Road contest at Santa Clara Thursday

PROVO, Utah—After a decisive 88-57 win at Pacific, BYU women’s basketball (17-5, 7-4) continues West Coast Conference action on the road. The Cougars return to northern California to play at Santa Clara (7-15, 3-8), Thursday.

About BYU
Senior center Jennifer Hamson leads the BYU team in points, rebounds and blocked shots with 17.2 points and nearly 11 rebounds per game while averaging 4.1 blocks.  Nationally, Hamson leads the nation in blocked shots, ranks 12th in double-doubles, 13th in field goal percentage and 21st in rebounds per game.

Three other Cougar players are also recording double figures in points with Lexi Eaton putting up 16.1 followed by 11.8 points from Kim Beeston. Junior forward Morgan Bailey rounds out the scoring output contributing 10.3 points. She ranks third in rebounds pulling down 7.2 per contest.

As a team, the Cougar women are averaging 71.1 points per game and are holding opponents to 64.4 points. BYU, who ranks fifth in the country in blocked shots per game, has recorded more blocks than opponents in 19 games and has dished out more assists in 17 of the 22 games played to date. They have also recorded more rebounds in 17 contests.

• Head coach: Jeff Judkins (Utah, ‘78) 13th season
• Team’s leading scorer: #5 Hamson, 17.2 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #5 Hamson, 10.8 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #4 Beeston, 3.6 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #4 Beeston, 1.2 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #5 Hamson, 4.1 bpg

About Santa Clara
Santa Clara enters this week’s league action with a 7-15 record and a 3-8 mark in league action. They are tied in 7th place in the WCC standings with San Francisco.

Two Bronco players are putting up double figures in scoring led by 14.2 points from Nici Gilday. She’s followed by Jo Paine who is tallying 10.5 points. Marie Berthold leads the team in rebounds pulling down 5.6 boards per contest. Santa Clara is shooting 41 percent from the field, 77 percent at the free throw line and is scoring 66.3 points per game.

• Head coach: Jennifer Mountain (Gonzaga, ‘91) 6th season
• Team’s leading scorer: #12 Gilday, 14.2 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #15 Bertholdt, 5.6 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #21 Avila, 3.1 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #12 Gilday, 1.5 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #33 Zurauskyte, 1.0 bpg

Series History
BYU leads the series 7-1. When playing in Santa Clara, the Cougars are 3-1. The last time they played at Leavey Center was on Feb. 20, 2013 where BYU picked up the 65-48 win. The Broncos lone win at home was on Dec. 5, 1998, a 76-54 victory over the Cougars.

Last Meeting
Morgan Bailey tied a career-high 18 points to go with a team-high 13 rebounds as the Cougars defeated Santa Clara 61-44 on Jan. 25 in the first matchup between the two WCC foes this year.

Ashley Garfield also grabbed 13 boards while Kim Beeston was the only other Cougar to score in double figure points with 12.

BYU led by as many as 21 in the victory, outscoring the Bronco bench 28-11. The Cougars had just 10 turnovers in the two team’s first matchup.

Up Next
After the game at Santa Clara, the Cougars stay in northern California to take on league foe San Francisco on Saturday afternoon. BYU returns home next week to host Portland on Thursday and Gonzaga on Saturday.

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