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PROVO -- A season-high 1,327 fans were in attendance to watch the BYU women’s basketball team take down conference rival Utah 68-50, Wednesday, at the Marriott Center.

“I’m really happy,” BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "It’s a nice win for us. We didn’t really shoot well until the end, but we took heart and kept playing defense. When a team misses shots like that, they tend not to rebound or stay aggressive, but we did.”

Haley Hall guided the Cougars (11-6, 3-0) to victory in the second half, scoring all of her 16 points after halftime. Jennifer Hamson and Mindy Bonham also hit double figures with 10 points each. Hall and Bonham led in assists, each with four. Coriann Fraughton grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds, tying as a game-high.

The Cougars were hot under the hoop, grabbing 46 boards to Utah’s 29 and forcing 13 turnovers for the Utes. The BYU bench outscored Utah’s 24-4.

Tension was high in the opening minutes as BYU fired off six rapid points to take the lead and kept momentum rolling through the first half.

Full-court pressure from BYU did its job, running the shot clock out for the Utes and leading to four steals in the first half. The Cougars scored 10 points off the turnovers.

BYU kept at least a five-point lead for most of the half, but with four minutes left, Utah’s Chelsea Bridgewater put in a layup to bring the score to 25-24.

Dani Peterson scored four to end the half with a 29-26 Cougar lead.

No one scored for the first three minutes of the second half until Michelle Plouffe laid the ball in for the Utes (9-8, 2-1). Utah free throws tied the game, but a layup from Hamson pushed the Cougars ahead with 15 minutes left to play.

Redshirt freshman Kim Parker hit a key three-pointer with 12 minutes to play, giving the Cougars a seven-point lead. Kristen Riley pushed that lead to 10 at the seven minute mark.

“We didn’t shoot well for basically the first three quarters of the game, but when Kim hit that huge shot," Hall said. "That definitely took the lid off of the basket."

Hall had the final say of the game as she sank one last shot from behind the arc to end it at 68-50.

Utah’s Plouffe led the game with 20 points with 17 boards and Janita Badon had 17 points.

After a bye this weekend, the Cougars are back on the road to take on TCU at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 19. They return to the Marriott Center on Jan. 22 to take on Colorado State.

Post-game Notes

Team Notes

-This is the fifth game this season to see three BYU players shooting in double-figures. This game is also the fourth consecutive game for the Cougars with more than two players scoring in double-digits

-The Cougars are now 10-0 when they lead at the half, 9-4 when they make more than five 3-pointers, 9-1 when they outrebound their opponent, 6-1 when they play in the Marriott Center and 8-1 when they have less than 11 turnovers

-BYU's 11 turnovers ties as the smallest amount they've had in conference action

-BYU's bench out-scored Utah's 24-4

Player Notes

-Coriann Wood was the only player to record double-digit rebounds against Utah. The 11 are her seventh double-digit rebound performance in her career and fourth this season

-Haley Hall's 16 points led the team for her fifth double-digit scoring performance this season

-Mindy Bonham's 10 points were her 11th double-digit scoring performance this season

-Jennifer Hamson's 10 points were her fourth double-digit scoring performance this season

On a two-game MWC winning streak, the Cougar women’s basketball team (10-6, 2-0) returns home this week to host instate rival Utah (9-7, 2-0).

The game tips off at 7 p.m., from the Marriott Center on Wed. Jan. 11 and is the first of two matchups with the Utes in the 2010-11 Deseret First Duel.

BYUtv will air the game live world-wide.

2010-11 Stats Summary

-- Shooting from field: (.419, 426-1016)

-- Shooting from three-point line: (.324, 121-374)

-- Shooting from free-throw line: (.684, 158-231)

-- Average points per game: 70.7

-- Average rebounds per game: 39.6

-- Average assists per game: 20.0

-- Average steals per game: 10.3

-- Average blocks per game: 3.6

-- Average turnovers per game: 15.7

About BYU

The Cougars are led in scoring by senior guard Mindy Bonham who averages 11.8 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. Senior forward Coriann Fraughton follows averaging 10.9 points and a team high 6.6 rebounds per contest.

Senior guard Haley Hall tops the assists and steals category with a total of 81 and 35 respectively.

Jazmine Foreman has the team’s best free throw percentage at .833, 25-30 while freshman center Jennifer Hamson is tops in the field goal percentage category at .608, 31-51.

Record Watching

-- BYU head coach Jeff Judkins has compiled an 190-105 record as of Jan. 10 and is 10 wins away from picking up his 200th career victory.

-- Mindy Bonham has tallying a total of 1,069 points as of 1/10/11 which puts her in 18th place out of 20 on BYU’s 1,000-Points Club. She needs 54 points to tie for 17th place with Behka Stafford’s 1,123 total points.

-- Bonham has dished out a grand total of 367 career assists as of 1/10/11 which puts her in eighth place all time in career assists. She needs 11 more to move into a seventh place tie with Cindy Battistone’s career total of 378.

-- Jazmine Foreman dished out nine assists in the game at Air Force on 1/8/11, which gives her a career total of 351. The total places her tied with teammate Mindy Bonham for eighth place on the Cougars all-time assist leaders. Foreman needs 27 to tie with Cindy Battistone’s career total of 378.

-- In BYU’s number of games played category, Bonham and Foreman have played in a total of 107 games which places the two tied for 17th place all time. They need to play in six more games to tie for 16th place with Cassie King’s 113 career contests played.

Utah Game Promotions

Deseret First Credit Union is giving away prizes at halftime. A trampoline dunk team is performing at halftime. The first 100 fans receive both Alexis Kaufusi and Haley Hall posters. Autograph session after the game. Prizes during every timeout.

Deseret First Duel

The Duel was first introduced in 2007 as a rivalry series including competition in the 12 sports the two universities compete head-to-head with during regular-season play. Entering this week, Utah leads in the standings 16-6. The men’s basketball team plays at Utah on Tues., Jan. 11.

ABOUT THIS WEEK’S OPPONENT

UTAH

The University of Utah enters the week with a 9-7, 2-0 record. The Utes return eight letterwinners including three starters from last year’s team that compiled a 23-10, 10-6 record. This year three players are scoring in double figures with sophomore guard Iwalani Rodrigues scoring a team high 15.2 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. Michelle Plouffe is next with 13.4 points and a team high 7.9 rebounds per contest. Janita Badon rounds out the double digit scoring for the Utes with 13.3 points and 6.1 boards a game. The interim head coach for Utah is Anthony Levrets.

Series History

Overall Series Record: Utah leads 60-35

BYU Record in Provo: 17-21

BYU Record in Salt Lake CIty : 9-30

BYU Record in Neutral Sites: 9-9

BYU Record under Jeff Judkins: 8-13

Last Meeting

During last season’s MWC race, BYU swept the series against instate rival Utah, winning in Salt Lake City 69-52 on Jan. 30 and then getting a 54-37 victory in Provo on Mar. 3.

What’s Next

BYU travels to Ft. Worth to battle TCU on Wed. Jan. 19 before hosting Colorado State on Sat. Jan. 22.