Bonham and Hall Help Cougars to Victory

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PROVO -- Senior Mindy Bonham recorded her second career double-double to lead the BYU women’s basketball team (12-7, 4-1) to a 73-57 victory over the Colorado State Rams on Saturday in the Marriott Center.

"I thought the girls played a really good second half," said BYU head coach Jeff Judkins. "We played really strong defense and overall had a nice night. It was a good win and I am happy for our team."

Senior Mindy Bonham just missed a triple-double with 12 points, a career-high 11 assists and nine rebounds. Bonham also added three steals. Senior Haley Hall scored 17 points including five three-pointers, all in the first half, to lead all scorers.

BYU shot 53 percent for the game, hitting 31-of-59 shots while knocking down 10 three-pointers. The Cougars held the Rams to just 4-of-16 from three and 22-of-56 from the field while outrebounding them 38 to 27.

Hall hit back-to-back three pointers in the first two minutes of play, giving BYU an 8-5 lead. She continued to contribute to BYU's hot start that had the Cougars hitting 4-of-5 shots to start the game.

BYU continued to shoot well from three with Hall hitting her fourth three-pointer of the half and junior Kristen Riley adding another to put the Cougars up 21-15 with 10:59 remaining until the break.

CSU and BYU went back and forth for the rest of the first half but the Cougars remained with the advantage. Senior Jazmine Foreman hit a three-pointer with 2 seconds until halftime to give the Cougars a 33-27 lead as they headed into the locker room.

BYU was efficient from the three-point line for the first half, knocking down 50 percent of its attempts. Hall was 5-of-7 from behind the arc by herself to give her 17 first half points, a new career-high for points in a half.

After the break, BYU started the first seven minutes of play on a 13-2 run to extend the lead to 46-29.

Benefiting from a solid rebounding effort, the Cougars had six second-chance points in the second half to lead 60-40 with 8:37 remaining.

Freshman Kim Parker hit another three-pointer for BYU with 3:20 remaining. Parker was the fifth Cougar to hit from behind the three-point line in the game.

"Tonight our focus was to come out and play hard," Bonham said. "We had a lot of fun out there and it feels great to get the win."

Up next BYU will travel to San Diego to battle the Aztecs on Jan. 26 at 7 p.m. PT before hosting the University of New Mexico back in the Marriott Center on Jan. 29 at 1 p.m.

Post-game Notes

Team Notes

-BYU is 7-1 this season when they play in the Marriott Center.

-The team's 10 3-pointers ties their season-high in conference action.

-The Cougars are now 11-1 when they lead at the half, 4-0 when they shoot 50 percent or better, 10-4 when they make more than five 3-pointers, 10-2 when they outrebound their opponent and 9-1 when they recorded less than 16 turnovers.

-BYU is now 12-5 when they have at least two players score in double figures and 9-0 when they score 70 or more points.

Player Notes

-Haley Hall’s 17 points in the first half is a career-high for first half points. The five 3-pointers she made are also a new career-high for threes made in a first half.

-Mindy Bonham’s 12 points and 11 assists mark the second double-double of her career and season. This was also Bonham's 13th time this season to record double digit points and her 11 assists are a new career-high.

-Jazmine Foreman's 12 points is her 5th season double-digit point performance.