BYU edges past USF to go 2-0 on California road trip

Box Score

SAN FRANCISCO — In its first matchup against San Francisco since the 2015 West Coast Conference Tournament championship game, BYU completed its two-game road trip in the Bay Area with a 66–57 win over the Dons, Saturday afternoon.

“It wasn’t one of our best games offensively, but we were able to play them well defensively,” BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. “The fourth period was the key to our victory. I think we saw great overall team effort. Our starters and our bench played well and everyone was involved. You always need to be prepared because you never know when it will be your night.”

BYU (12-4, 4-1) shot 44.0 percent on 22 of 50 shooting while San Francisco (10-7, 1-5) finished the contest shooting 40.4 percent from the field. The Cougars turned the ball over just eight times to the Don’s 18 turnovers, and BYU scored 17 points off of San Francisco turnovers.

Lexi Eaton Rydalch led all scorers with a game-high 22 points, going 9 for 11 from the charity stripe. Kylie Maeda added 14 points, going 3 for 3 from behind the arc, and Kalani Purcell chipped in six points, pulled down four rebounds and tallied a game -and career-high nine assists. Eight BYU players contributed in the point category in today’s win.

“We all needed to be aggressive this afternoon,” Maeda said. “Contribution from everyone was the key to today’s win.”

BYU edged passed San Francisco late as both opponents never had more than a 7-point advantage through the first 35 minutes of play. The Cougars then went on a run to finish the last five minutes of the game to earn the victory.

With 5:09 to go in the game, Rydalch drove to the hoop, got fouled and completed the 3-point play to give BYU an eight-point lead, 51-43. The Cougars extended their lead to 10 on a layup by Makenzi Morrison Pulsipher, but the Dons then cut the lead to six, 53-47 after making a jumper from behind the arc and a free throw.

Maeda pushed the Cougar lead back to nine, 56-47, as she made her third 3-point field goal of the contest off of a no look pass from Purcell. On the next play, San Francisco’s Taylor Proctor made a 3-point field goal to cut the Cougar lead to six, 58-52, with 1:23 to go.

Throughout the last minute of the game the Dons threw on the full court press to try to stop the clock and send the Cougars to the free throw line. BYU was able to keep its lead as Rydalch hit 3 out of 4 free throws to give the Cougars the 63-54 lead.

With 21 seconds to go, Kayln Simon hit a needed 3-point field goal to cut the late Cougar lead again to six, 63-57. BYU’s inbounds pass was then stolen by San Francisco with a chance to cut the lead to four, but the Dons could not finish the layup. San Francisco continued to foul the Cougars, but BYU was able to convert on its last three free throws.

The Cougars struck first in this afternoon’s contest on a 3-point field goal by senior point guard Kylie Maeda. On the next possession, the Dons converted a 3-pointer of their own to tie the score at 3-all. Teams proceeded to trade baskets midway through the first period with freshman Jasmine Moody scoring six of BYU’s first nine points.

At the 2:25 mark, the Cougars reclaimed the 13-12 lead on a short-range jumper by Cassie Broadhead. Teams were tied 14-14 going into the second period. WCC scoring leader Rydalch was held scoreless through the first period.

BYU started the second period on a 4-0 run to go up 18-14 on the Dons with Rydalch getting her first two points off of a pair of free throws. San Francisco then scored seven quick points of its own to regain the 21-18 lead. With 4:10 to go, Purcell drew the double team and dished it off to Micaelee Orton for the score to give the Cougars a two points advantage, 25-23.

With 28 seconds to go, Maeda gave the Cougars its largest lead of the first half, 32-27, as she converted her second 3-pointer of the contest. San Francisco’s Proctor then made a layup at the buzzer to cut the BYU lead to three, 32-29, going into the halftime break.

Both teams shot well from the free throw line in the first 20 minutes of action, with BYU shooting 7 for 9 and San Francisco converting 4 of its 5 attempts. The Cougars had 11 points off turnovers to the Dons zero, but San Francisco outrebounded BYU 22 to 11. Teams tied a total of nine times throughout the first half of play.

Rydalch opened the half with a jumper off the glass to extend BYU’s lead to five, 34-29. Both teams went on a scoring drought for three straight minutes during the third period, until San Francisco’s Claudia Price hit two free throws at the 3:28 mark. The Dons then proceeded to go on a 7-0 run giving them the 40-36 lead.

Making a pair of free throws, Maeda stopped the Cougars scoring drought with 47 seconds to go in the period to cut the Dons lead at two, 40-38. BYU was held to just six points in the third period.

Pulsipher gave the Cougars the one point advantage, 41-40, as she opened the fourth period with her first 3-point field goal of the game. Rydalch and Purcell continued BYU’s run to give the Cougars their largest lead of the game 46-40.

Teams traded baskets until midway through the fourth period before the Cougars finished the contest outscoring the Dons 20 to 13.

BYU women’s basketball will return to the Marriott Center next Thursday to play Gonzaga at 7 p.m. MST. The game will be broadcast on BYUtv and BYU Radio – Sirius XM 143. Links to live stats and streamed media can be found on the BYU women’s schedule page.

Postgame Notes

Team

Through the first two periods of WCC play, the closely contested game had nine ties. The two foes saw four lead changes with the Cougars getting the largest lead in the first 20 minutes by five, 32-27 with 28 seconds left in the second period. BYU went into the break with a three-point advantage, 32-29.

San Francisco had the advantage in the rebounds category at the end of the first half, 22 to 11, while BYU led in assists with seven to the Dons six. The Cougars also had the lead in steals with six. USF had one in the first half of play.

For the game USF had the advantage in rebounds, 39 to 24 and they got one more assist than the Cougars, 14 to 13.

BYU finished the game with nine steals while USF had three.

Both teams concluded the game with the same number of points in the paint, 28 each. BYU ended with more points off of USF miscues, 17 to five while the Dons recorded more second chance opportunities, 15 to eight.

Player

Kylie Maeda tied for team highs in points with six in the first half of action. She finished the game with 14 for her third double digit outing in points of the season. Maeda went 3 of 4 from the free throw line,  was perfect from 3-point range 3 of 3, had one rebound, one assist and one steal in the game.

Kalani Purcell led the way in assists with five in the first half of action. She finished the game with a game-best nine total assists for career highs in that category. She also had two steals to lead all players and grabbed four rebounds while tallying six points in the winning effort.

Lexi Eaton Rydalch finished the league contest with a game-high 22 points for her 16^th game with double figures in points. She went 9 of 11 from the free throw line, had three rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal.

Makenzi Morrison Pulsipher finished the game with nine points, four rebounds and tied for team bests in steals with two.