PROVO, Utah – Jennifer Hamson paced BYU to a 69-54 victory in the first round of the WNIT over Idaho State Wednesday at the Marriott Center with a career-high 25 points.

“Well it was nice to get a win tonight – I don’t think we played our best game, but we got it done," BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "The girls did what they needed to do, and I’m proud of them. Our size was a huge advantage tonight, obviously. We seemed a bit sluggish on offense, but Haley was great in getting us going and making plays. Idaho State’s a good team, and it was nice to have a team play man to man against us, and really challenge us.”

Hamson also contributed 12 rebounds and five blocks. Haley Steed followed Hamson’s performance with 20 points, nine assists and seven rebounds. Six other Cougars scored throughout the game.

"I got great passes from my teammates and had a lot of easy baskets tonight," Hamson said. "I just wanted to do all I could for the team so we can keep going in this tournament."

 Idaho State (18-13) was led by Ashleigh Vella with 15 points, five assists and four rebounds.

The Cougars (22-10) shot 40.7 percent from the field verses Idaho State’s 30.4 percent.

To start things off in the first half, the Cougars took an early 6-0 lead that began with an assist from Hamson to Keilani Unga inside the key. The next trip down Unga found Steed. Steed then completed the triangle finding Hamson in the paint. Idaho State’s Jessa Jeppesen broke the Cougars 6-0 run scoring the Bengal’s first basket of the night. Midway through the half, the Cougars went up 11-2, but the Bengals bounced back with 10 unanswered points taking the lead 15-13.

After four minutes without a basket, Steed hit a jumper from the left baseline tying the game at 15. With 4:21 left on the clock, Kim Parker Beeston knocked down two free throws after being tackled by Idaho State’s Kara Jenkins. The Cougars led 23-20.

Off an out-of-bounds play late in the half, Steed found Hamson at the top of the arc, curled out to the top, received the ball back from Hamson, and buried a three. The next trip down, Steed found Xojian Harry underneath the basket who passed off to Hamson. Hamson missed the first shot but converted on the second putting the Cougars up 30-22.

Unga scored one last time for the Cougars, which was followed by another Bengal three with 23 seconds left on the clock.

The Cougars led 34-27 going into the half. Hamson led all scorers with 12 points, eight rebounds and two blocks. Steed contributed nine points, three rebounds and three assists.

With BYU leading by seven at the start of the half, both teams scored within the first minute of play. The Cougars did not score again until the 15-minute mark, when a Hamson block turned into another basket from Steed--only the second basket of the half--putting the Cougars up 38-35.

Toward the midpoint of the half, Steed hit one of two free throws from the line, but an offensive rebound from Ashley Garfield set up a 3-pointer from Steed in the corner extending the lead back to seven. With 11 minutes on the clock, Steed forced a turnover, then on the other end found Garfield, who drove baseline finding Hamson in the paint for the score. Following Hamson’s basket, the Cougars forced another Bengal turnover, which converted into another Hamson basket. Another three from Steed gave the Cougars a 13-point lead, 51-38.

Over the course of the next several minutes Steed found Garfield for two and later, Harry for three, giving the Cougars a 17-point lead. Two free throws from Hamson tied her career best of 23 points and extended the Cougar’s lead to 20. The next trip down, Steed found Hamson for another score and a new career high of 25 points.

The second round of the WNIT will take place on Saturday at the Marriott Center against former Mountain West opponent San Diego State. The time is yet to be determined.

Postgame Notes

Team

BYU held ISU scoreless for the first three minutes on a 6-0 run, which the Cougars turned into an 11-2 run.

BYU increased its lead to 10 with 39 seconds left in the first half. The Cougars regained the double-figure lead on a Hamson layup in the second half.

BYU shot 40.7 percent from the field and 31.3 percent from beyond the arc. Idaho State was held to 30.4 percent shooting and 53.8 percent from 3-point.

The Cougars outrebounded the Bengals 47-35, had 22 second-chance points to Idaho State’s three and outscored in the paint 30-14. BYU also had 20 assists to Idaho State’s 14.

Player

Jennifer Hamson hit double figures before halftime, scoring 12 in the first half and recording a career-high 25 overall. She converted her success into a double-double at the start of the second half, grabbing 12 total. It was her fifth double-double of the season and eighth of her career. She also had five blocks, tying her season high.

Haley Steed also scored in double figures with 20 points. She nine assists and six rebounds.

Kim Parker Beeston led the Cougars with five steals, tying her career record and setting a new season record. She also had seven points.

With a 21-10 record, BYU women’s basketball has been invited to participate in the 64-team single-elimination 2013 Women’s National Invitational Tournament (WNIT). In their seventh appearance in the tournament, the Cougars will host Idaho State (18-12) Wednesday at 7 p.m. MDT in the Marriott Center. The game will air live on BYUtv.

About 2013 WNIT
The Women’s National Invitation Tournament consists of 64 Division I women’s basketball teams who compete at participating schools including the semifinals and the championships. Every round is single elimination. This year’s field features 36 teams with 20 or more wins.

