LAS VEGAS -- The BYU women’s basketball team suffered a heartbreaking loss to the University of Utah in the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference tournament after a buzzer beater gave Utah the 50-49 victory in Las Vegas, Friday.

"Well, you got to give Utah a lot of credit," said BYU head coach Jeff Judkins. "They played a great game, they hit the shots when it counted. Being up five points, that three pointer was a big basket for them. Then we had a couple chances with eight seconds, I thought, to stop them. We gave them too many opportunities."

BYU’s Kristen Riley and Mindy Bonham finished in double digits with 15 and 13 points, respectively. Bonham, MWC Defensive Player of the Year, also contributed four rebounds, three assists and a season-high five steals. Riley, the MWC 6th Player of the Year, also tallied five rebounds and an assist.

A quick start gave the Utes an early lead and an eventual 19-14 advantage over the Cougars but BYU didn’t stop there as they went on a 5-0 run to tie up the score at 19 on a 3-pointer from Coriann Wood.

Two more consecutive possessions gave BYU its first lead of the game in a 23-19 score before halftime. The Utes played catch-up until the half and were successful, taking the 24-23 lead as the teams left the court.

Despite BYU shooting just 27.6 percent from the field compared to Utah’s 43.5 percent in the first half, the Cougars were down just one point at the half. The halftime deficit was just the ninth time this season BYU trailed at the conclusion of the first half.

The first shot of the second half came from Jazmine Foreman to give the lead back to BYU with a steal from Mindy Bonham to set up Foreman for a trey in the next possession.

With under two minutes left in the game, Utah’s Iwalani Rodrigues hit a three to bring them within one but Bonham responded with a three of her own to keep the Cougars a safe distance from the Utes.

However, the lead would end up not being enough as the Utes took possession of the ball with under five seconds to play. A shot at the buzzer from Michelle Plouffe gave Utah the one-point advantage it needed to get the win.

The Cougars committed a season-low five turnovers while forcing 19 from the Utes and shot 31 percent from the field for the game.

"I'm proud of my team still," Judkins said. "We didn't play our best ball tonight but we still hung in there. It was a real ugly game, not a high scoring game. We just needed to make some plays at the end for us to win." Judkins was named the 2011 MWC Coach of the Year, his third such honor.

Postgame Notes

Team

-For the 10th time this year the Cougars have had two players score in double figures.

-The team’s five turnovers are a season-low.

-BYU's bench has outscored its opponents 671 to 399 thus far on the year.

Player

-Junior Kristen Riley came off the bench to score 15 points marking her 13th on the year and 25th contest where she’s tallied double digits. The points were team highs.

-Mindy Bonham recorded her 20th season and 60th career double figure game with her 13 points. Bonham's three assists, for 458 career total, also put her just one behind the fourth all-time assist leader in BYU women's basketball history.

MWC Regular Season Champion BYU is set to compete in the 2011 MWC Women’s Basketball Championships in Las Vegas this week.

The Cougar women (23-7, 15-1) enter this year’s championships as the No. 1 seed and are riding a 12-game win streak.

With the regular season title, BYU gets a two round bye and plays in one of two semifinals set for Fri. Mar. 11. The Cougars

will play instate rival Utah (16-16) at 12 p.m. PT, from the Thomas & Mack Center.

2010-11 STATS SUMMARY

- Shooting from field: (.429, 788-1837)

- Shooting from three-point line: (.336, 217-646)

- Shooting from free-throw line: (.679, 286-421)

- Average points per game: 69.3

- Average rebounds per game: 38.6

- Average assists per game: 19.3

- Average steals per game: 8.3

- Average blocks per game: 4.2

- Average turnovers per game: 14.3

ABOUT BYU

- The Cougars are led in scoring by senior guard Mindy Bonham who averages 12.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. Senior forward Coriann Fraughton follows averaging 11.5 points and a team high 7.4 rebounds per contest.

- Bonham also tops the list in assists with a total of 157. She also has the team’s best free throw percentage at .778, 49-63.

- Haley Hall has the most steals on the team with 57.

- Freshman center Jennifer Hamson is tops in the field goal percentage category at .572, 79-138. She also has the most blocks on the team with 43.

- The BYU bench has outscored its opponents 654 to 396 as of 3/6/11. The most points scored by the Cougar bench to date are 44 in the win over BYU-Hawaii on 12/3/10. The most bench points from an opponent on the year are 31 recorded by BYU-Hawaii.

- BYU’s reserves are outrebounding their opponents 410 to 295 as of 3/6/11. The most rebounds by the Cougar bench are 28 vs. Utah State on 11/23/10. The most boards by the opponent bench are Utah State with 24.

