LAIE, Hawaii – Makenzi Morrison led BYU women's basketball to an 81-62 win against Butler Wednesday to begin play in the Tom Weston Invitational.

"We played a really balanced game today, and that's what we wanted to see," BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "Ashley (Garfield) played well for us and it was good to see Kylie (Maeda) shoot the ball better today. Makenzi came in and gave us a huge lift in the second half."

Morrison led the Cougars with a career-high 16 points from 6 of 9 shooting, including 4 of 6 treys. Morgan Bailey had a team-high eight rebounds to go along with 14 points for a near double-double. Kylie Maeda led the team in assists with six while also contributing a season-high 13 points. Lexi Eaton rounded out the double-digit scoring, adding 14 and five rebounds.

BYU (2-2) outrebounded the Bulldogs 38-26 and had a 24-10 assist advantage. Additionally, the Cougars shot 55 percent from the floor compared to just 37 percent for Butler (0-5). 

Butler got the first points of the game off a 3-pointer, but BYU came storming back with a put-back jumper from Ashley Garfield to make the score 3-2. The two teams traded points from there until Eaton hit her first 3-pointer of the game at the 15:30 mark to give the Cougars a four-point edge, 13-9. 

The Bulldogs were undeterred, however, as Butler's Loryn Goodwin scored consecutive buckets to put her team back up by two at 15-13 with 12:43 left to play in the half. BYU ensued with a 14-0 run, led by 3-pointers from Maeda and Morrison, to help the Cougars retake the lead with a 12-point advantage at 27-15.

Both sides went back-and-forth in scoring for the rest of the half. Garfield hit a 3-pointer with six seconds left to give BYU its largest lead to that point, 41-26, at the intermission.

Bailey got things started again for the Cougars to begin the second half, scoring on a jump shot to extend BYU's advantage to 17 at 43-26. A few buckets later, Morrison drained a pair of shots from beyond-the-arc to put the Cougars up 53-31, forcing Butler to take a timeout with 16:20 left in the game. 

A pair of Eaton buckets then extended BYU's lead past the 30-point mark at 65-33 with 14:06 left. With the advantage, the Cougars were then able to give playing time to those who get lesser minutes.

The Bulldogs began to bridge the gap with an 8-2 rally that was quickly stopped by a Xojian Harry shot with 6:24 left, making the score 75-50. Butler slowly brought itself within 16 at 77-61 with 2:36 left, but that was as close as the Bulldogs would get as BYU took the game 81-62.

The Cougars continue play in the Tom Weston Invitational Thursday when they face off against BYU-Hawaii at 1 p.m. HST. Links to live stats can be found on the BYU women's basketball schedule page. 

Postgame Notes

Team
At halftime, BYU had two players scoring in double digits with Kylie Maeda (11) and Morgan Bailey (10). The team would finish the game with four players in double figures, a first on the year. Makenzi Morrison led the Cougar effort with 16 points, followed by 14 apiece from Bailey and Lexi Eaton. Maeda finished with 13.

The Cougars pulled down 20 rebounds in the first half of action while the Bulldogs had 14. BYU would outrebound Butler 38 to 26. They would also dish out more assists with 24 compared to 10 for the Bulldogs. Butler did record three more steals than BYU, eight to five.

Player
Makenzi Morrison tied for game highs in points with 16. The total in points were season and career bests.

Kylie Maeda finished the game with season bests in points (13) and assists (6). The assists were also game highs.

Morgan Bailey tallied 14 points and a game-high eight rebounds in the win over the Bulldogs. Bailey has now recorded double digits in points in all games to date.

For the second-straight time on the year, Lexi Eaton recorded double figures in points. She finished the game with 14 along with five rebounds, two assists and two steals.

After a 65-60 home win over Nevada, BYU women’s basketball (1-2) continues play on the road this week competing in the Tom Weston Invitational in Laie, Hawaii where they will play three games.

The Cougars battle Butler (0-4) at 3 p.m. HST on Wed. Nov. 26. On Thanksgiving Day BYU plays BYU-Hawai’i at 1 p.m. HST. The Cougars conclude the week with a matchup against No. 20 Oregon State Sat., Nov. 29 at 1 p.m. HST. All games will be played at the Cannon Activities Center on the BYU-H campus.

About BYU
BYU returns three starters and nine letterwinners from last year’s team that compiled a 28-7, 14-4 record. The Cougars finished second in the West Coast Conference and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. This year they were selected to finish second in the WCC regular season.

Morgan Bailey, a  6-foot-2 senior forward leads the team in points and rebounds with 19.7 points and 9.0 rebounds per game. Junior Kylie Maeda tops the list in the assists category for BYU dishing out 3.0 per contest.

