LAIE, Hawaii—Senior Kristen Riley and sophomore Kim Parker led the BYU women’s basketball team to a 82-73 victory against Arizona Thursday in the second matchup of the Hukilau Invitational.

The Cougars (6-2) look to continue their undefeated history in the Hukilau Invitational Saturday as they take on Syracuse.

“Arizona is a very, very good team,” BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. “They’re very athletic and I think they have a pro on that team in Davellyn Whyte. In the last four minutes she brought them back into the game. I think Kim Parker had the game of her life. Her experience helped with all that pressure. Our bigs were very physical tonight and I think our bench came in and gave us a good lift.”

With the win, Judkins is now 12-7 against Pac-12 teams.

Parker led the game with a career-high 25 points and Riley backed her up with 15 points. Riley picked up her first double-double of the season, the fifth of her career, with 12 rebounds. She and Parker also dished out six assists to lead the Cougars. Jennifer Hamson reached double figures with 12 points, her third of the season, and Haley Steed was the fourth Cougar in double figures with 10.

Parker and Riley stayed hot from behind the arc throughout the game, with Parker totaling a career-high four 3-pointers and Riley setting a new career high with three.

BYU shot 48 percent from the field and 52.4 percent from the three point line, tallying 11 threes. The team had 27 assists, a season high, and held strong on defense, forcing 21 turnovers and raking in 9 steals.

“It was a great team win,” Parker said. “Everyone stepped up. Against Syracuse, I think we need to execute and play great team ball like tonight.  This game was huge for us, a confidence builder and team builder. If we work on those two things, I think we’ll be successful Saturday.”

Arizona (5-1) took the lead on a three-pointer to start the game. Dani Peterson kicked the Cougars into gear with two jumpers for BYU’s first four points. Parker tied the game at 7-7 with the team’s first three-pointer and kept the score tied on another jump shot with 14 minutes left on the clock.

Hamson grabbed a 10-9 lead for the Cougars on free throws and a Steed trey put the Cougars ahead 13-9. Freshman Lexi Eaton’s layup gave BYU a 19-13 lead, the largest lead thus far. The Cougars and Wildcats exchanged quick baskets before a 7-0 Arizona run, including buckets from Erica Barnes and Layana White, cut the deficit to 25-24.

Riley pushed BYU ahead on back-to-back three-pointers as they sped toward halftime, draining her second three-pointer to keep the seven-point BYU lead.

In the final minute of the first half, free throws put Arizona within two points of BYU, but yet another Cougar three-pointer, this time from Peterson, gave BYU a 38-33 going into the locker room.

Thirty seconds after a Parker three in the early minutes of second half action, Riley hit her third three-pointer of the game to take the score to 44-37 before a quick layup in transition by Wildcat Barnes pushed Arizona within three points.

Candice Warthen forced a turnover on Steed and drew the foul as she went in for the layup, resulting in two foul shots to again bring the Wildcats within one at 46-45 at 15:50. Steed took the lead back to six points on her second three of the game for a score of 51-45.

BYU kept the lead despite a few close calls, with Stephanie Vermunt securing the largest lead of the game, 66-56, on a three-point bucket. After passing the four-minute mark, Parker launched another three-pointer for a 12-point lead

Warthen’s bucket from beyond the arc made it a one-possession game with 40 seconds left before Parker pushed the lead to five on two made free throws. Two more Wildcat fouls brought the score to 82-73 to end the game.

Arizona’s loss was its first of the season. Whyte had 19 points to lead the Wildcats after posting only 2 points in the first half.

BYU plays an undefeated Syracuse at 1 p.m. HST Saturday its final matchup of the Hukilau Invitational.

“Hopefully we’ll get some rest, take care of business tomorrow and hopefully get a win Saturday,” Judkins said. “We’ll have our hands full with Syracuse.”

Postgame Notes
Team
With the 82-73 victory over Arizona, the Cougars remain undefeated in the four years they’ve competed in the Hukilau Invitational. BYU improved its overall record to 6-2 on the year and enters the final game of the 2011 Hukilau Invitational on Saturday against Syracuse on a five-game win streak.

The Cougars dished out a total of 27 assists for season highs in that category. It marks the seventh time this year that BYU has recorded more assists than its opponents. Arizona ended the game with 14.

With the win over the Wildcats, BYU head coach Jeff Judkins improved his record against Pac-12 schools to 12-7.

In the game, the Cougars finished shooting (.425, 11-15) from three point range for the best percentage from behind the arc this year. The 11 made treys are the most to date.

For the second time this year, BYU had four players score in double figures. Parker (25), Riley (15), Hamson (12), Steed (10).

BYU improved its record to 5-0 when leading at the half and 4-1 when making at least five three pointers in a game.

Against Arizona the Cougars got 33 points off of Wildcat miscues, and tallied 19 second change points. The BYU bench scored 21 points compared to seven for Arizona.

Player
Kim Parker recorded season and career highs in points with 25.  The team and game highs marked her third straight double digit outing, the fifth on the year and 10^th overall. She also grabbed four rebounds and dished out six assists.

Kristen Riley recorded her first double double of the year and fifth of her career with 15 points and 12 rebounds. In the game, she also put up three treys for season and career highs. The points are the most so far this year.

Jennifer Hamson tallied 12 points for her third double digit outing of the year and the 12^th of her career.

Haley Steed finished the game with 10 points for her fourth double figure game of the season and her 32^nd overall.

Parker, Steed and Riley all finished with six assists each. For Parker and Riley the assists are season highs . They tied for career bests for Parker and are career highs for Riley.

