SAN DIEGO—The BYU women’s basketball team downed one of the last undefeated teams in the league, beating San Diego 62-53 Saturday on the Toreros’ home court.

“I think San Diego is playing very well right now,” BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. “It wasn’t our prettiest game but I think our size and our players being a little bit stronger really did it for us tonight. I think we’re not used to so many teams having fours who are quick and can drive it. And we just have to do a better job when we have leads on the road to sustain them. But for some reason this team does a really good job at adjusting at halftime, so that helped us.”

True freshman Lexi Eaton tied her career high of 16 points, shooting 60 percent from the field, and contributed two blocks. Dani Peterson scored in double figures with 10 on 71.4 percent shooting and had seven rebounds. Kim Parker also had 10 points.

Kristen Riley picked up 13 rebounds, three blocks and two steals, while Haley Steed led the Cougars (16-3, 5-1) with five assists and had six rebounds. They had nine points apiece.

“This was a huge win for us, especially because they were undefeated in conference,” Eaton said. “It was great to win on the road. If we could keep this momentum during the season, we’ll be good to go.”

BYU shot 46 percent from the field while holding the Toreros (12-4, 3-1) to 30.2 percent from the field.

Peterson’s first layup ended a three-minute silent streak that haunted the Cougars to start the game. Eaton engaged to bounce BYU back from a six-point deficit with a 3-pointer and jumper and take a 7-6 lead. From there, the Cougars went 9-0 to put some distance between them and the Toreros.

With eight minutes left in the half, a Peterson jumper put the Cougars ahead by nine points before a 6-0 USD run put the Toreros back within three, 22-19. A 6-2 Torero run at the end of the half sent the game into halftime with only a 30-29 BYU lead.

The team shot 46.2 percent from the field, with Peterson shooting 80 percent for eight points and Eaton shooting 50 percent for nine points before halftime.

Eaton drained the first four points for BYU to start the second half, launching a 12-0 scoring streak which included back-to-back treys from Riley and Parker. The Cougar defense kept the Toreros from scoring until the 14 minute mark, resulting in a 42-31 BYU lead.

With just over 10 minutes left in the contest, Jennifer Hamson blocked Torero Amy Kame, getting the ball to Steed who pumped it back to Hamson for the quick layup, maintaining the 11-point lead.

Kame’s jumper followed by a jump shot from Felicia Wijenberg cut the lead to three for the closest score since the beginning of the second half. Riley responded with her own jumper to bump the BYU lead back to five as they passed the two-minute mark. The Cougars sealed the road win from the free throw line for the final nine-point, 62-53 victory.

BYU faces Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles Thursday at 7 p.m. PST, followed by a Saturday meeting with Portland in Provo at 2 p.m.

Postgame Notes
Team
The Cougars started the second half on a 10-0 run to take a 40-29 lead with 15:21 left in the game.

With the win over the Toreros, BYU improved its league record to 5-1 and 16-3 overall.

For just the fourth time on the season and the second in league play, the Cougars were outrebounded. San Diego grabbed 40 to BYU’s 36.

In league action, BYU has recorded more blocks than its opponents. Against San Diego the Cougars had nine. The Toreros had none.

Player
Lexi Eaton has recorded double figures in points the last five league game including the 16 points at San Diego for her 13^th double-digit contest. The points tied her season high.

Haley Steed dished out game highs in assists with five.

Kristen Riley grabbed game highs in rebounds with 13; all but one were defensive boards.

Dani Peterson finished the game with 10 points for her sixth double-figure contest of the year, her 10th overall.

Kim Parker was the third Cougar player in double digits in points with 10.  The total points mark Parker’s 12^th double figure contest of the year and the 17^th of her career.

After providing head coach Jeff Judkins his 220th win with the 80-56 home victory over Pepperdine to become the all-time winningest coach in BYU women’s basketball history, the Cougar women (15-3, 4-1) continue WCC action on the road.
This time they head to southern California to take on the University of San Diego (11-3, 2-0) on Saturday, Jan. 14 in a 2 p.m., PT tip from Jenny Craig Pavilion om the Toreros campus.

Cougar fans can follow the action from San Diego live on BYU Radio (Sirius XM-143 & @ byuradio. org). No live video or live stats will be available for the game.