2011 MWC POSTSEASON HONORS

Coach of the Year - Jeff Judkins

Defensive Player of the Year - Mindy Bonham

6th Player of the Year - Kristen Riley

First-Team All-Mountain West - Mindy Bonham

Second-Team All-Mountain West - Coriann Fraughton

Third-Team All-Mountain West - Haley Hall

Honorable Mention All-Mountain West - Jazmine Foreman, Kristen Riley

All-Defensive Team - Mindy Bonham

POLL WATCHING

The BYU women’s basketball team is receiving votes

Associated Press Poll

Week of Feb. 14 (2 votes)

Week of Feb. 21 (7 votes)

Week of Feb. 28 (9 votes)

Week of Mar. 7 (13 votes)

ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll

Week of Mar. 1 (1 vote)

BYU HISTORY IN THE MWC CHAMPIONSHIPS

-The Cougar women have advanced to the championship game in six of the 11 years of the conference tournament. BYU won the title in 2002 by defeating UNLV 61-46 at the Thomas & Mack Center. That same year, the team went on to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament.

-Entering this year's tournament the Cougars are the No. 2 seed for the second straight time and third overall in the championship’s history.

-BYU has never entered the MWC Championships lower than the No. 6 seed.

-During last year’s MWC tournament in Las Vegas, the Cougars were the No. 2 seed after finishing second in the regular season with a 11-5 record. They lost to San Diego State in the semifinals.

OVERALL MWC TOURNAMENT RECORD: 14-10

CHAMPIONSHIPS WON: One (2002)

ABOUT SEMIFINAL MWC OPPONENT

UNIVERSITY of UTAH

MWC Championships Note: This will be the second time that the two instate rivals have met in the league’s semifinal round. The last time was during the 2004-05 season with Utah getting the 64-48 win.

The Utes advanced to the semifinal round with a 55-44 win over UNLV and a 70-55 victory against Air Force. Sophomore guard Iwalani Rodrigues leads the offense for the Utes averaging 14.8 points and 2.8 boards a game. She’s followed by Michelle Plouffe who contributes 13.7 points and a team high 7.3 rebounds per contest. Rounding out the double figure scoring is Janita Badon who tallies 12.8 points and grabs 6.4 boards a game. Badon also leads the way in the assists and steals categories for Utah with 180 and 78 respectively. The interim head coach for Utah is Anthony Levrets.

Series History

Overall Series Record: Utah leads 60-37

BYU Record in Provo: 18-21

BYU Record in Salt Lake City: 10-30

BYU Record in Neutral Sites: 9-9

BYU Record under Jeff Judkins: 9-13

First Meeting – in Provo on Jan. 12, 2011 (BYU won 68-50)

A season-high 1,327 fans were in attendance to watch the BYU women’s basketball team take down conference rival Utah 68-50.

Haley Hall guided the Cougars (11-6, 3-0) to victory in the second half, scoring all of her 16 points after halftime. Jennifer Hamson and Mindy Bonham also hit double figures with 10 points each. Coriann Fraughton grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds, tying as a game-high.

Full-court pressure from BYU did its job leading to four steals in the first half and 10 points off Utah turnovers.

BYU kept at least a five-point lead for most of the half, but with four minutes left, Utah’s Chelsea Bridgewater put in a layup to bring the score to 25-24. Dani Peterson scored four to end the half with a 29-26 Cougar lead.

No one scored for the first three minutes of the second half until Michelle Plouffe laid the ball in for the Utes (9-8, 2-1). Utah free throws tied the game, but a layup from Hamson pushed the Cougars ahead with 15 minutes left to play.

Redshirt freshman Kim Parker hit a key three-pointer with 12 minutes to play, giving the Cougars a seven-point lead. Kristen Riley pushed that lead to 10 at the seven minute mark.

Second Meeting – in Salt Lake City on Feb. 12, 2011 (BYU won 61-58)

With the seconds winding down, the BYU women’s basketball team (18-7, 10-1) made a huge defensive stop to keep instate rival Utah from making a comeback as the Cougars went on to win 61-58. With the win, BYU takes the women’s basketball Deseret Duel series for the second-straight year and stays in first place in the league standings.

Senior Coriann Fraughton led the Cougars with 20 points to tie her season-high. Fraughton also added eight rebounds and two steals to the winning effort.

With just 41 seconds to play, BYU prevented an attempted comeback as the Utes made a three-pointer to bring them within three of the Cougars. As time wound down, BYU held off any more attempts by Utah to keep the 3-point victory in their possession.

To begin the game Jazmine Foreman sparked a 6-0 run for the Cougars after four minutes of play with a jumper to put BYU on top by one. From there, the Cougars would keep the lead 28-23 at the half. Senior Mindy Bonham had already recorded double figures with 11 points for BYU when the teams left for halftime and she finished with 14.

BYU’s Jennifer Hamson scored the first four points of the second half to give the Cougars an eight-point lead. Fraughton joined Bonham’s double figures in the second half, finishing with 20 points after scoring 17 in the second half.

TEAM TRAVEL

Team Flight: Southwest #46 departs Salt Lake City, Wed. Mar. 9 at 4:15 p.m., arriving in Las Vegas at 4:30 p.m.

Team Flight: Southwest #3644 departs Las Vegas, Sat. Mar. 12 at 8 p.m., arriving in Salt Lake City at 10:15 p.m.

Team Hotel: The Signature at MGM Grand, 145 E. Harmon Ave. 702-797-6000, 702-797-6150, fax.

WHAT’S NEXT

After competing in the MWC tournament, the Cougars will prepare to compete in the 2011 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championships. First and second round games are schedule for Mar. 19 and 21.