CHICAGO—In its first NCAA Tournament game in five years, the No. 10 seed BYU women’s basketball team ended its season with a 59-55 loss to No. 7 seed DePaul at the Allstate Arena Saturday.

The West Coast Conference Tournament champions finished the season with a record of 26-7 overall.

“Congratulations to DePaul,” said BYU head coach Jeff Judkins. “They executed very well. I was impressed with their point guard. I’m really proud of our team. They’ve played hard and worked hard. We have some things that we need to work on for next season. I’m really proud of Kristen. She’s had a great career her at BYU.”

DePaul vs. BYU slideshow

Jennifer Hamson scored a career-high 21 points in the loss and added a season-high 11 rebounds for her fourth career double-double. Senior Kristen Riley also scored in double figures with 10 points and added 12 rebounds for her 15th career double-double. She also had a career-high seven assists.

The Cougars’ 20 turnovers and 25 percent 3-point shooting hurt them. DePaul had 15 turnovers, but connected for 30 points off BYU’s turnovers compared to the Cougars’ 11 points off turnovers. BYU shot 33.9 percent on the night compared to the Blue Demons’ 42.6 percent.

BYU stumbled out of the gate as DePaul sped off on a 10-1 run, but Hamson came off the bench for three quick layups to put the Cougars back in the game. A DePaul foul on her next attempt put Hamson at the line to tie it up 12-12. The 6-foot-7 center continued to help out in the paint with an assist to Dani Peterson’s jumper that took the lead for BYU with 10:55 on the clock. Hamson had 10 points after 11.5 minutes of play.

BYU went ahead by five with five minutes left in the half on another bucket in the paint from Hamson for the team’s largest lead of the game.

Three Cougar fouls in a row put DePaul’s Jasmine Penny at the free-throw line to tie the score at 27-27.

Hamson recorded 14 of the Cougars’ 29 points in the first half on 6-for-8 shooting, sending BYU to the locker room with a two-point lead despite its early nine-point deficit. Senior point guard Haley Steed didn’t have any points in the first half but kept the Cougars alive with four assists.

BYU struggled the first few minutes of the second half, shooting 0-for-7 while the Blue Demons took a 14-0 run. True freshman Lexi Eaton broke the Cougars’ silence with a layup with 13:45 on the clock, putting up the points off of a pass by Riley, but it wasn’t enough to get BYU back on its game.

A rushed DePaul shot was rebounded by Steed, who tore down the court to dish the ball to Riley in the paint for BYU’s second layup of the half. Blue Demon Deanna Ortiz caught Riley as she went up, putting the senior at the line for an old-fashioned three-point play.

Steed cut further into DePaul’s lead with back-to-back deep 3s, her first points of the game.

Eight points down with 4:17 left to play, Riley got the ball to Hamson under the basket for a layup. A baseline 3-pointer by Stephanie Vermunt put the Cougars within four. Eaton stole the ball on a DePaul inbounds pass and Hamson grabbed the an offensive board off a missed shot on the possession and laid it in, drawing the foul for three points on the play.

A missed 3-point attempt to send the game into overtime gave the ball back to DePaul. A free throw gave the Blue Demons their final points for a 59-55 DePaul victory.

Postgame Notes

Team

After scoring just one point in the first four minutes of the game, sophomore Stephanie Vermunt put the Cougars back on the scoreboard with a 3-pointer followed by eight straight points from center Jennifer Hamson, tying the game at 12-all with 11:48 left in the first half.

BYU took its first lead 14-12 on a layup by Dani Peterson at the 10:55 mark and went into the break with a 29-27 advantage.

The Cougars grabbed 42 rebounds to the Blue Demons’ 32, making it the 22^nd time this year that BYU has had more boards than its opponents. They also dished out 17 assists to DePaul’s seven.

BYU shot .900 (9-10) from the free-throw line.

Player

Jennifer Hamson came off the bench to score 14 points in the first half and ended the game with a career-best 21, marking her 14^th double-figure game of the year and the 24^th of her career. She also grabbed 10 rebounds, recording her third double-double of the season, the fourth of her career.

Haley Steed dished out six assists for the game.

Kristen Riley grabbed a game-best 11 rebounds to go along with her 10 points for her 11^th double-double of the year and the 16^th of her career. She also dished out a game-best seven assists for a career high in that category.

As the automatic qualifier representing the West Coast Conference in the 2012 NCAA tournament, BYU women’s basketball (26-6) is the No. 10 seed and will play No. 7 seed DePaul (22-10) in Chicago in the first round of the NCAA Championships.
The Cougars and Blue Demons matchup is set for Sat., Mar. 17 at approximately 5:30 p.m., CT.
Cougar fans can follow the action live on BYU Radio (internet only), ESPN2 and ESPN3.
This will be the first time the Cougars have gone to the NCAA tournament since 2007.