2011-12 Stats Summary
- Shooting from field: (.448, 486-1085)
- Shooting from three-point line: (.360, 125-347)
- Shooting from free-throw line: (.730, 224-307)
- Average points per game: 73.4
- Average rebounds per game: 40.5
- Average assists per game: 19.3
- Average steals per game: 10.1
- Average blocks per game: 5.9
- Average turnovers per game: 16.6

About BYU
-The Cougars leading scorer is sophomore guard Kim Parker who averages 11.1 points per game.
-Kristen Riley is at the top of the leaderboard in rebounds averaging 6.4 per game.
-Haley Steed leads the way in assists and steals with 123 and 42 respectively.
-Jennifer Hamson tops the list in blocks with 38.
-Dani Peterson has the team’s best field goal percentage (.578, 52-90).
-True freshman Lexi Eaton has the team’s best free throw percentage (.886, 31-35).
-Stephanie Vermunt is the squad’s best scorer from behind the arc, shooting (.591, 26-44).

Winningest Coach in BYU History
-BYU head coach Jeff Judkins became the all-time winningest coach in BYU women’s basketball history, picking up his 220th career win when the Cougars defeated Pepperdine, 80-56 Thurs. Jan. 12, 2012. Judkins passed former BYU coach Courtney Leishman (1977-89) for the record and is now 220-111 (.665) in his 11th season as head coach of the Cougars. Leishman finished at BYU with a 219-124 (.638) record.
- Judkins picked up his 200th career victory in the 64-55 road win at CSU on 2/23/11 last  season. The win marked the fifth 20-plus win season for coach Judkins, and the second straight.

SATURDAY WCC OPPONENT
UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO
The University of San Diego has compiled a 12-3, 3-0 record picking up its latest victory, an 80-58 home win over LMU. The Toreros returns eight letterwinners including two starters from last year’s squad that went 17-14, 5-9.   San Diego’s leading scorer is senior guard Dominique Conners who averages 16.1 points and grabs 5.6 rebounds. She’s followed by senior forward Morgan Woodrow who contributes 15.1 points and 5.4 boards a game. Rounding out the double digit scoring is sophomore forward Amy Kame who tallies 12.1 points and grabs the second most rebounds with a 6.0 average. Senior guard Izzy Chilcott is tops on the glass for the Toreros grabbing 6.6 boards a contest. To date, Conners has the most assists and steals with 43 and 36 respectively. San Diego averages 71.1 points per game while shooting 43 percent from the field. Head coach Cindy Fisher has been with the women’s basketball program for the past 12 years.

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

Last Meeting
These two new WCC teams played each other last season when the Toreros were participating in the Hukilau Invitational in Laie, Hawaii on the BYU-Hawaii campus. In that matchup, the Cougars picked up the 70-44 victory on Dec. 4, 2010 where Kristen Riley scored 10 points and teammate Kim Parker dished out a game high six assists. BYU started the game slow getting behind by 10 points just four minutes into the contest, but battled back closing out the first half on a 10-0 run, taking a 32-13 advantage into the locker room. The Cougars dominated the second half, going up by as much as 27 points. Jennifer Hamson and Dani Peterson came off the bench contributing seven and six points respectively in the winning effort with Hamson also grabbing five rebounds and recording one block.

San Diego Itinerary
Team Flight: Delta #2078 departs Salt Lake City on Fri., Jan. 13 at 3:05 p.m., and arrives in San Diego at 3:59 p.m.
Team Flight: Delta #2295 departs San Diego on Sun., Jan. 15 at 10:10 a.m., and arrives in Salt Lake City at 1:07 p.m.
Team Hotel: Courtyard Marriott Mission Valley/Hotel Circle, 595 Hotel Circle South, 619-291-5720, 619-297-7362, fax.

What’s Next
After the game at San Diego, the Cougars take another trip to California, this time heading to Los Angeles for a game at Loyola Marymount on Thursday, Jan. 19. The team returns home for one game on Sat. Jan. 21 as they take on Portland in a 2 p.m., tip. That game airs live worldwide on BYUtv. The following week, BYU steps out of WCC action traveling to the state of Washington to battle Seattle University on Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 7 p.m.