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PROVO, Utah – Kylie Maeda’s career-high tying 17 points helped spark BYU women’s basketball past Pacific 79-62 Saturday afternoon at the Marriott Center.

“I thought in the first quarter we played great defense and capitalized on Pacific's mistakes,” BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. “Overall though, I'm proud of our team. I challenged them at halftime and told them that they had worked too hard to let the game slip, so they'd better bust it. I thought they came out in the second half with a lot of energy - doing what we needed to do offensively and defensively.”

Maeda finished the game with 17 points to go along with a team-high five assists. Lexi Eaton Rydalch added a game-high 26 points to give her 2,065 for her career, passing Erin Thorn for fourth-most all-time. Kalani Purcell contributed a game-high 15 rebounds and five assists while Makenzi Morrison Pulsipher added 14 points. Kristine Fuller Nielson rounded out the double-digit scoring effort for the Cougars with a career-high 11 points, getting nine of those in the fourth quarter.

Pacific (8-7, 1-3 WCC) took an early 5-4 lead before BYU (10-4, 2-1 West Coast Conference) scored the next 16 straight, capped off by a pair of Eaton Rydalch free throws, to go up 20-5.  

The Cougars finished the first quarter on a 6-2 run to extend their advantage to 16 at 26-10. Maeda earned a new season high in points in the first 10 minutes of play with 12.

BYU led by as many as 21 early in the second quarter until the Tigers cut the lead back to 14, 33-19, on a layup.

A 3-pointer and back-to-back Desire Finnie steals and layups brought Pacific back within single digits at 42-36 to end the half.

The third quarter started with an offensive blitz of 3-pointers from both sides before the Cougars got back out to a 10-point lead at 54-44.

Rydalch passed Thorn’s career scoring record on a pair of shots from the charity stripe to extend BYU’s advantage to 12, 61-49, late in the third quarter.

The Tigers cooled off early in the fourth as the Cougars scored 13-consecutive points to take a 76-49 advantage.

Despite a late 13-3 rally from Pacific, BYU closed out the game with a 79-62 win.

The Cougars hit the road next to take on Santa Clara Thursday, Jan. 7, at 6 p.m. PST. The game will be broadcast live on BYU Radio – Sirius XM 143. Links to live stats and the audio feed can be found on the BYU women’s basketball schedule page. 

Postgame Notes

Team
With the win, BYU improves to 5-0 at home on the season. The Cougars outscored the Tigers 26 to 10 in the first period and went into the half up 42-36. BYU outscored Pacific 37 to 26 in the second half for the 79-62 win.

The Cougars finished the contest with four players in double figures: Rydalch (26), Maeda (17), Pulsipher (13), Nielson (11). This counts for the second time this season that four Cougars have scored in double figures.

BYU shot 45.2 percent from the field to Pacific’s 29.2. BYU outrebounded Pacific 46 to 40, tying its season-high rebound record. The Cougars dished out 22 assists to the Tigers 12.

The Cougars scored 30 of their 79 points in the paint, while the Tigers scored 20 points in the paint. BYU had 28 points off of turnovers to Pacific’s 19.

Player

Lexi Eaton Rydalch had 12 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals through the first half of action. She finished the contest with 26 points, passing Erin Thorn’s 2,061 points with 1:16 to go in the third period, making her the fourth leading scorer in BYU history. She now has 2,065 points in her career as Cougar. Rydalch brought down seven rebounds, dished out four assists and had two steals.

Kylie Maeda scored a season-high 17 points as well as tying her career-high. Maeda scored 12 points, going 5 for 5 from the field and 2 for 2 from behind the arc, in the first period of play. She finished the game tied for a game-high five assists.

Makenzi Morrison Pulsipher went into halftime with nine points, three assists and two rebounds. She finished the game with 14 points, four assists, four rebounds and one steal.

Kalani Purcell finished the game with a game-high 15 rebounds, tied for a game-high five assists and led the team in assists with three.

