LOS ANGELES—Forward Kristen Riley’s season-high 22 points led the BYU women’s basketball team to its sixth-straight win in West Coast Conference play as BYU soundly defeated Loyola Marymount, 72-48, Thursday night at the Gersten Pavilion.

“I’m really happy with the win,” BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. “It was a great team effort and a good win on the road. These guys are tough to play here. I think Riley played another great game. Defensively she did a great job on their top player. In the second half, I thought Lexi Eaton and Jennifer Hamson really gave us a big lift. Jen played very aggressive in the post.”

Riley led the game in points and rebounds, securing her third double-double of the season and seventh of her career with 10 boards. Riley shot 9-for-13 from the field and had four assists. True freshman Eaton also had a stellar performance, tying her career high of 16 points and contributing two steals and three rebounds.

Hamson was close behind Riley in rebounding with eight boards and four blocks. Haley Steed, No. 1 in the WCC and No. 7 in NCAA Division I women’s basketball for assists, had nine assists in the victory with four rebounds and three steals.

The Cougars (17-3, 6-1) had 13 turnovers to LMU’s 17 and outrebounded the Lions 38-28. BYU shot 50.9 percent from the field and held LMU (4-14, 0-6) to 34 percent.

BYU got off to a quick start with a 7-2 run, including six points from Riley. Eaton pulled the Cougars back with a 3-pointer after a brief deficit, kick-starting a 17-0 BYU run. The Cougars kept the Lions from scoring for almost eight minutes before LMU’s Courtney Collishaw hit a jumper with 7:23 left in the first half.

The Cougars maintained an 11-point lead the rest of the half with a score of 31-20 at the buzzer.

Riley had 17 points by halftime, shooting 80 percent from the field. She also led both teams with six rebounds at the half. Her team outrebounded LMU 22-11 in the first half.

Tying her season high, Riley started off the second half with two made free throws. The Lions came on strong with a 5-0 run in the first four minutes. LMU cut the Cougar lead to four before a Dani Peterson trey stopped the Lions’ pursuit.

With Riley on the bench from foul trouble, Eaton stepped up to take BYU back to a double-figure lead on a layup. Steed and Jennifer Hamson made it a 16-point game with a 10-0 run. Eaton tied her career high of 16 on a jumper from 3-point land with five minutes on the clock, pushing the Cougars to their largest lead of the game.

Riley set her new season high of 22 points on a three-point play after making a free throw. The Cougar bench kept LMU at bay in the final minutes, sending BYU back to Provo with a 72-48 victory.

The women’s basketball team returns to the Marriott Center Saturday for a matchup against Portland at 2 p.m. MST.

Postgame Notes

Team

BYU went on a 17-0 run to take a 24-9 lead with 7:46 left in the first half. The Cougars defense held the LMU scoreless for eight minutes.

With the 72-48 win over LMU, BYU improved to 15-0 when leading at the half. They were up by 11, 31-20 at the break.

The Cougars outrebounded the Lions 38-28, improving their record to 12-1 on the year when grabbing more boards than their opponents.

BYU put up 40 points in the paint and 16 off of LMU miscues. 

Players

After making nine of the Cougars first 12 points of the game, Kristen Riley recorded her third double-double of the year with a game high 22 points and 10 rebounds. It’s the second double-double for Riley in league play and the seventh overall. The points are her eighth double-figure game of the year, the 35th of her career, the fifth in league action and are just one shy of her career-best 23.

For the sixth straight time in WCC action, Lexi Eaton tallied double figures in points. At LMU she had 16 points marking her 14th double-digit outing of the season.

Senior co-captain Haley Steed dished out a game-high nine assists, placing her tied for fifth place in BYU’s all-time record for career assists. She finished the game with five points, four rebounds and three steals.

Coming off the bench for the Cougars, Jennifer Hamson recorded a game-high three blocks to go along with her eight points.

Riding a five-game win streak in league play, the Cougar women’s basketball team (16-3, 5-1) continues WCC action on the road.BYU goes back to southern California to take on Loyola Marymount (4-13, 0-5) on Thursday, Jan. 19 in a 7 p.m. tip off from Albert Gersten Pavilion on the LMU campus.

