BYU vs. Missouri Box Score

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AUSTIN, Texas — Despite double-figure performances from three Cougars, BYU women’s basketball fell to Missouri, 78-69, in the first round of the NCAA tournament, Saturday.

“I am really proud of my team,” BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. “We have had a great year. The seniors have been not just great players, but great leaders. We had a great season and we won a conference championship. We are sad about this loss, but we will learn from it and build off of it.”

With the loss the Cougars finish the 2015-16 season with a 26-7 record, a West Coast Conference regular season title, and a third straight appearance in the NCAA postseason tournament.

Lexi Eaton Rydalch finished the game with a game-high 22 points. She went 5 of 5 from the foul line and tallied one rebound and one assist. Kalani Purcell tied a career-high in scoring with 19 points. She also added nine rebounds and four assists. Makenzi Morrison Pulsipher had 13 points and four rebounds.

Pulsipher opened the fourth period with a 3-point field goal to cut the Missouri lead to eight, 60-52. Kylie Maeda then scored on a backdoor layup to bring the Cougars within six, 60-54. At the 7:50 mark, Purcell cut the lead to four, 60-56, as she finished a layup in the lane.

The Tigers increased their lead back to six, 62-56, on a jumper by Jordan Frericks. On the next BYU (26-7, 16-2) possession, Pulsipher got fouled on a jumper and made two free throws to put the Cougars back within four, 62-58. The Cougars played lock-down defense on the next Missouri possession to force a key turnover.

At the 4:25 mark, Amanda Wayment finished a layup under the basket to put BYU within two, 62-60. On the next Tiger possession, Wayment fouled out of the game putting the Tigers on the line. Frericks sank both free throws to give Missouri the 64-60 lead.

With 2:42 to go, Purcell got fouled in the paint and put the Cougars within two, 64-62, as she went 2 of 2 from the foul line. The Tigers then regained the four-point 66-62 lead. With 2:19 to go in the fourth period, Rydalch made a pull up jumper to put BYU within two again, 66-64.

Missouri scored three straight points and pulled ahead by five, 69-64. With under a minute to go, Missouri’s Robinson sank two more free throws to go up by eight, 72-64.

In the first period, the Tigers struck first on a layup by Lindsey Cunningham, but the Cougars retaliated on the next possession to make the score 2-2. Pulsipher tied the game at 6-all at the seven minute mark as she made a 15-foot baseline jumper. On the next BYU possession, Pulsipher helped the Cougars take their first lead of the game, 7-6, as she went 1 of 2 from the free throw line.

BYU took the five-point lead, 11-6, midway through the first period as Rydalch scored her second basket of the game. With 1:40 to go in the first period, the Tigers tied the game at 13-fueled by a layup Juanita Robinson hit a 3-point field goal.

Purcell put the Cougars back up by two, 17-15, as she took the ball to the hoop and scored. BYU took the 17-15 lead into the second period.

The Tigers hit their second 3-point field goal of the game to open the second period. Missouri then increased its lead to three, 20-17, on a layup by Frericks. At the 5:41 mark, the Tigers pulled ahead by six, 27-21, as Sierra Michaelis made a pair of free throws.

Missouri then went on a 6-0 run after the second period media timeout to take the 33-21 lead, forcing a Cougar timeout.

Rydalch put a stop to the Tiger run as she converted a 3-point play to cut the lead to nine, 33-24. On the next BYU possession, Rydalch got to the free throw line again, cutting the Tiger advantage to seven, 33-26.

Under a minute to go, Pulsipher hit a crucial 3-point field goal to put the Cougars within four, 35-31, going in to the half. Rydalch led all scorers with 15 points at the break, and Purcell had a game-high eight rebounds. Both teams shot 50.0 percent in the first half.

Missouri scored a basket quickly out of the break, but BYU then scored four straight points to make the score 37-35. The Tigers then went on an 8-0 run to take the 45-35 lead.

At the 6:29 mark, Purcell made the basket and got fouled to put a stop to Missouri’s run, cutting the lead to seven, 45-38. After a Tiger lay up, Rydalch converted her first 3-pointer of the game to bring the Cougars within six, 47-41. Missouri then went on a 5-0 run to make the score 52-41.

The Cougars cut the Tiger lead to five, 52-47, as Pulsipher and Rydalch both hit a pair of free throws. Missouri extended its lead to 10, 58-48, as Sophie Cunningham drove to the hoop. BYU went into the fourth period down 11, 60-49.

Missouri finished the game shooting 56.8 percent from the field to BYU’s 47.2. The Tigers outrebounded the Cougars 30 to 20 and had 15 assists to BYU’s six. The Cougars finished the game with 26 points off of turnovers to the Tigers’ 17.

Postgame Notes

Team

In the first half, the Cougars and Tigers had the same number of rebounds with 14 each. For the game, BYU pulled down a total of 20 rebounds while Missouri grabbed 30.

The Cougars dished out two assists through the first 20 minutes of action. The Tigers had eight. BYU finished with six assists while Missouri dished out 15.

For the 17th time this year, at least three players scored in double figures. In the game vs. Missouri, Rydalch had 22, Purcell tallied 19 and Pulsipher finished with 13 points.

BYU had two steals while Missouri had four in the first half of play. At the end of the game, the Cougars had the advantage with eight while the Tigers had six.