Kristine Fuller Nielson recorded a new career-high 11 points, shooting 4 for 9 from the field.​

BYU Game Notes vs. Pacific

PROVO, Utah — Midway through the second week of West Coast Conference action, BYU women’s basketball (9-4, 1-1) is set to host its second league foe this week.

Pacific (8-5, 1-1) comes to the Marriott Center Saturday, Jan. 2, in a 2 p.m. start. The game can be seen live on BYUtv and will be simulcast on BYU Radio on Sirius XM 143.

BYU at a Glance
Entering the second week of WCC action, BYU has three players that are scoring in double figures. All-American senior guard Lexi Eaton Rydalch leads the way with 23.2 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. Junior Makenzi Morrison Pulsipher follows with 11.7 points. All-American Kalani Purcell, a junior college transfer from Hutchinson Community College and Hamilton, New Zealand, is the third player scoring in double digits with 10.5 points and with a team best 11.9 rebounds is averaging a double-double.

The Cougars are scoring 67.5 points per game, shooting 42 percent from the field, 68 percent from the free throw line and 36 percent from 3-point range. BYU is holding opponents to 60.7 points per game.

• Head coach: Jeff Judkins (Utah, ‘78) 15th season
• Team’s leading scorer: #21 L. Eaton Rydalch, 23.2 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #32 K. Purcell, 11.9 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #32 K. Purcell, 3.9 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #23 M. Morrison Pulsipher, 2.0 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #32, K. Purcell, .85 bpg

PACIFIC at a Glance
Pacific was selected to finish sixth in this year’s WCC preseason poll. Last season they compiled a 21-10 record and had a 13-5 league mark. Pacific also competed in the first round of the WNIT postseason tournament.

After a 69-56 loss at San Diego, the Tigers have an 8-6, 1-2 record heading into Saturday’s game in the Marriott Center.

For Pacific, Hailie Eackles tops the leaderboard in scoring averaging 14.2 points per game. GeAnna Luaulu-Summers follows with 10.9 points and a team-best 5.1 rebounds a contest. Rounding out the double figure scoring for the Tigers is Desire Finnie who contributes 10.0 points per game and 3.0 boards.

The Tigers are scoring 68.2 points per game while shooting 37 percent from the field, 31 percent from behind the arc and 67 percent from the free throw line.

• Head coach: Bradley Davis, First year
• Team’s leading scorer: #23 H. Eackles, 14.4 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #15 G. Luaulu-Summers, 5.2 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #15 G. Luaulu-Summers, 4.1 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #22 D. Finnie, 1.5 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #20 U. Coleman, .85 bpg

Series History
BYU leads the series 8-3. In last year’s regular season meetings, each team won on it’s own home court. When playing in Provo, Pacific has a 2-3 mark.

On January 15, the Cougars recorded the 89-72 victory. Morgan Bailey and Lexi Eaton combined for 63 points in the win. Eaton finished the game with 32 points and eight assists while Bailey picked up her eighth double-double of the year tying her career-high in points with 31 to go along with 11 rebounds. Kylie Maeda added six points and career-high nine assists in the winning effort. Makenzi Morrison also dished out a career-high six assists to go with her seven points. BYU shot 55 percent from the field, 64 percent from 3-point range and 80 percent from the free throw line.

Pacific shot 41 percent from the field, 45 percent from behind the arc and 69 percent at the charity stripe. Lualu-Summers led the Tigers with 18 points off the bench. Unique Coleman contributed 11 points with 13 from N. Queenland.

On Feb. 14 in Stockton, the Tigers picked up the 86-82 win behind 17 points from Hailie Eackles. Madison Parrish scored 15 while Kendall Kenyon picked up a double-double from 14 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Lexi Eaton’s 29 points along with nine rebounds led BYU. Morgan Bailey had another double-double with 28 points and a team-best 11 rebounds. Kylie Maeda contributed 11 points with 10 coming from Makenzi Morrison.

BYU had to come from behind in the contest and got close but eventually fell by four points.

Next Up
After Saturday’s home game vs. the Tigers, the Cougar women head to northern California for their next two league games. BYU is at Santa Clara on Thursday and at San Francisco on Saturday.