BYU vs. Colorado Mesa Facebook gallery

BYU vs. Colorado Mesa Boxscore

PROVO, Utah — Junior Cassie Broadhead went 8-for-8 in the first half and propelled the Cougars to an 81-62 victory over Colorado Mesa on Friday at the Marriot Center with a career-high 20 points.

Broadhead, senior McKenzi Pulsipher and freshman Liz Eaton all scored in double digits in the win. 

“I don’t think we played as well as we needed to,” BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. “I think part of it was the fast turnaround and secondly, you need to learn how to come back after a good game and not be satisfied with that. I thought Cassie played really well; she had one of her best halves. Jasmine (Moody) played well again. And Shalae (Salmon), a freshman, is going to be a really good player. I thought she came in the second half and really banged around. I thought she did the best job of not getting pushed around by their bigs." 

Eaton came off the bench in the second half and recorded a career-high 12 points. Freshman Shalae Salmon contributed seven points for BYU, and both junior Amanda Wayment and sophomore Jasmine Moody finished with six. The Cougars ended the game with nine steals and 25 points off turnovers. Senior Kalani Purcell had a game-high 10 rebounds to go along with her five points and five assists.

The Mavericks claimed the first two points of the contest but after five straight turnovers, BYU went on a 12-0 run and took a 12-2 lead. Three Broadhead field goals and a breakaway layup from Pulsipher extended the Cougars' lead to 13-2, forcing a CMU timeout.

Two 3-pointers from Colorado Mesa cut the BYU lead to 13-8. After a few missed jump shots, the Cougars changed their game plan and drove to the basket on their next possession, with Broadhead drawing a foul and sinking two free throws. Another takeaway for BYU proved fruitless, but Broadhead stripped the ball right back from CMU on the following possession and logged another two points at the other end.

Sophomore MaCayla Hanks recorded her first point of the game off a free throw with under a minute left, but a 3-point play on the other end of the court kept the Cougar lead at single digits, 20-11. With 10 seconds remaining, Purcell sank a layup for a 22-11 advantage to end the first period.

BYU opened the second period of play with a layup from Pulsipher, but the Cougars didn’t find the basket again for nearly four minutes.

Broadhead ended the drought with a layup, and then scored seven more points to give her a total of 19 in the first half. The junior hit a 3-pointer with nearly four minutes remaining and then stripped the ball yet again before finishing with a layup on the other end. With 2:30 left in the half, Broadhead cut through three defenders to find the basket, increasing the Cougar lead to 14, 33-19.

With 1:19 remaining in the half, Pulsipher recorded a four-point play after sinking a 3-pointer and free throw to put the Cougars up 19, 39-20. She scored again less than a minute later off a layup to give BYU a 41-23 lead heading into halftime.

CMU opened the second half scoring a quick two points from Bryanna Adams and continued to chip away at the Cougar lead. Salmon found the net on three straight BYU possessions, and a Moody jumper, followed by another two Pulsipher points, extended the team's lead to 19 points, 55-34. The Cougars finished the period with a 23-point advantage after scores from Eaton and Wayment.

The Cougars began the final period up by 22, 62-40. With 5:25 remaining they held an 18-point lead, 69-51 after four straight Maverick points. Eaton then swished a quick jumper, but CMU answered right back with a 3-pointer by Reichle.

Broadhead found her first point of the second half from a free throw with 3:43 remaining, logging her 20th of the game. Eaton scored a quick five straight points after finding the net on a jump shot and a 3-pointer with 1:55 left on the clock. Haley Rydalch got on the board, making 1-of-2 free throws with just under a minute to go.

The Cougars begin non-conference play, taking on Utah Valley University in Orem on Friday, November 11 at 7:00p.m. The game will be broadcast on BYU Radio and Sirius XM 143. 

Postgame Notes
Team

The Cougars enjoyed an 18-point lead, 41-23 advantage at halftime. BYU forced 15 turnovers in the first 20 minutes of play, scoring 17 points off those turnovers. The Cougars scored 24 points in the paint and had 11 second-chance points to CMU’s seven.

BYU kept its lead through the second half, leading by 23 at one point in the third period. The Cougars dished out 20 assists to the Mavericks’ six and grabbed 45 rebounds in the game, while CMU brought down 30.

The team made 21-of-28 from the free throw line as the Mavericks made 24-of-35 after the two teams totaled 56 fouls.

BYU’s bench outscored CMU’s bench 32 to 18 and had 18 second-chance points to the Mavericks’ 12.

Players

Cassie Broadhead finished the first half with a perfect shooting score, going 8-of-8 from the field, 1-of-1 from 3-point range and 2-of-2 from the free throw line. She added 19 points, almost half of the Cougars’ points in the first 20 minutes. Broadhead finished the game with a team-high 20 points going 8-of-9 from the line. She also chipped in four steals and three assists.

Liz Eaton added 12 points as she went 3-of 6-from the line, 2-of-2 from the 3-point line and 4-of-4 from the free throw line. She forced three turnovers and tallied three rebounds.

Makenzi Pulsipher totaled 10 points in the first half and ended the contest with 15. She had five assists, two blocks and two steals.

Kalani Purcell recorded a game-high 10 rebounds and tallied five assists in the win. She totaled five points and forced four turnovers.

Freshman Shalae Salmon went 3-of-5 from the line and brought down five rebounds.

PROVO, Utah — The 2016-17 basketball season gets underway for the BYU women’s team this week when the squad plays two exhibition games in the Marriott Center.