Three Road Games at BYU-Hawaii
With a (4-2) record, BYU women’s basketball takes its second road trip of the year, playing three games in six days competing in the Hukilau Invitational in Laie, Hawaii, Nov. 29-Dec. 3. First up is BYU-Hawaii (0-2) on Tues. Nov. 29 at 3 p.m. Then it’s a matchup against Pac-12 foe Arizona (5-0) on Thurs. Dec. 1 at 3 p.m. The team’s final game is on Sat. Dec. 3 vs. Syracuse (5-0) at 1 p.m. All times are Hawaii Time.

Two of the Three Games Can Be Heard Live on BYU Radio
Tuesday and Thursday's games can be heard live on the internet and on satellite radio on BYU Radio. On the internet at: byuradio.org (Listen Now)
and on Sirius XM-143.

2011-12 Stats Summary
--Shooting from field: (.412, 140-340)
--Shooting from three-point line: (.304, 31-102)
--Shooting from free-throw line: (.748, 92-123)
--Average points per game: 67.2
--Average rebounds per game: 39.7
--Average assists per game: 16.3
--Average steals per game: 9.0
--Average blocks per game: 4.7
--Average turnovers per game: 16.7

About BYU
--The Cougars leading scorer is true freshman Lexi Eaton who averages 11.2 points per game.
--Haley Steed leads the way in the rebound category grabbing 6.8 boards a game. She’s followed by senior center Kristen Riley who averages 6.2 rebounds per game. Senior forward Dani Peterson comes in third grabbing 4.5 boards a contest.
--Steed leads the way in assists and steals with 33 and 15 respectively.
--Jennifer Hamson tops the list in blocks with 11 and she also has the team’s best field goal percentage (.571, 8-14).
--Eaton has the team’s best free throw percentage (.864, 19-22).

TUESDAY OPPONENT
BYU-HAWAII
The Seasiders enter the week with a (0-2) record with losses to Lewis and Northern Kentucky. They also played four exhibition games including a contest with the Biejing University from China. Last season BYU-Hawaii compiled a 9-17 record and finished with a 5-11 Pacific West Coast Conference mark. The Seasiders are led in scoring by junior forward Shayla Washington who averages 15.5 points and 7.5 rebounds. Brianna Jessop and Taylor Mann also contribute in points with each getting 7.0 points per game. Mann also grabs 5.5 boards with Jessop getting 5.0 rebounds. Head coach Hiram Akina is in his second season with the Seasiders women’s basketball program.

Series Breakdown
Overall Series Record: BYU leads 1-0
BYU Record in Provo: n/a
BYU Record in Laie: 1-0
BYU Record in Neutral Sites: n/a
BYU Record under coach Judkins: 1-0
BYU Record in Overtime Games: n/a

Last Meeting
In the opening game of the Hukilau Inv., on Dec. 3, 2010, Haley Hall led the team with 18 points, with four 3-pointers, five steals and three assists. Kim Parker followed with 15 points and five boards. Kristen Riley had 11 points while Jennifer Hamson tallied 10 points and six rebounds. BYU (4-3) shot 54 percent, a season best, while holding the Seasiders (1-5) to 39.5 percent and only 2-9 from the three-point line. The Cougars also forced 31 turnovers, scoring 41 points off of the turnovers. They outrebounded BYU-H  36 to 29 leading by 19, 44-27 at the break finishing 101-51.

THURSDAY OPPONENT
ARIZONA
The Wildcats are 5-0 to start the season, including two road victories. On this year’s team are five letterwinners including two starters from last season’s squad that finished last year 21-12, 10-8 for a fourth place finish in the Pac-10. They were picked to finish in ninth place in this year’s Pac-12 race be the coaches poll. Arizona Junior guard Davellyn Whyte leads the Wildcats with 22.0 points per game, closely followed by sophomore guard Candice Warthen’s 17.4 per game. Sophomore forward Erica Barnes leads at the glass with 9.4 boards per game and senior guard Shanita Arnold hands out the most assists on the team with 24. Head coach Niya Butts is in her fourth year at Arizona.

Series Breakdown
Overall Series Record: Series is tied at 5-5
BYU Record in Provo: 2-1
BYU Record inTucson: 2-3
BYU Record in Neutral Sites: 1-1
BYU Record under coach Judkins: 0-2
BYU Record in Overtime Games: n/a

Last Meeting
The two teams met last during the 2004-05 season when the then No. 24 ranked Wildcats visited Provo and picked up the 76-73 victory on Nov. 27, 2004.

SATURDAY OPPONENT
SYRACUSE
Syracuse has tallied a 5-0 record playing its first four games at home. They will play at Boise State on Tuesday, Nov. 29 before arriving in Laie. Last season they tallied on impressive 25-10 record advancing to the WNIT Quarterfinals. In the Big East they finished the year with a 9-6 mark tying for seventh place. This year they were picked to finish eighth in league play. The Orange have four players scoring in double figures led by 20.8 points and team high 9.6 rebounds from Kayla Alexander. She’s followed by Carmen Tyson-Thomas who contributes 13.8 points and is tough on the glass grabbing 7.8 boards. Iasia Hemingway and Elashier Hall round out the scoring for Syracuse with Hemingway tallying 11.0 points and 6.2 rebounds a game and Hall getting 12.4 points while grabbing 8.8 boards. Hall has the most assists and steals on the team with 22 and 18 respectively. Head coach Quentin Hillsman is in his sixth season with the Orange.

Series Breakdown
This will be the first meeting between these two schools.

What’s Next
BYU’s women’s basketball team is at home next week hosting two instate rivals. The Cougars host Southern Utah on Thurs. Dec. 8 at 7 p.m. They then take on the University of Utah on Sat. Dec. 10 at 3 p.m. Both games will air live worldwide on BYUtv.