2011-12 Stats Summary
- Shooting from field: (.448, 509-1135)
- Shooting from three-point line: (.358, 130-363)
- Shooting from free-throw line: (.728, 235-323)
- Average points per game: 72.8
- Average rebounds per game: 40.3
- Average assists per game: 19.1
- Average steals per game: 10.1
-Average blocks per game: 6.1
- Average turnovers per game: 16.6

About BYU
-The Cougars leading scorer is sophomore guard Kim Parker who averages 11.0 points per game.
-Kristen Riley is at the top of the leaderboard in rebounds averaging 6.7 per game.
-Haley Steed leads the way in assists and steals with 128 and 44 respectively.
-Jennifer Hamson tops the list in blocks with 40.
-Dani Peterson has the team’s best field goal percentage (.588, 57-97).
-True freshman Lexi Eaton has the team’s best free throw percentage (.829, 34-41).
-Stephanie Vermunt is the squad’s best scorer from behind the arc, shooting (.578, 26-45).

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.

Record Breaking Players
- Haley Steed has recorded 450 assists as of 01/16/12, placing her in sixth place all-time. She needs nine to tie for fifth place with Karina Zapata’s 459.
- Steed has a total of 191 steals to date and needs 38 to tie for seventh place with Karina Zapata’s career high 229.
- Steed has made 161 3-pointers as of 01/16/12 putting her in sixth place overall. She needs 10 to tie for fifth place with Thais Kidd's career best 171.
- Kristen Riley has 74 blocks as of 01/16/12 and needs five to tie for fifth place all-time with Cathy Nixon’s 79.
- Riley has grabbed 603 rebounds as of 1/13/12, which puts her in 10th place all-time. She needs to snatch 16 more to tie for ninth place with former teammate Coriann Fraughton's 619.
- As of 01/16/12, 6-7 sophomore center Jennifer Hamson has tallied 85 blocks and needs 40 to tie for fourth place all-time with Jill the 125 recorded by Jill Adams.

THURSDAY WCC OPPONENT
LOYOLA MARYMOUNT
After playing five league games to date, LMU has compiled a (4-13, 0-5) record. Alex Cowling, a 5-11 junior guard/forward combo leads the way in scoring for the Lions averaging 21.2 points per game while averaging a team best 8.8 rebounds. In the assist category it’s 5-5 sophomore guard Hazel Ramirez who dishes out the most with 37 while Cowling gets the most steals with 31 to date. Loyola Marymount shoots 35 percent from the field, 72 percent at the charity stripe and 29 percent from beyond the arc while putting up 57.5 points per game. Head coach Julie Wilhoit has been with the Lions program for 17 seasons.

Series Breakdown
Overall Series Record: BYU leads the series 3-0
BYU Record in Provo: 1-0
BYU Record in Los Angeles: n/a
BYU Record in Neutral Sites: 2-0
BYU Record under coach Judkins: 1-0
BYU Record in Overtime Games: n/a

Last Meeting
Hosting its first ever WCC game at home, the Cougars shot 52 percent from the field while holding the Lions to just 33 percent on their way to an 80-47 win over LMU. Kristen Riley led the BYU effort with 16 points with true freshman Lexi Eaton contributing 14 to winning effort. A stifling defense kept the Lions from scoring allowing the Cougars to push their lead to 41 points with 7:35 left in the game. Sophomore center Jennifer Hamson came off the bench and had a solid performance grabbing a game high seven boards to go along with her nine points and two blocks.

Los Angeles Itinerary
Team Flight: Delta #2241 departs Salt Lake City on Wed., Jan. 18 at 3:05 p.m., and arrives in Los Angeles at 4 p.m.
Team Flight: Delta #2190 departs Salt Lake City on Fri., Jan. 20 at 10:10 a.m., and arrives in Salt Lake City at 1:05 p.m.
Team Hotel: Courtyard Marriott Marina del Rey, 13480 Maxella Ave., 310-822-8555, 310-823-2996, fax.

What’s Next
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. The Cougars go back on the road for more league play traveling to northern California playing at Santa Clara on Saturday, Jan. 28.