Eaton and Cougars cruise past Pepperdine

MALIBU, Calif. -- Lexi Eaton led BYU women’s basketball to an 89-75 victory over Pepperdine Thursday night.

“We came out shooting well in the first half,” BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. “In the second half we did a good job of getting the ball inside when we needed to. Offensively, Lexi did a great job with her perimeter shooting as well as getting to the rim when we needed it. This is a good road win.”

Eaton led all scorers with 25 points, including a career-high five 3-pointers, to go along with six assists. Jennifer Hamson added an additional 17 points, 14 boards and five blocks. Kim Beeston and Morgan Bailey added 15 and 14 points, respectively, for the Cougars. Beeston went 4 for 8 from the 3-point line and Bailey added nine rebounds.

BYU (22-5, 12-4) had a season-high 26 assists in the game, while outshooting Pepperdine (5-21, 1-14)  51 to 45 percent.

Eaton hit a 3-pointer to start the scoring for both squads. Following a Bailey layup, the Waves’ Amanda Lovely hit a shot from beyond the arc to tie things up at five apiece.

The Cougars then went 5 for 6 from the 3-point line in the first 3:49 of play to jump out to a 19-7 advantage.

Both teams continued to trade buckets from that point to make the score 36-24, BYU. Following that output, each side remained scoreless for 2:19 until Hamson got her first field goal of the game to give BYU a 14-point advantage.

Back-to-back 3-pointers from Makenzi Morrison fueled a 10-0 run to put BYU up by 21 points at 48-27.

The Cougars put up a season-high 53 points in the first half to give the Cougars a 20-point advantage heading into the break. BYU shot 11 for 22 from beyond the arc in the first half and had 18 assists to its 20 made baskets.

Scoring remained consistent for both sides after the 20-minute break with the score 61-43 after the first media timeout.

Ashley Garfield completed a 3-point play to give the Cougars their largest lead, 23 points, at 70-47. That was followed with a 12-1 Pepperdine run to cut the BYU lead to 12.

Both teams continued to shoot well, but the Cougars were able to hang on to their double digit lead throughout the rest of the game as BYU cruised to an 89-75 victory.

The Cougars remain on the road this Saturday when they head to Los Angeles to face Loyola Marymount at 2 p.m. PST. BYU won the first matchup of the series with a 90-72 win in Provo. The game can be heard live on BYU Radio. Links to live stats can be found on the BYU women’s basketball schedule page.

Postgame Notes

Team
The Cougars scored 53 points in the first 20 minutes of play against the Waves, the most first half points the team has tallied this season. BYU finished the game with 89 points, the 10th time it has scored 80-plus points this year.

For the 10th time this year BYU had four players pick up double figures in points. Eaton (25), Hamson (17), Beeston (15) and Bailey (14).

BYU tallied 36 points in the paint compared with 26 for Pepperdine. The Cougars also got 18 points off of Waves miscues.

With the 20-point lead at the break, 53-33, BYU improved its record to 16-2 when leading at the half.

The Cougars outrebounded the Waves 41 to 31 making it the 20th time they’ve pulled down more boards than their opponents.

BYU dished out 26 assists to Pepperdine’s 21. It’s the 21st time this year that the Cougars have recorded more assists than their opponents.

Player
After 20 minutes of action, Lexi Eaton led all scorers with 17 points, 15 of which were from 3-point range. She would finish the game with a game-high 25 points, recording her 21st double figure game in points and the eighth time she’s had 20-plus points.

With 17 points and 14 rebounds, senior center Jennifer Hamson recorded her 18th double-double of the year. The rebounds were game highs as were her five blocks.

Morgan Bailey picked up her 11th game with double digits in points with 14 to go along with nine rebounds and a career-best three assists.

Kim Beeston tallied 15 points for her 18th game scoring 10-plus points. She also dished out six assists.

Kylie Maeda had team bests in assists and in steals with seven and three respectively.