MANHATTAN, Kan.—Kansas State hit the BYU women’s basketball team with its second loss of the season and its first loss on the road after a 59-46 Wildcat victory at the Bramlage Coliseum Wednesday night.

“Kansas State seemed to want it more,” BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. “I just feel like for us to be successful, we need to be tough, we need to fight and be aggressive. My inside presence tonight wasn’t what I expected, what this team really needs. We just got beat inside and that’s not like us. We’re better than that. You have ups and downs and we’re just going to have to learn from this. This was a tough week.”

True freshman Lexi Eaton led the Cougars (1-2) with 16 points, shooting 6-for-11 from the field and 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. Eaton also had five rebounds, tying for the BYU lead with Haley Hall Steed. Steed totaled 13 points, including three 3-pointers, and sophomore Kim Parker had 11 points.

“Today I really just focused on the fundamentals,” Eaton said. “My teammates did a great job of setting up those looks for me and I was able to convert.”

Kansas State’s Jalana Childs led the game with 18 points and nine rebounds.

BYU held the Wildcats (2-0) to 17.6 percent shooting from the three-point line and managed to keep out of foul trouble until the end of the second half, totaling 14—an improvement from 26 fouls against Tulsa on Monday.

BYU took the lead from the top, with Eaton putting up four unanswered points to start play. Kansas State’s Tasha Dickey sank a 3-pointer to take a 7-6 lead, but the lead was quickly recovered by Parker’s bucket for an 8-7 Cougar lead. After three more lead changes, the Wildcats broke away with a 6-0 run. Dani Peterson ended a scoreless four minutes for BYU with a jump shot at 8:08.

“They had some really good bigs inside,” Parker said. “But if we’re going to win games, we need inside presence so the pressure isn’t all going to the guards.”

Steed continued her strong performance beyond the arc with a 3-pointer at 5:19 to cut the deficit to 20-18. The Wildcats answered with a pair of jumpers and a 3-pointer, pushing their lead to 27-18. Kansas State had several chances to take a double-figure lead, but all attempts proved fruitless and the teams went into the locker room with a 29-21 Wildcat lead.

It only took 11 seconds for Eaton to take the ball in for a layup to open the second half and followed it up with another layup and a jumper to cut the score to 33-27. BYU kept the Wildcats from running away with a Parker 3-pointer and a Steed lay-in.

Kristen Riley’s layup, her first points of the game, set the Cougars up to tear down Kansas State’s lead. Parker nailed a jumper to cut the deficit to 37-35.

From there, Kansas State charged forward to gain back its 10-point lead and Chantay Charon’s three-point play, after getting fouled on a layup, took the score to 52-39.

“There was a couple times the ball didn’t bounce our way,” Parker said. “I think we were a little rushed on our shots all night and that’s something we’re going to have to work on, keeping our composure.”

Steed ended another four-minute drought, but it wasn’t enough to push BYU back into the game. Foul shots took the score to 59-46 to end the game.

The Cougars return to Utah Saturday for a 7 p.m. road matchup against in-state foe Weber State.

Kansas State Postgame Notes

Team

The Cougars finished with one more steal than the Wildcats 6 to five in the game in Manhattan.

BYU and Kansas State finished tied in the assist category with each team dishing out 11.

For the second time in the 2011-12 campaign, three BYU players scored in double figures. The last time was non Nov. 11 against No. 8 Duke.

As a team, the Cougars were perfect from the free throw line going 5-for-5.

Player

Lexi Eaton scored the first six points for the Cougars in the second half, finishing the game with 16 for her second season and career double figure game. In the game she was perfect from the free throw line, going 4-4 and tied for team highs in rebounds with five.

Haley Steed picked up her third straight and 31^st career double figure contest with 10 points against the Wildcats. She dished out a team high five assists and tied for team highs in rebounds with five.

Kim Parker tallied 11 in the game marking her second double digit outing of the season and seventh in her career.

With an (0-1) record after a close fought game against No. 8 Duke, BYU women’s basketball takes its first road trip of the 2011-12 campaign. The Cougars play three games in six days starting with a Monday, Nov. 14 game at Tulsa (0-1).

Then its on to Manhattan, Kansas to take on Kansas State (1-0) on Wednesday, Nov. 16 before an instate rival matchup with Weber State in Ogden on Saturday, Nov. 19.

