Cougars Triumph in The Pit

ALBUQUERQUE -- Mallary Gillespie scored 18 points and Shawnee Slade chipped in 16 points off the bench in the second half to lead BYU (11-4, 2-0) to a 63-59 victory over New Mexico (10-6, 0-3) Wednesday night in Albuquerque. It was the Cougars first win in "The Pit" since 2001.

"Tonight was a good team effort," BYU coach Jeff Judkins said. "Everybody did something positive to help us win."

A tough BYU defense held New Mexico to just 38 percent shooting on the night, while Lobo star Dionne Marsh was held to just two points on a pair of free throws.

"Defensively, we played well and mixed it up," Judkins said.

The Lobos controlled the flow of the game much of the first half though, leading by as many as eight points and preventing BYU from mounting any type of serious run. They fought back late in the half and cut the New Mexico lead to 26-22 after a Gillespie three-point bucket.

Katie Montgomery scored 11 first-half points behind a pair of three-point buckets to lead the Lobos to a 31-26 advantage at halftime.

New Mexico started the second half of play hot and took a 37-29 lead with 17:01 left. Shawnee Slade hit a pair of three pointers to cut the deficit to four. The Cougars responded though and cut the lead to three after a pair of Melinda Johnsen free throws.

The Lobos controlled play over the next few minutes and took a seven-point lead with 8:50 left to play. BYU got hot though and ripped off an 8-0 run with a pair of three-point buckets from Slade and Gillespie to give the Cougars their first lead of the game at 50-49 with 6:43 left to play.

Both teams traded scores until a Dani Wright bucket put the Cougars up one with 4:10 left to play. They went up by four after a Slade jumper a short time later. New Mexico's Montgomery responded with a big three-point shot to cut the BYU lead to one with 1:30 left to play.

A smothering Cougar defense held strong and kept the Lobos from scoring the rest of the way. A Wright free throw with three seconds left sealed the win for BYU.

The Cougars outrebounded New Mexico 33-31 on the evening behind a game-high eight rebounds each from Wright and Lauren Riley. BYU is now 8-1 on the season when outrebounding its opponents.

New Mexico's Montgomery led all scorers with a game-high 19 points. Gillespie and Slade led the way for the Cougars, while Wright and Riley chipped in eight points apiece.

BYU will look to remain undefeated in conference play when it hosts Wyoming Saturday at 2 p.m., in the Marriott Center.

Official Basketball Box Score
BYU vs New Mexico
1-10-07 7:05 PM at Albuquerque, N.M. The Pit
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VISITORS: BYU 11-4, 2-0
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
35 JOHNSEN, Melinda.... f  1-2    1-2    1-2    0  3  3   1   4  5  2  1  2  38
45 WRIGHT, Dani........ f  3-9    0-1    2-5    3  5  8   4   8  0  3  1  1  29
52 RILEY, Lauren....... c  4-7    0-0    0-0    4  4  8   4   8  2  1  0  1  27
15 KEELE, Jennie....... g  1-6    0-3    1-2    1  1  2   2   3  3  5  0  1  24
30 GILLESPIE, Mallary.. g  5-12   4-8    4-4    1  3  4   4  18  3  2  0  0  37
05 CHEESMAN, Ashley....    2-4    0-0    0-0    1  1  2   0   4  1  0  1  0   8
22 FADDIS, Brittany....    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0  0+
32 SLADE, Shawnee......    6-8    4-4    0-0    0  2  2   4  16  2  1  0  1  28
54 KING, Cassie........    1-2    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   2  1  0  1  0   9
   TEAM................                         1  3  4             1
   Totals..............   23-50   9-18   8-13  11 22 33  20  63 17 15  4  6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-26 42.3%   2nd Half: 12-24 50.0%   Game: 46.0%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  2-6  33.3%   2nd Half:  7-12 58.3%   Game: 50.0%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  2-4  50.0%   2nd Half:  6-9  66.7%   Game: 61.5%    1
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HOME TEAM: New Mexico 10-6, 0-3
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
15 E-NUNU, Timi........ f  1-2    0-0    0-0    0  2  2   1   2  0  4  1  2  16
33 MARSH, Dionne....... f  0-6    0-0    2-4    1  1  2   2   2  4  1  1  2  29
13 MONTGOMERY, Katie... g  7-12   4-5    1-1    1  2  3   1  19  1  0  0  1  38
40 BRIODY, Julie....... g  1-7    0-2    5-6    2  4  6   2   7  3  3  0  2  32
41 KIMBLE, Brandi...... g  0-5    0-3    2-2    3  4  7   1   2  2  0  0  1  23
03 WEISSMANN, Eileen...    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   4
10 BEGGIN, Amy.........    3-5    1-1    2-3    0  0  0   2   9  1  1  0  0  25
34 KAST, Valerie.......    2-5    0-0    4-7    0  2  2   0   8  1  1  4  0  12
44 HARTILL, Angela.....    4-6    0-1    2-2    1  1  2   2  10  0  1  0  1  21
   TEAM................                         3  4  7
   Totals..............   18-48   5-12  18-25  11 20 31  11  59 12 11  6  9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-26 42.3%   2nd Half:  7-22 31.8%   Game: 37.5%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  3-6  50.0%   2nd Half:  2-6  33.3%   Game: 41.7%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  6-12 50.0%   2nd Half: 12-13 92.3%   Game: 72.0%    4
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Officials: Clarke Stevens, Eric Larson, Shelley Nakasone
Technical fouls: BYU-None. New Mexico-None.
Attendance: 8454
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
BYU...........................   26   37  -   63
New Mexico....................   31   28  -   59
ID-467262