2011-12 Team Summary
- Shooting from field: (.441, 843-1910)
- Shooting from 3-point line: (.349, 217-621)
- Shooting from free-throw line: (.737, 387-525)
- Average points per game: 71.6
- Average rebounds per game: 40.6
- Average assists per game: 19.3
- Average steals per game: 9.0
- Average blocks per game: 6.0
- Average turnovers per game: 15.8

2011-12 Player Summary
-Leading scorer: Senior Kristen Riley - averages 11.4 points
-Leading rebounder: Riley - averages 8.0 boards per game
-Assist & Steals leader: Senior Haley Steed - 231 and 70 respectively.
-Top blocker: Jennifer Hamson - 74 total
-Best field goal percentage: Hamson - (.571, 105-184)
-Best free throw percentage: Kim Parker - (.846, 55-65)
-Best 3-pt field goal percentage: Stephanie Vermunt - (.475, 47-99)

Record Breaking Players (as of 3/6/12)
-Haley Steed - career assists with 553, which ranks 2nd all-time. She needs 60 to tie for first place with Valerie Cravens’ 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. Currently she has a season total of 230.
-Haley Steed - 218 career steals for 8th place all-time, needs 11 to tie for 7th place with Karina Zapata’s career high 229.
-Haley Steed -  has made 188 career 3-pointers, putting her in 4th place overall. She needs 16 to tie for 3rd place with Cougar standout Kari Gallup.
-Kristen Riley - career blocks with 86, placing her in 5th place all-time. She needs 39 to tie for 4th place with the 125 recorded by All-American Jill Adams.                                          
-Kristen Riley - grabbed 732 career rebounds, which puts her in 6th place all-time. She needs to grab 26 to tie with Lisa Rathbun for 5th place overall with 758.
-Kristen Riley -  career total of 1,032 points and ranks 20th all-time. She needs six to tie with Kim Talbot’s 1,038 points for 19th place in the prestigious 1,000 points club.
-Kristen Riley -  played in a total of 128 games, which puts her in 2nd place. She needs to play in two more to tie for the top spot at 130 games currently held by Jennie Keele.
-Jennifer Hamson - has 119 blocks in two seasons for 5th place overall. She needs six to tie for 4th place all-time with the 125 recorded by Jill Adams.

2011-12 Honors
Haley Steed - WCC Championship MVP
Dani Peterson - WCC Championship All-Tournament Team
Jennifer Hamson - WCC Championship All-Tournament Team
Kristen Riley - WCC Player of the Year
Kristen Riley - WCC All-Conference Team
Haley Steed - WCC All-Conference Team
Lexi Eaton - WCC Co-Newcomer of the Year
Lexi Eaton - WCC All- Freshman 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 February 3/8/12
Kristen Riley- WCC Player of the Month for January 2/8/12
Kristen Riley- WCC Player of the Week 1/30/12

BYU IN NCAA TOURNAMENT
- This will be the ninth time that the No. 10 seed BYU women’s basketball has competed in the NCAA Championships. It’s the first time since the 2006-07 season when they were the No. 11 seed and battled Louisville at the Galen Center on the USC campus. The Cougars lost that game 80-54.
- In that first round contest, current assistant coach Melinda Bendall, formerly Johnsen, was a senior starter and current senior Haley Steed, formerly Hall, was with the team but did not play due to her first career ACL injury.
- This NCAA appearance marks the fifth time head coach Jeff Judkins has guided the women’s program to the NCAA postseason tournament.
- The Cougars have played three of the 64 teams (Gonzaga, Duke, Kansas State) that made this year’s NCAA Tournament. BYU beat WCC foe Gonzaga twice (once in league play and in the conference tournament) , and lost to both Duke and Kansas State.

FIRST ROUND OPPONENT
DePAUL
DePaul has compiled a 22-10 overall record and a 9-7 mark in the Big East Conference.  The Blue Demons have three players that are scoring in double figures led by junior guard Anna Martin who tallies 19.1 points and grabs 3.9 rebounds per game. She’s followed by sophomore forward Jasmine Penny who contributes 11.5 points and 4.6 boards a contest. Freshman guard Brittany Hrynko rounds out the double digits in scoring with 10.7 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. Junior forward Katherine Harry tops the list on the glass grabbing 9.6 boards per contest. Martin has the most assists on the team with 108 while Hrynko gets the most steals with 57. DePaul is averaging 73.2 points per game and 36.8 rebounds. The team shoots 44 percent from the field, 35 percent from 3-point range and 73 percent at the charity stripe.  The Blue Demons are led by Doug Bruno who is in his 26th season at DePaul.

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

Last Meeting
It’s been 22 years since these two teams have played. On Jan. 22, 1990 the teams met in Provo where BYU picked up the 78-60 victory. The last time they played in Chicago was on Jan. 12, 1989 when the Blue Demons won 98-69.

NCAA Team Hotel
Hyatt Regency O’Hare - 9300 Bryn Mawr Avenue, Rosemont, IL, 847-696-1234, 847-663-4494, fax.

Up Next
With a first-round tournament win, the Cougars would advance to the second round and play either Tennessee or UT-Martin on Mon., Mar. 19 with a start time to be determined.