Player

Lexi Eaton Rydalch led all scorers in the first half with 15 while shooting 6 of 12 from the field and 3 of 3 from the free throw line. For the 26th time this year, she tallied 20-plus points in a game with 22 points. Rydalch went 5 of 5 from the free throw line, had one rebound and one steal.

Kalani Purcell had the most rebounds with eight in the first 20 minutes of the game. She also contributed six points, shooting 3 of 4 from the field.  She finished the game with a near double-double from 19 points and nine rebounds. Purcell also had four assists and three steals. The assists and steals were team bests while the 19 points tied for career bests.

Makenzi Morrison Pulsipher picked up her 23rd game scoring in double figures with 13. She grabbed four rebounds, had two steals and went 5 of 6 from the free throw line.

For the first time since, Nov. 24, Micaelee Orton returned to the starting line up since injuring her knee.  She saw her first action since the injury on Dec. 23 in the first league game of the year at San Diego. Orton played 19 minutes, had one rebound, one block and two points.

BYU vs. Missouri Notes
NCAA Bracket
Tickets to First and Second Round

PROVO, Utah—As the No. 7 seed in the Bridgeport Regional, BYU women’s basketball (26-6) is participating in its 12th NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championships.

The Cougars will travel to Austin, Texas, to play No. 10 seed Missouri (21-9) Sat., March 19, at 5:30 p.m. CT. The game will air on ESPN2/ESPN3 and can be heard live on BYU Radio on Sirius XM 143.

A win over the Tigers would send the Cougars into the second round on Mon., March 21 where they would play the winner between No. 2 seed and hosts Texas vs. No. 15 seed Alabama State. BYU has a 5-11 record in the NCAA, which includes two Sweet 16 finishes in 2002 and 2014.

BYU at a Glance
The Cougars are led by 2016 West Coast Conference Player of the Year Lexi Eaton Rydalch who averages 24.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.6 steals per game. The Mapleton, Utah, native was also a first team honoree while leading the team and the league in scoring. She ranks fifth nationally in points per game. This season she became the WCC’s all-time leading scorer for both men and women while ranking second all-time at BYU in women’s basketball.

Makenzi Morrison Pulsipher follows in scoring with 12.7 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.9 assists and a team-best 2.1 steals. Pulsipher picked up WCC Second-Team honors. She ranks 10th in scoring and sixth in both free-throw percentage and in steals in the conference.

The WCC’s Newcomer of the Year, Kalani Purcell, is the Cougars’ third leading scorer with 11.8 points, and with a team-best 12.7 rebounds, is averaging a double-double. She leads the way in assists with a 4.8 average and has recorded 18 double-doubles so far this season. Purcell led the league in rebounding, assists, defensive rebounds and in minutes played. She ranks second nationally in defensive rebounds and is fifth in rebounds per game.

BYU won its first regular season WCC title with a 16-2 mark and went 12-0 at home while compiling the program’s longest winning streak with 16-straight victories. The Cougars have been in and out of the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll the past three weeks, coming in at No. 22 on Feb. 23. They fell out of the poll after the road loss at Gonzaga and then came back in at No. 24 on March 8.

The Cougars have played five teams that are in this year’s NCAA tournament, No. 4 seed Texas A&M, No. 6 seed Oklahoma, No. 8 seed Georgia, No. 13 seed and fellow WCC foe San Francisco, and No. 14 seed Hawaii. BYU beat Texas A&M, Hawaii and swept the regular season series vs. USF.

BYU is scoring 69.7 points and grabbing 38.0 rebounds while shooting 42.5 percent from the field, 69.9 percent from the free throw line and 37.0 percent from 3-point range. The Cougars are holding opponents to 61.6 points per game.

• Head coach: Jeff Judkins (Utah, ‘78) 15th season
• Team’s leading scorer: #21 L. Eaton Rydalch, 24.3 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #32 K. Purcell, 12.7 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #32 K. Purcell, 4.8 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #23 M. Pulsipher, 2.1 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #32, K. Purcell, .78 bpg

MISSOURI at a Glance
Missouri (21-9) is in its 10th overall NCAA appearance and its first since the 2006 season. The Tigers are 4-9 in the postseason tournament and won their last game in a Sweet 16 run in 2001. Missouri finished seventh in the SEC with an 8-8 mark.

Two players are scoring in double figures for the Tigers led by 13.5 points from Sophie Cunningham. Jordan Frericks follows with 12.1 points and a team-best 7.8 rebounds. 

Missouri is scoring 68.1 points while shooting 43.4 percent from the field, 32.4 percent from behind the arc and 75.6 percent from the charity stripe. They are holding opponents to 57.6 points.

• Head coach: Robin Pingeton, Sixth season
• Team’s leading scorer: #3 S. Cunningham, 13.5 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #22 J. Frericks, 7.8 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #11 L. Cunningham, 3.3 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #22 J. Frericks, 1.3 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #21 C. Porter, .76 bpg

Series History
Missouri leads 5-0. When playing on a neutral court, the Tigers hold a 3-0 edge over the Cougars. The last meeting between the two was on Dec. 6, 1997, when Missouri beat BYU 72-66 in Columbia.

Coming Up
A win over the Tigers on Saturday would send the Cougars into the round of 32 for a Monday, March 21 game with the winner of the other Saturday contest between No. 2 seed and hosts Texas vs. No. 15 seed Alabama State.