The games at Tulsa and at Kansas State can be heard live on BYU Radio. (Sirius XM 143, or byuradio.org)

2010-11 Stats Summary
--Shooting from field: (.427, 888-2081)
--Shooting from three-point line: (.331, 238-718)
--Shooting from free-throw line: (.681, 341-501)
--Average points per game: 69.3
--Average rebounds per game: 39.1
--Average assists per game: 19.1
--Average steals per game: 8.4
--Average blocks per game: 4.1
--Average turnovers per game: 14.1

About BYU
--The Cougars return two of the team's scorers in Kristen Riley and Haley Hall Steed. Riley enters the 2011-12 campaign with an 8.9 points average while Steed puts up 8.5 points per contest.

--In the rebounding category, Riley tops the list grabbing 5.4 boards a game with sophomore center Jennifer Hamson averaging 5.1 rebounds.  

--Steed returns as the team’s assists and steals leader with 168 and 62 respectively.

--Hamson tops the leader board in the field goal percentage category (.559, 90-161). She also has the most blocks on the team with 45.

Team Captains Selected
Seniors Haley Steed (Hall) and Kristen Riley were chosen by their teammates as co-captians for the 2011-12 season. It marks Steed’s fourth straight co-captain selection.

Coaching Milestone
BYU head coach Jeff Judkins picked up his 200th career victory in the 64-55 road win at Colorado State on 2/23/11. The win marked the fifth 20-plus win season for coach Judkins, and the second straight.

This Week’s Opponents
Tulsa
The Tulsa Golden Hurricanes are coming off a close 48-52 loss at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock after picking up two exhibition game victories. Tulsa returns nine letterwinners including four starters from last year’s squad that compiled a 5-20 overall record. The four starters back are headline by junior guard Taleya Mayberry who led the team in points with a 15.0 average while grabbing 3.4 boards per game. Senior Chanice Scott, a 5-10 guard, followed contributing 7.8 points and 5.0 rebounds a contest. The two other returning starters are sophomore forward Loren McDaniel who chipped in 7.3 points and team high 6.2 boards and senior forward Denise Lewis putting in 6.7 points and 5.2 boards per game. Head coach Matilda Mossman is in her first season with the Tulsa women’s basketball program.

Series Breakdown
Overall Series Record: BYU leads 5-0
BYU Record in Provo: 2-0
BYU Record in Tulsa: 2-0
BYU Record in Neutral Sites: 1-0
BYU Record under coach Judkins: n/a

KANSAS STATE
Kansas State opened the season with an easy 54-20 home victory over Dartmouth after capturing two wins in exhibition games. The Wildcats return eight letterwinners from last year’s team that compiled an impressive 21-11 overall record tying for third place in the Big 12 Conference with a 10-6 mark. Kansas State also played in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Four of those letterwinners started in at least 28 games last season. Brittany Chambers, a 5-8 junior guard, topped the leaderboard in scoring with 16.1 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. Senior forward Jalana Childs followed contributing 12.8 points while grabbing 4.2 boards a contest. The two other starters back are Branshea Brown, a 6-2 senior forward who tallied 5.4 points and 5.9 rebounds a game and teammate Mariah White, a 5-7 junior guard, tallying 4.8 points and 4.1 boards per contest. Head coach Deb Patterson is her 16th season at the helm of the women’s basketball program at Kansas State.

Series Breakdown
Overall Series Record: Kansas State leads 20
BYU Record in Provo: 0-1
BYU Record in Manhattan: n/a
BYU Record in Neutral Sites: 0-1
BYU Record under coach Judkins: 0-1

Team’s Travel Plans
Flight: Delta #4662 departs Salt Lake City on Sun. Nov. 13 at 1:45 p.m., arriving in Tulsa at 5:03 p.m.
Flight: Delta #4560 departs Kansas City on Thurs. Nov. 17 at 2:10 p.m., arriving in Salt Lake City at 4:01 p.m.
Hotel in Tulsa: Courtyard Marriott, 415 South Boston Ave., 918-508-7400, 918-508-7425, fax
Hotel in Manhattan: Courtyard Marriott, 310 Hammons Dr., Junction City, 785-210-1500, 785-762-5023, fax

What’s Next
The women’s basketball team rounds out its three-game road swing in Ogden where they will battle instate rival Weber State on Sat. Nov. 19 at 7 p.m.