The Cougars are scoring 61.3 points per game while shooting 40 percent from the field, 67 percent at the free-throw line, 38 percent from 3-point land and have recorded more assists than their opponents.

• Head coach: Jeff Judkins (Utah, ‘78) 14th season
• Team’s leading scorer: #41 M. Bailey, 19.7 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #41 M. Bailey, 9.0 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #15 K. Maeda, 3.0 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #21 L. Eaton, 2.0 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #20, Cassie Broadhead, 1.5 bpg

About BUTLER
Entering this week’s invitational the Bulldogs are 0-4 on the year. Butler returns five letterwinners from last year’s team that compiled a 16-16, 10-8 record, finishing sixth in the Big East Conference.

Ijeoma Uchendu leads the team with a double-double from 21.0 points and 13.5 rebounds a game. Loryn Goodwin follows with 20.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. Blaire Langlois rounds out the double digit scoring contributing 13.3 points and 3.8 rebounds and a team best 2.5 assists per contest.

Butler scores 58.0 points per game while shooting 34 percent from the field, 65 percent from the free-throw line and 28 percent from 3-point range.

• Head coach: Kurt Godlevske (Northern Michigan,1994) First season
• Team’s leading scorer: #01 I. Uchendu,  21.0 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #01 I. Uchendu, 13.5 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #2 B. Langlois, 2.5 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #32 L. Goodwin, 2.3 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #01 I. Uchendu, .75 bpg

Series History
This will be the first meeting between these two schools.

About BYU-HAWAII
The 2014-15 Seasider team features players from four countries (United States, Tonga, New Zealand and China). In the Tom Weston Invitational, BYU-Hawaii plays the Cougars on Thanksgiving Day and Butler on Saturday, Nov. 29.

BYU-Hawaii returns six letterwinners including four starters from a team that went 3-19, 3-14 last season. The four starters are Brydgette Tatupu-Leopoldo (16.7 ppg, 5.5 rpg), Whitney Fieldsted (6.9 ppg, 8.8 rpb), Marquessa Gilson (6.9 ppg, 4.4 rpg) and Jiashen Cui (7.1 ppg, 1.8 rpg).

This year, the Seasiders were selected to finish 12th in the Pacific West Conference.

• Head coach: Craig Stanger (Western Oregon,1995) 2nd season
• Team’s leading scorer: #22 B. Tatupu-Leopoldo,  16.7 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #35 W. Fieldsted, 8.8 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #33 J. Cui, 2.1 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #35 W. Fieldsted, 1.8 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #42 U. Tonga, .27 bpg

Series History
BYU leads the series 2-0. In the previous two meetings, the Cougars captured a 101-51 victory on Dec. 3, 2010 and an 88-27 win on Nov. 29, 2011. Both games were played on the BYU-Hawaii campus.

About No. 20 Oregon State
Oregon State has compiled a 3-0 record to date, recording home wins over Portland, Utah State and Concordia.  In the Tom Weston Invitational, the Beavers play Butler on Thanksgiving Day prior to battling the Cougars on Saturday.

Oregon State returns nine letterwinners including all five of its starters from last year’s team that compiled a 24-11, 13-5 record and tied for second in the Pac-12. Oregon State played in the first round of the NCAA tournament. In this year’s Pac-12 race, the Beavers were picked to finish third.

Four Oregon State players are putting up double digits in scoring, led by 15.7 points from Ruth Hamblin - who nearly gets a double double as she pulls down 9.7 boards per game. Sydney Wiese follows with 11.7 points and 2.3 rebounds, while teammate Ali Gibson contributes 10.7 points and 5.3 boards. Rounding out the double figure scoring is Deven Hunter who tallies 10.7 points and pulls down 5.3 boards per game. The Beavers average 88.0 points a game, shoot 48 percent from the field, 67 percent from the free-throw line and 39 percent from behind the arc.

• Head coach: Scott Rueck (Oregon State, 1991) 4th season
• Team’s leading scorer: #44 R. Hamblin, 15.7 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #44 R. Hamblin, 9.7 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #24 S. Wiese, 6.7 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #14 A. Gibson, 3.0 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #44 R. Hamblin, 3.7 bpg

Series History
Oregon State leads the series 5-4.  The two team have not played since the 2000-01 season when the two met in the first round of the postseason WNIT. In that matchup, BYU recorded the 78-63 win in Corvallis. When the two teams play on a neutral court, the record is 1-1.

Up Next
After the three games the team will play in Laie, the Cougar women return to Provo for two games. They host MWC foes UNLV on Thursday, Dec. 4 in the Smith Fieldhouse and then host Colorado State at EnergySolutions Arena on Saturday, Dec. 6. Both of the games will air live on BYUtv and will be simulcast on BYU Radio.