Team Effort Leads to Big BYU Win
PROVO, Utah (Feb 8, 2007)
Coming off a week without playing a game, the BYU women's basketball team (17-5, 8-1) showed no signs of a week off by beating the Air Force Academy Falcons (4-17,0-10), 70-40 Thursday night in the Marriott Center. With the win, the Cougars remain in solid first place in the Mountain West Conference with an 8-1 record.
The Cougars started the game off strong, leading eight to four at the 15:50 mark in the first half, with all eight points coming from Dani Wright and Lauren Riley each with four a piece. After an Air Force basket that brought the score to 10 to six, BYU scored five unanswered points while holding the Falcons scoreless over the next five minutes. The Cougars played almost perfect in the first ten minutes of the game grabbing 15 rebounds, committing just two team fouls and scoring 17 points.
BYU continued to play good all-around basketball throughout the remainder of the first half jumping out to a twenty-point lead with 5:43 left in the half.
Air Force went the last 15 minutes of the first half without scoring a basket, their last hoop coming with 15:21 remaining, while shooting 10 percent from the field in the first half. BYU finished with 25 first-half rebounds and took a 33-6 lead into the locker room at half time.
" I thought the defense played well in the first-half with a lot of intensity," said BYU Head Coach Jeff Judkins. "It's hard when you jump up that high to hold up the intensity."
The Cougars had a 32-point lead in the opening minute of the second half, leading 38-6. The Air Force scoring drought was broken with 18:45 left in the game when the Falcons' Andrea Taylor hit a jump shot to bring the score to 38-8. Taylor's basket broke a 16:42 scoreless streak for Air Force.
BYU dominated both ends of the floor, grabbing defensive rebounds and converting on the offensive end. The Cougars' largest lead of the game came with 9:39 left in the second half when they lead by 43 points.
The Cougars would continue to play well for the remainder of the game and won with a final score of 70-40. BYU's 70 points was the most points the Cougars have scored in a conference game this season and the 30 point margin of victory was the largest since BYU beat Weber State by 37 on Dec. 14, 2006. Air Force shot 29 percent from the field for the game while the Cougars pulled down a total of 46 rebounds.
" Our defense is the strength of the team," said Coach Judkins.
Dani Wright led the Cougars 21 points and 11 rebounds. With the double-double, Wright recorded her fourth of the year and fifth of her career.
BYU will next play third-place New Mexico who is on a four game winning streak, Saturday Feb. 10 at 2 p.m. in the Marriott Center.
Official Basketball Box ScoreAF Falcons vs BYU COUGARS
02-08-07 7:00 PM at MARRIOTT CTR, BYU, PROVO, UT
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VISITORS: AF Falcons 4-17;0-10
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
30 FINDLAY, Pamela..... f 0-3 0-1 0-0 1 3 4 1 0 2 2 1 0 23
32 STEELE, Alecia...... f 2-9 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 3 4 0 1 0 1 17
44 NOVAK, Jacki........ c 1-5 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 2 0 3 0 0 13
04 CASTILLO, Letricia.. g 2-8 1-2 2-2 2 1 3 3 7 0 1 0 0 20
24 TAYLOR, Andrea...... g 3-5 1-2 1-2 0 3 3 3 8 2 0 0 2 24
05 MYERS, Ashley....... 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 4
12 GLADYSZ, Kory....... 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 1 1 3 3 1 0 0 1 9
14 LETE, Cynthia....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 5
22 DAVIS, Jamie........ 3-6 0-2 2-3 1 1 2 3 8 0 4 0 3 15
23 HIGGINBOTHAM, Dawn.. 0-6 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 0 2 0 1 20
31 JONES, Chasmine..... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 4
33 SCHJODT, Kathleen... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 3
34 CULTRA, Brooke...... 0-6 0-4 0-0 1 2 3 0 0 1 3 1 1 20
35 LOVELESS, Dana...... 0-0 0-0 0-2 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 5
43 KREKE, Kim.......... 1-4 0-0 0-0 3 3 6 1 2 1 3 2 0 18
TEAM................ 2 1 3
Totals.............. 16-56 3-12 5-9 14 18 32 19 40 8 21 4 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 3-28 10.7% 2nd Half: 13-28 46.4% Game: 28.6% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-5 0.0% 2nd Half: 3-7 42.9% Game: 25.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 0-0 0.0% 2nd Half: 5-9 55.6% Game: 55.6% 3
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HOME TEAM: BYU COUGARS 17-5;8-1
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 3-5 2-3 2-3 0 1 1 0 10 3 0 1 3 23
52 RILEY, Lauren....... f 4-8 0-0 0-0 3 4 7 0 8 0 5 5 2 19
45 WRIGHT, Dani........ c 9-13 0-0 3-4 8 3 11 0 21 1 0 2 1 20
15 KEELE, Jennie....... g 2-9 0-6 0-0 0 5 5 2 4 4 0 0 1 26
30 GILLESPIE, Mallary.. g 1-7 0-3 3-6 3 1 4 2 5 4 2 0 2 21
05 CHEESMAN, Ashley.... 1-2 0-0 1-1 1 3 4 2 3 0 1 0 1 16
10 RICE, Kaitln........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2
13 JUDKINS, Jaime...... 0-1 0-1 1-2 2 0 2 1 1 3 2 0 1 13
22 FADDIS, Brittany.... 1-3 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 2 2 0 3 0 0 13
24 EYESTONE, Erica..... 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 3
31 AINA, Rachel........ 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 5
32 SLADE, Shawnee...... 2-5 2-2 0-0 1 2 3 2 6 1 2 0 1 22
54 KING, Cassie........ 3-4 0-1 1-1 0 4 4 3 7 1 3 0 0 17
TEAM................ 1 2 3
Totals.............. 26-58 4-18 12-19 19 27 46 15 68 18 20 8 12 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-30 46.7% 2nd Half: 12-28 42.9% Game: 44.8% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-9 33.3% 2nd Half: 1-9 11.1% Game: 22.2% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-5 40.0% 2nd Half: 10-14 71.4% Game: 63.2% 2
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Officials: ERNESTO SOLIS, ROBERT STRONG, LAURA RAHE
Technical fouls: AF Falcons-None. BYU COUGARS-None.
Attendance: 854
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
AF Falcons.................... 6 34 - 40
BYU COUGARS................... 33 37 - 70
OFFICIAL FINAL