The Postseason WNIT features 32 first-round games, followed by 16 second-round games, eight third-round games, four quarterfinal games, two semifinal games and the championship. All games are played at campus sites. The title game is scheduled for Saturday, April 6 and will air live on CBS Sports Network.

BYU along with San Diego and Saint Mary’s are the three teams from the West Coast Conference who received invitations to play in this year’s WNIT. The Toreros were the automatic qualifier from the league, while the Cougars and Gaels received at-large berths.

This will be the seventh time that the BYU women’s basketball team has been selected to compete in the postseason tourney. In the WNIT, the Cougars have compiled an 8-6 overall record in six appearances.

The team’s last appearance in the WNIT was during the 2010-11 campaign where they advanced to the third round with wins over Denver and Utah State before falling to runner-up USC.  During the 2009-10 season the Cougars advanced to the Quarterfinals, losing to eventual champion Cal.

Under head coach Jeff Judkins, the women’s basketball program has participated in four postseason WNIT tourneys and five NCAA tournaments.

BYU Capsule
The Cougar team has outrebounded its opponents in 19 of the 31 games played.
The BYU bench has outscored the opponent’s bench 544-421.
When comparing points in the paint, the Cougars have scored 784 points to 652 from opponents.
BYU has had a halftime lead in all but eight games to date (vs. Gonzaga at WCC semifinals, vs. Gonzaga, vs. SD, vs. SMC, at USF, at Gonzaga, vs. Seattle and at Washington State).
In only six contests (vs. Gonzaga at WCC semifinals, vs. Gonzaga, at USF, at Gonzaga, at Boston College and at Washington State) the Cougars did not record more assists than their opponents.
Balanced scoring has added to the team’s success this year. To date, three players have put up double figures in points in 13 games and four players finished with double-digit scoring in five games (at POR, at PEP, vs. PEP, vs. Tulsa, vs. UCSB)

• Head coach: Jeff Judkins (Utah, ‘78), is in his 12th season
• Team’s leading scorer: #5 Jennifer Hamson, 10.6 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #5 Hamson, 8.2 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #33 Steed, 7.4 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #33 Steed, 2.1 spg

BYU’S PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP
#33 Haley Steed– (5-4 guard, GS.) 10.3 ppg; 4.1 rpg; 7.4 apg
#4 Kim Parker Beeston– (5-11 guard, Jr.) 9.9 ppg; 4.0 rpg; 2.4 apg
#12 Stephanie Vermunt Seaborn – (6-0 guard/forward, Jr.) 7.0 ppg; 2.7 rpg; 1.7 apg
#45 Keilani Unga– (6-2 forward, Sr.) 7.4 ppg; 4.6 rpg; 0.9 apg
#5 Jennifer Hamson– (6-7 center, Jr.) 10.6 ppg; 8.2 rpg; 0.7 apg

IDAHO STATE Capsule
Idaho State finished the 2012-13 regular season with an 18-12 overall record including a 13-7 mark in the Big Sky Conference for a fourth-place tie with Sacramento State.

ISU is making its second-straight postseason appearance and its fourth in the WNIT. Last year Idaho State played in the first round of the NCAA tournament losing to Miami, 70-41. The Bengals are coming off a 73-60 loss to Sacramento State in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Tournament.

• Head coach: Seton Sobolewski is in his 4th season at Idaho State
• Team’s leading scorer: #22 Ashleigh Vella, 12.3 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #22 Vella, 6.7 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #22 Vella, 2.7 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #30 Lindsey Reed, 1.2 spg

Series History
BYU leads the series 11-3.

Last Meeting
The last time the two teams met was during the 2006-07 campaign when both programs were selected to play in the Preseason WNIT. In that matchup, played on Nov. 10 in Provo, the Cougars, ranked No. 24 nationally, defeated the Bengals 73-50 and advanced to the final four of the preseason tourney.

In that game, Mallary Gillespie-Carling and Shawnee Slade scored 10 points each. Current assistant coach Melinda Bendall (Johnsen) was a senior on that team and she contributed eight points, dished out three assists, and had a game-high four steals. Haley Steed, who was a freshman on the squad that year, played 18 minutes off the bench scoring eight points and dishing out three assists.

The Cougars shot 47 percent from the field, 45 percent from beyond the arc and 42 percent from the free throw line.

For the Bengals, Natalie Doma recorded a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds while Aralee Smith came off the bench to dish out a game-high five assists. ISU shot 33 percent from the field, 19 percent from 3-point range and 55 percent from the charity stripe.

Up Next
A win over Idaho State would advance the Cougars into the second round, which would be played on a campus site March 23-25. They would played the winner of the San Diego State vs. UC Santa Barbara game that is also being played Wednesday night. The championship game will be played on Sat., April 6 at a campus site and will air live on CBS Sports Network at 3 p.m. ET.