BYU at Northern Colorado Box Score

GREELY, Colo. — Despite 20 points and 13 rebounds from Amanda Wayment, BYU women’s basketball fell to Northern Colorado 79-74 in overtime on Thursday at the Bank of Colorado Arena.

"We didn't play smart basketball towards the end," BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "We had opportunities to get the ball back, but we made mistakes. We have to be better and smarter. Losing Cassie (Devashrayee) and Shalae (Salmon) in overtime hurt us."

Wayment played 40 minutes and went 10 of 13 from the field. The senior also added four assists and one steal to her stat line. All five BYU starters scored in double figures against Northern Colorado: Wayment (20), Chase (15), Devashrayee (12), Salmon (11), Nawahine (10).

Northern Colorado (5-2) jumped out to the 67-63 lead in overtime. A Malia Nawahine mid-range jumper put BYU (3-3) back within two, 67-65, with 3:20 on the clock. UNC countered, hitting back-to-back shots to claim the 72-67 advantage with 2:08 left. 

Brenna Chase then found Wayment in the paint to make it a one possession game, 72-69. After a basket by the Bears, Paisley Johnson knocked down a 3 to bring BYU within two, 74-72. The Bears extended their lead to five, 77-72, with three free throws. Northern Colorado outscored BYU 16 to 11 in overtime to secure the 79-74 win.

Both the Cougars and Bears struggled to find their rhythm offensively to begin the game, as the teams combined for five turnovers through the first three minutes of play.

After a basket and a steal from Northern Colorado at the 7:29 mark, Wayment scored back-to-back buckets to give BYU the 4-2 lead. The Cougars then extended their lead to six, 10-2, on a layup by Cassie Broadhead Devashrayee. BYU carried the 14-8 lead into the second quarter. 

UNC started the second quarter on a 8-1 run to take the 16-15 lead. The Bears increased their lead to four, 27-23, on a 3 by Savannah Smith. Nawahine then scored four-straight points to tie the game at 27-all. Smith then drained two more 3-pointers to take the 33-27 lead into halftime.

BYU began the second half on a 10-2 run. A Chase 3-pointer helped BYU regain the 37-35 lead with 7:54 on the clock. Chase drained another 3 and made a layup to extend the Cougar lead to five 42-37.

After Northern Colorado tied the game at 46, Wayment had a put-back and a jumper to keep BYU ahead 50-46. The Bears outscored the Cougars 6 to 3 in the final minutes of the third quarter to claim the 53-52 advantage as teams headed into the fourth quarter. 

The Bears extended their lead to five, 57-52, with 7:02 left in regulation. Both teams were held scoreless for the next two minutes before Bridget Hintz made a pair of free throws to give UNC the 57-52 late lead.

Chase brought BYU within four, 59-55, as she knocked down her third 3-pointer of the game with 4:24 on the clock. After a steal on the defensive end, Wayment put BYU within two, 59-57, as she scored on the block. With 1:41 on the clock, Chase sank two foul shots to tie the game at 61-all and force a UNC timeout.

After an offensive foul was called on Devashrayee with 32 seconds on the clock, Northern Colorado got the ball with a chance to win on the last shot. BYU stopped the Bears to force overtime.

BYU women’s basketball will continue its Colorado road trip as the team travels to Fort Collins to take on Colorado State on Saturday, Dec 2 at 2 p.m. MT. The game will be broadcast on BYU Radio (Sirius XM 143) and online at byuradio.org/listen.

BYU Postgame Notes at Northern Colorado

Team
With the five point, 79-74 loss at Northern Colorado, BYU’s overall record stands at 3-3 on the year.

BYU had pulled down a first-half high 25 rebounds. Northern Colorado had 12 boards. For the game, the Cougars ended with 45 boards to the Bears 31.

In the game, the Cougars dished out more assists than the Bears 16 to 12.

For the first time this year, BYU had all five starters finish the game with double figures in points. Wayment (20), Chase (15), Devashrayee (12), Salmon (11), Nawahine (10).

BYU was not able to make any of its six attempted 3-point buckets in the first half. UNC made five of 14 attempted treys in the first 20 minutes of action.

The Bears shot 100 percent from the free throw line in the first half while the Cougars made one of three from the charity stripe. For the game, Northern Colorado when 23 of 25 from the free throw line, while BYU went 8 of 12 from the charity stripe.

Player
Senior forward Amanda Wayment picked up her first double-double of the season, second of her career with 20 points and a game-best 13 rebounds. Both the points and the boards are career bests. She also had four assists which tie for season and career bests along with one block and one steal.

Cassie Broadhead Devashrayee tied for team bests in points and in assists with six and three respectively in the first half. Before fouling out with under a minute left in regulation, she’d tallied 12 points, grabbed five rebounds, dished out three assists and had one steal.

