Cougars Drop Heartbreaker to ASU

JONESBORO -- The BYU women's basketball team suffered a heartbreaking 54-53 loss to Arkansas State on Tuesday in the first meeting between the two schools. With the loss, the Cougars fall to 1-1 on the season.

Lauren Riley-Varley led all BYU scorers with 16 points. She also recorded 13 rebounds, marking her second double-double in as many games this season. Also scoring in double-figures was Mallary Gillespie-Carling with 13 points. As a team, the Cougars pulled down 39 rebounds. One statistic that ended up hurting BYU was its 24 turnovers.

"We just didn't handle the situation well tonight," said head coach Jeff Judkins. "You have to give [ASU] a lot of credit. We didn't do what we needed to and they did."

BYU jumped out to an early lead in the first half. An assist from Shawnee Slade to Riley-Varley put the Cougars up 22-12. Good defensive play by the Cougars forced ASU turnovers, including a double-dribble turnover on a potential lay-up drive.

As the first half drew to a close, the Lady Indians attempted to close in on BYU's lead, getting to within four points. However, Gillespie-Carling's first three-pointer of the game and a turn-around shot by Keilani Moeaki gave the Cougars a 29-21 lead heading into the break.

BYU held the Lady Indians to 0-for-8 shooting from beyond the arc in the first half.

Gillespie-Carling's two consecutive three-pointers to begin the second half reestablished BYU's 10-point lead. Foul trouble plagued the Cougars as Riley-Varley picked up three quick personal fouls with 9:30 to play in the game.

The Cougars lost a 15-point lead when ASU went on a 7-0 run with seven minutes remaining on the clock. Leading by only one point, Mindy Nielson sunk a big field goal to put the Cougars back up 53-50.

Coming back from a time-out with 56 seconds remaining in the game, a double-dribble call on Slade turned the ball back over to ASU with a chance to overtake the lead. BYU trailed for the first time in the game with 17 seconds remaining.

"We've got to finish when we've got somebody beat," said Judkins. "I've got a good, young team and we've just got to learn to play together and execute. We'll learn from this."

Up next BYU will return home for its season opener at the Marriott Center on Sat., Nov. 17 at 2 p.m. against Fresno State.

Official Basketball Box Score
Brigham Young Univer vs Arkansas State
11/13/07 7:05 PM at Jonesboro, Ark. (Convocation Center)
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VISITORS: Brigham Young Univer 1-1
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
5  CHEESMAN, Ashley.... f  0-0    0-0    0-0    1  0  1   0   0  2  1  0  1  15
52 VARLEY, Lauren...... c  8-13   0-0    0-0    6  7 13   4  16  2  1  0  1  31
3  FOREMAN, Jazmine.... g  2-4    0-0    0-1    0  3  3   4   4  2  1  0  0  26
30 CARLING, Mallary.... g  5-12   3-10   0-0    1  2  3   3  13  3  7  0  1  39
32 SLADE, Shawnee...... g  1-9    0-2    0-0    4  4  8   3   2  0  5  1  0  27
13 JUDKINS, Jaime......    1-1    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   2   2  0  1  0  0   5
22 NIELSON, Mindy......    4-9    0-4    0-0    0  2  2   1   8  0  2  0  1  23
23 WOOD, Coriann.......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   0  0  1  0  0   3
45 MOEAKI, Keilani.....    2-4    0-0    0-0    2  1  3   1   4  0  2  0  0  17
54 KING, Cassie........    1-2    0-0    2-4    0  2  2   2   4  2  0  0  0  14
   TEAM................                         1  3  4             3
   Totals..............   24-54   3-16   2-5   15 24 39  21  53 11 24  1  4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-30 46.7%   2nd Half: 10-24 41.7%   Game: 44.4%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  1-7  14.3%   2nd Half:  2-9  22.2%   Game: 18.8%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  0-1   0.0%   2nd Half:  2-4  50.0%   Game: 40.0%    1
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HOME TEAM: Arkansas State 1-1
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
34 Pospisil, Kayla..... f  0-2    0-0    2-2    1  1  2   0   2  0  1  1  1  10
01 Taylor, Jazmine..... g  2-6    0-1    3-5    3  1  4   1   7  5  2  0  1  33
11 Jefferson, Ebonie... g  5-9    1-3    2-2    3  3  6   1  13  1  2  0  1  24
24 Smith, Veronica..... g  2-6    1-3    0-1    1  3  4   1   5  0  1  0  0  23
25 Starr, Caroline..... g  0-5    0-4    0-0    0  2  2   1   0  1  3  0  0  24
10 Baker, Rachel.......    0-3    0-1    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  1   6
12 Criner, Angie.......    3-7    0-1    3-6    1  1  2   1   9  2  0  0  2  18
15 Hiles, Brittney.....    0-3    0-2    0-0    0  2  2   1   0  0  2  0  0  10
22 Scott, Sherina......    2-4    0-0    2-3    2  1  3   3   6  0  1  0  0  16
30 Schlup, Lyndsay.....    0-4    0-0    2-2    2  1  3   1   2  0  0  0  2  19
33 Anderson, Ashley....    5-7    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   2  10  0  0  0  0  17
   TEAM................                         2  2  4             2
   Totals..............   19-56   2-15  14-21  15 18 33  12  54  9 14  1  8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half:  7-27 25.9%   2nd Half: 12-29 41.4%   Game: 33.9%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  0-8   0.0%   2nd Half:  2-7  28.6%   Game: 13.3%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  7-9  77.8%   2nd Half:  7-12 58.3%   Game: 66.7%    3
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Officials: Mike Riggo, Todd Springer, Park VanNess
Technical fouls: Brigham Young Univer-None. Arkansas State-None.
Attendance: 1729
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
Brigham Young Univer..........   29   24  -   53
Arkansas State................   21   33  -   54