 0 14
TEAM................ 1 1 2
Totals.............. 18-53 3-13 10-16 9 29 38 16 49 10 12 3 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 9-26 34.6% 2nd Half: 9-27 33.3% Game: 34.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-6 16.7% 2nd Half: 2-7 28.6% Game: 23.1% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-4 75.0% 2nd Half: 7-12 58.3% Game: 62.5% 0,1
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Officials: Kyle Bacon, Darla Foutz, Ken Sowby
Technical fouls: Arkansas State University-None. Brigham Young-None.
Attendance: 514
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Arkansas State University..... 23 16 - 39
Brigham Young................. 22 27 - 49