One of five starters to finish in double-digit points, Malia Nawahine contributed 10 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out two assists.  She shot 50 percent from the field.

Before fouling out with 4:35 left in the game, Shalae Salmon tallied 11 points to go along with six rebounds, two steals and one assist.

BYU at Northern Colorado Game Notes

PROVO, Utah — With a 3-2 record on the year, BYU women’s basketball takes its second road trip of the season traveling to Colorado for this week’s games.

The Cougars are in Greeley taking on Northern Colorado (4-2) Thurs., Nov. 30, at 7 p.m. MST. On Sat., Dec. 2, BYU is at Colorado State (3-2) in a 2 p.m. tilt. Both games can be heard live on BYU Radio Sirius XM 143 and online at byuradio.org/listen.

ABOUT BYU
BYU dropped a closely-contested 79-63 home game against Georgia on Saturday afternoon. The Cougars cut the Bulldogs’ lead to nine, 60-51, with under eight minutes left in the game, but that was as close as they would get.

In all games played to date, BYU has had at least two players score in double figures and in the first four contests, the Cougar team had put up at least 70 points. They have also outrebounded their opponents in all but the game at Eastern Washington.

BYU is shooting 42.4 percent from the field, 38.2 percent from 3-point range and 71.3 percent from the free-throw line.

Last season, the Cougars finished the year with a 10-3 mark while playing at home, including a perfect 9-0 mark in conference play. So far this year, BYU is 2-1 at home.

Head coach Jeff Judkins enters his 17th season at the helm of the women’s basketball program where he has amassed a 354-164 record.

This year’s team consists of two returning starters, six letterwinners and eight newcomers.

BYU Player Stat Leaders                                       
Scoring: #20 C. Devashrayee (20.8 ppg)
Rebounding: #03 S. Salmon (10.8 rpg)
Assists: #20 C. Devashrayee (4.4 apg)
Steals: #03 B. Chase (2.6 bpg)
Blocks: #03 S. Hamson (2.5 bpg)

ABOUT NORTHERN COLORADO
The Northern Colorado Bears have a 4-2 record to date and a 2-0 mark when playing at home. NC is coming off two road losses at Quinnipiac and at Fordham.

Northern Colorado was picked to finish first in the Big Sky Conference race. The Bears are the third program from the Big Sky league that BYU has played in its preseason schedule. The Cougars defeated both Southern Utah and Eastern Washington earlier this month.

The Bears are averaging 63.0 points per game, shooting 39.7 percent from the field, 31.3 percent from behind the arc and 82.8 percent from the charity stripe.

Head coach Kamie Ethridge is in her fourth season at the helm of the Northern Colorado women’s basketball program. She has compiled a 61-37 record to date.

NC Player Stat Leaders
Scoring: #02 S. Scott (16.5 ppg)
Rebounding: #02 S. Scott (5.8 rpg)
Assists: #01 K. Leger-Walker (4.3 apg)
Steals: #10 S. Smith  (2.7 spg)
Blocks: #13 C. Smith (1.0 bpg)

Series History
This will be the first time these two programs have played each other in over 38 years, having played last  March 3, 1979. In that matchup, BYU won 98-49 in Provo. The Cougars lead the overall series 5-3. When playing in Greeley, BYU is 1-2 all-time.

ABOUT COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY
Entering this week’s games, Colorado State has a 3-2 record. They are at Denver on Thursday before hosting BYU on Saturday afternoon.

The Rams were picked to finish third in the Mountain West Conference race after a fourth-straight league crown last year.

Colorado State returns three starters and seven letterwinners from last year’s team that finished the season with a 25-9 record.

Head coach Ryun Williams is in his sixth season with CSU where he has compiled a 117-47 record.

The Rams are scoring 68.0 points and pull down 41.0 rebounds per contest. The team shoots 41.8 percent from the field, 30.8 percent from 3-point range and 70.4 percent from the free throw line.

CSU Player Stat Leaders
Scoring: #35 L. Devos (12.6 ppg)
Rebounding: #15 V. Mirkovic (6.8 rpg)
Assists: #35 L. Devos (2.6 apg)
Steals: #23 G. Colaivalu (1.2 spg)
Blocks: #35 L. Devos (0.8 bpg)

Series History
BYU leads the overall series vs. CSU 54-23. When playing in Ft. Collins, the Cougars are 19-15. The two teams met last during the 2015-16 campaign in a game played at Moby Arena on Nov. 21. In that contest, CSU picked up the 61-55 victory. Coach Judkins has an 18-6 record vs. the Rams.

What’s Next
After the road swing through Colorado, the Cougar women return to play games at home hosting two in-state rivals. BYU hosts Utah State on Wed., Dec. 6, at 3 p.m. On Sat., Dec. 9, the Cougar women host in-state rival Utah in a 2 p.m. tip off. Both games will air live on BYUtv.