LAS VEGAS — True freshman Lexi Eaton’s career-high 26 points pushed the BYU women’s basketball team to a 64-46 semifinal victory against San Diego Saturday at the Orleans Arena Saturday.

The win launched the Cougars (25-6, 12-4) into the West Coast Conference Championship game and broke a four-season winless streak in conference tournament play.

Eaton shattered her previous career high of 16 points set against Kansas State in November, and also contributed six rebounds and shot 52.6 percent from the field. BYU received a boost from its post players as Jennifer Hamson helped out with 10 points and nine rebounds and Kristen Riley added 10 rebounds and seven points.

The Cougars totaled 30 points in the paint to USD’s 12 and scored 18 points off the Toreros’ 15 turnovers. BYU shot 42 percent from the field during the game and held USD to 25 percent.

BYU got out to a four-point lead after eight minutes of play, but couldn’t shake off the Toreros. USD tied up the game at 17-17 with 7:08 left in the half. Riley and Eaton layups pushed the Cougars back to their four-point lead and Riley capped off the 8-2 BYU run with a 3-pointer to bring the score to 21-15.

Back-to-back Eaton layups in the final minute sent the Cougars to the locker room with a 29-21 lead, their largest of the half.

Eaton had a game-high 13 points at the half on 50 percent shooting. Riley led on the boards with seven and had three blocks. The Cougars shot 35.5 percent from the field in the first half while holding USD to only 23.3 percent shooting.

The freshman guard continued to deliver in the second half, with six points in the first four minutes from a trey, a layup and a free throw. The Cougars’ rapid scoring put BYU ahead 39-25 with 15:34 on the clock.

An 8-0 BYU run, including two straight Hamson layups, secured the win by bouncing the Cougars ahead by 19 at the 15-minute mark. The team finished 18 points ahead of the Toreros.

After splitting the regular season with Gonzaga, BYU will rematch against the Bulldogs Monday at noon in the WCC tournament final.

Postgame Notes

Team

The Cougars recorded 20 points in the paint to the Toreros’ 10.

BYU scored 18 points off of USD miscues.

With a 29-21 first half lead, the Cougars improved to 21-0 when leading at the half.

BYU was outrebounded by USD 48-38, pushing its record to 5-3 when outrebounded by its opponent.

The Cougar bench outscored USD’s 18-6 and had 18 points off turnovers to USD’s seven.

BYU won the contest in the paint 30-12 and shot 42 percent from the field to the Toreros’ 25 percent.

Player

Lexi Eaton scored 13 points in the first half and shot 50 percent from the field going 5-for-10. Her game-high total of 26 points are a team high for the year and a career high for the true freshman guard. The points also mark her 20th overall game scoring in double digits. She also had six rebounds.

Haley Steed dished out five assists in the first period and ended the game with a game-high eight. She also had four points and four rebounds.

Kristen Riley recorded three blocks in first half action and finished the game with four, tying her career high, while grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds. With seven points against USD, the senior passed Scarlett Overly to become No. 20 in BYU history for career points with 1,027. The semifinal game also put Riley tied in second place with Erin Thorn for career games played with 127 contests.

Jennifer Hamson came off the bench to score 10 points in the second half of action and also grabbed nine rebounds, the second most on the team.

The BYU women’s basketball team finished competing in its first season as a member of the West Coast Conference with a 24-6 overall record, a 12-4 mark in league play tied for second place in the league race with San Diego.

By virtue of their sweep over the Toreros, the Cougars earned the No. 2 seed at the 2012 Zappos.com WCC Championships that will be played at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Feb. 29 to Mar. 5.

BYU received a bye into the semifinals and will play on Saturday, Mar. 3 at approximately 2:30 p.m. PST. They will play the winner of the quarterfinal game between San Diego and either Santa Clara or Portland.

The winners of the semifinal games advance to the championship game on Monday, Mar. 5 at noon, PST.  The title game will air live on ESPNU. The winner receives an automatic bid to the 2012 NCAA Tournament.

2011-12 Team Summary
- Shooting from field: (.438, 789-1802)
- Shooting from 3-point line: (.347, 203-585)
- Shooting from free-throw line: (.737, 367-498)
- Average points per game: 71.6
- Average rebounds per game: 40.9
- Average assists per game: 19.3
- Average steals per game: 9.4
- Average blocks per game: 6.0
- Average turnovers per game: 16.0

2011-12 Player Summary
-Leading scorer: Senior Kristen Riley - averages 11.8 points
-Leading rebounder: Riley - averages 7.9 boards per game
-Assist & Steals leader: Haley Steed - 215 and 66 respectively.
-Top blocker: Jennifer Hamson - 73 total
-Best field goal percentage: Hamson - (.567, 93-164)
-Best free throw percentage: Kim Parker - (.850, 51-60)
-Best 3-pt field goal percentage: Stephanie Vermunt - (.478, 44-92)