The Cougars host Westminster, Wednesday, Nov. 2 and Colorado Mesa University, Friday, Nov. 4. Both games are free to the public, tip off at 7 p.m. and will be carried live on BYUtv.

Last season, BYU recorded its 10^th 20-plus win season (26-7, 16-2) under head coach Jeff Judkins and competed in the NCAA tournament for the 12^th time in program history. The Cougars won their first West Coast Conference regular season title, tallied an undefeated 12-0 record at home and went on a 16-game win streak, the longest in program history.

Westminster enters its second season in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) after finishing 12-14, 9-13 last year. The Griffins return 12 players including their top two scorers in Aubrie Vale, 11.6 points and Denise Gonzalez, 9.7 points per game. Westminster was picked to finish 10^th in this year’s 15-member RMAC race.

Colorado Mesa University also competes in the RMAC. They were selected to finish in a tie for fourth place this year. The Mavericks compiled a 17-10, 14-9 record last season. In its first exhibition game of the 2016-17 campaign, Colorado Mesa lost 70-75 to Southern Utah in Cedar City on Oct. 25. Four players scored in double figures for Colorado Mesa, led by 15 points from Erin Reichle. Bryanna Adams tallied 12 with Nicole Archambeau and Sydney Small contributing 11 points each. Archambeau and Na’ata Epenisa topped the rebound category with six rebounds each in the loss.

The Cougars open up the season at Utah Valley University on Friday, Nov. 11. The team’s home opener is on Saturday, Nov. 19 against No. 18 Oklahoma.

More on the Cougars
Building on her already stellar basketball career, All-American and 2016 WCC Newcomer of the Year, senior Kalani Purcell, anchors the BYU team with a double-double 12.0 points and 12.6 rebounds. She also leads in assists with a 4.7 average. On the national scene, Purcell ended last season ranked second in defensive rebounds per game, fourth in rebounds and fifth in rebounds per game. She also ranked 13^th nationally in double-doubles. Senior Makenzi Pulsipher, an All-WCC Second Team honoree, is back for her final season. Pulsipher started all games in 2016, was the team’s second leading scorer with 12.7 and points, had the most steals on the team with 70 and was the team’s best free thrower, shooting .795 from the line. Sophomore Jasmine Moody is the third returning starter for the Cougars. She averaged 2.4 points and 1.8 rebounds per game last year.

A balanced team offense, a tough defensive presence and a wealth of experience will be keys to the Cougars recording another winning campaign. Juniors Amanda Wayment and Cassie Broadhead will be scoring threats and are solid defenders. Both played in all games last year with Wayment averaging 4.2 points and 4.6 rebounds per game and Broadhead averaging 3.9 points and 2.0 rebounds a contest.

Other experienced players like seniors Kristine Nielson and Micaelee Orton will also play vital roles in the success of the program. Nielson averaged 2.5 points and 1.0 rebounds while Orton contributed 1.8 points and 1.2 rebounds. MaCayla Hanks, who saw playing time in 12 games her freshman campaign, will be a strong inside player for BYU. She averaged 1.1 points and 1.1 rebounds per contest. Junior Brooke Romney Clawson is back after suffering a lis franc injury to her foot at the beginning of last season. She last played for BYU in 2012-13, competing in 10 games, averaging 2.6 minutes of playing time and tallying 11 rebounds one assist and one block. She then left to serve a mission to Concepcion, Chile. Haley Rydalch (Bodnar), a 6-foot-3 center from St. George, Utah will also be in the lineup this season. Rydalch transferred to BYU from Purdue last season, but set out the year due to an injury and because of NCAA transfer rules. She prepped at Desert Hills High School where she was a two-time Region 9 MVP and set the school record for most blocks, a feat she accomplished her sophomore year. Rydalch was a two-time Southern Utah Player of the Year and was named Gatorade Player of the Year in 2014.

Five new faces will be on the Marriott Center floor in 2016-17. Three guards, Liz Eaton, Brenna Chase and Ashton Williams along with forwards Jessica Chatman and Shalae Salmon will all battle for playing time.

Eaton prepped at Maple Mountain High School and led the state in scoring her junior season. She was ranked as one of the top 10 Utah Girls Basketball Guards to Watch by Max Preps.

Chase, a 5-foot-9 guard played at Broomfield High School in Thornton, Colorado. During her junior season, her team won the 5A state championship. She was twice a member of the United States Junior Nationals (USJN) Battle All-Star team.

Salmon is a 6-foot-3 forward from Porirua, New Zealand, where she’s been on the National U16 and U15 teams. In 2015, she competed in the NZ Women’s Basketball Championship League.

Chatman originally signed her letter of intent in November 2013 to begin play in 2014-15, but delayed her start in order to serve an LDS mission in Lansing, Michigan. The 6-foot-0 forward prepped at Union High School in Vancouver, Washington where she garnered three first team all-league citations.

Williams, a 5-10 sophomore guard, from Springfield, Illinois, played her freshman college season at the Air Force Academy in 2013-14 where she played in 13 games, starting in two. She averaged 16.1 minutes of playing time averaging 3.5 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. She then left to serve an LDS church mission to the Lima, Peru North mission. Williams prepped at Springfield HS where she was a three-year starter garnering two All-Conference First Team awards. She was a three-time team captain, made the All-Academic Team four straight years and was on the High Honor Roll four years as well.