Record Breaking Players
- Haley Steed has recorded 537 assists as of 02/26/12, which places her in second place all-time. She needs 76 to tie for first place with Valerie Cravens who dished out a career 613. With the 11 assists she dished out in the home game vs. Santa Clara she set the all-time season record for total assists with 207 and as of 2/26/12 her season total is at 214.
- Steed has 214 steals to date for eighth place all-time and needs 15 to tie for seventh place with Karina Zapata’s career-high 229.
- Steed has made 184 3-pointers as of 02/26/12 putting her in fourth place overall. She needs 20 to tie for third place with Cougar standout Kari Gallup.
- Kristen Riley has 81 blocks as of 02/26/12, placing her in fifth place all-time. She needs 44 to tie for fourth place with the 125 recorded by All-American Jill Adams.                 
- Riley has grabbed 715 rebounds as of 02/26/12, which puts her tied with Danielle Cheesman for sixth place all-time. She needs to grab 43 to tie with Lisa Rathbun for fifth place overall with 758.
- Riley has a total of 1,020 points as of 02/26/12 becoming BYU's 22nd player to reach 1,000 points in her career. She needs two to tie with Scarlett Overly’s 1,022 points for 20th place in the prestigious 1,000 points club.
- Riley has played in a total of 126 games as of 2/26/12, which puts her in third place all-time. One more contest would put her tied in second place with Erin Thorn’s 127 total career games played.
- As of 02/26/12, 6-7 sophomore center Jennifer Hamson has tallied 118 blocks for a fifth place rank overall. She needs seven to tie for fourth place all-time with the 125 recorded by Jill Adams.

2011-12 Season Honors
Kristen Riley - WCC Player of the Year, All-Conference Team
Lexi Eaton - WCC Co-Newcomer of the Year, All- Freshman Team
Haley Steed - WCC All-Conference Team
Jennifer Hamson- Primetime Performers Weekly Honor Roll by CollegeSports360.com on 2/15/12.
Jennifer Hamson- Madness West Coast Women’s Basketball Player of the Week by College Sports Madness on 2/13/12.
Jennifer Hamson – WCC All-Academic Team
Kim Parker – WCC All-Academic Team
Kim Parker- WCC Player of the Week, 2/13/12
Kim Parker- WCC Player of the Week, 12/5/11
Kristen Riley- WCC Player of the Month for January 2/8/12
Kristen Riley- WCC Player of the Week 1/30/12

POSSIBLE SATURDAY SEMIFINAL OPPONENT
San Diego - BYU swept the series against San Diego

First meeting:BYU 62, SD 53 - 1/14/12 @ San Diego
Of Note
-Riley grabs game high 13 rebounds
-Steed has game high five assists
-Scorers - Eaton (16), Peterson (10), Parker (10)

Second meeting:BYU 64, SD 50 - 2/18/12 in Provo
Of Note
-Riley gets double-double with 12 points and game-high 13 rebounds
-Steed has game-high five assists and three steals
-Scorers - Steed (14), Hamson (14), Riley (12), Eaton (11)

Santa Clara - BYU swept the series against Santa Clara

First meeting:BYU 74, SCU 64 - 1/28/12 @ Santa Clara
Of Note
-Five players score in double figures - Riley (17), Hamson (16), Peterson (11), Parker (10), Eaton (10)
-Riley picks up double-double with 17 points and a team-best 11 rebounds
-Steed dishes out game-high five assists
-Hamson and Parker are perfect at the free-throw line

Second meeting:BYU 84, SCU 57 - 2/23/12 in Provo
Of Note
-The 56 rebounds are the most on the year to date
-The 30 assists are the most on the year to date
-Five players score in double figures - Riley (17), Hamson (14), Vermunt (12), Peterson (11), Parker (11)
-Riley records double-double with a game high 17 points and 10 rebounds
-Peterson records double-double with 11 points and a game-best 13 rebounds
-Steed dishes out team high 11 assists, which tied for second best on the year

Portland - BYU swept the series against Portland

First meeting:BYU 79, POR 53 - 1/02/12 @ Portland
Of Note
-Riley scores a game-high 19 points and nine rebounds, which tie for game highs
-Eaton scores in double digits with 11
-Peterson ties for game highs on the glass grabbing nine boards
-Steed dishes out a team-best five assists and game-high three steals

Second meeting:BYU 76, POR 55 - 1/21/12 in Provo
Of Note
-Three score in double digits - Eaton (16), Hamson (14), Parker (13)
-Hamson picks up double-double with 14 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, also has a game-high four blocks
-Steed dishes out game-high 10 assists for the third most on the season

What’s Next
A win in the semifinals would send the No. 2 seed Cougars into the title game of the West Coast Conference tournament on Monday, Mar. 5. The winner receives an automatic bid into the 2012 NCAA Tournament.