SEATTLE—The No. 23 BYU women’s basketball team pulled off its first win in a three-game road series Wednesday night, taking out Seattle University in a 69-55 non-conference contest at the Connolly Center.

The victory pushed the Cougars’ win streak to eight games.

“You know, we haven’t played a team like this all year, a team that really trapped and played the zone,” BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. “It was kind of like a street ball game. I thought a lot of players did well tonight, but we need to continue getting better defensively, especially off the dribble.”

Senior Kristen Riley came in with another double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds on the night. Stephanie Vermunt’s 80 percent shooting from beyond the arc earned her 14 points and Kim Parker had 15 with four assists. Jennifer Hamson set a new season high of six blocks while contributing seven rebounds and nine points. Haley Steed, who ranks in the top 10 in NCAA women’s basketball for assists per game and leads the West Coast Conference, dished out five assists to lead BYU (19-3, 7-1).

BYU shot 50 percent from the field and 42 percent from the 3-point line while holding Seattle to shooting just 28.6 from the field and 21.7 from behind the arc.

A long Steed 3-pointer opened the game for BYU, but the Redhawks (12-9) kept the game close. Vermunt and Parker contributed their own buckets from 3-point land, with Vermunt knocking down back-to-back treys as part of a 9-0 run to give the Cougars a 19-10 lead.

Riley took BYU to a double-figure lead on a jumper and Vermunt’s third 3 of the night took the score to 33-20 as the half wound down. Hamson finished off the half with a layup and a free throw.

Vermunt led BYU in points for the half with nine, shooting 3-for-4 from beyond the arc, and Hamson and Riley tied on the boards with four apiece. Hamson also picked up three blocks in the first half.

Riley hit double-digit points first on a 19:06 jumper. Parker followed her into double-figures with a 3-pointer a minute later. BYU kept Seattle scoreless for two and a half minutes to start the second half.

A 21-point lead reached by Stephanie Rovetti’s fastbreak layup secured the game for BYU and the team didn’t let up through the end of the game, ending with a 14-point victory.

The No. 23 Cougars return to conference play for their second matchup of the road trip, taking on Santa Clara in California for the teams’ first meeting as WCC opponents. The teams tip off Saturday at 2 p.m. PST.

Postgame Notes

Team

For just the fourth time on the year, the Cougars were outrebounded. Seattle grabbed 39 to BYU’s 38.

BYU improved to 17-0 when leading at the break. Against the Redhawks they enjoyed a 14-point, 36-22 advantage heading in to the locker room.

The Cougars made eight 3-pointers, improving their record to 15-2 when making at least five treys in a game.

BYU’s bench had a strong showing in the game, collecting 31 points. Seattle did not get any points from its bench.

Player

Kristen Riley recorded her fourth double-double of the season and the eighth overall with a team-best 16 points and 10 rebounds. The points mark her ninth season and 36^th career game that she’s scored in double digits.

Stephanie Vermunt went 3-of-4 in the first half from 3-point range to lead the Cougars with nine points at the end of the first half. She finished the game with 14 points going 4-of-5 from 3-point range for her fifth double-figure game this year and the eighth overall. The points tied her season bests.

Kim Parker put up 15 points against Seattle University recording her 14^th season and 19^th overall double figure game.

Jennifer Hamson had game highs in blocks with six for season bests in that category to go along with her nine points and seven rebounds.

Senior co-captain Haley Steed dished out a game-high five assists.

Riding a seven-game win streak, the Cougar women’s basketball team (18-3, 7-1) steps out of WCC action for one game. BYU travels to Washington to take on Seattle University (8-12) on Wed. Jan. 25 in a 7 p.m., PT tip off.

BYU gets back to WCC play on the road again. This time headed for northern California to battle Santa Clara (8-11, 15). The Cougars and Broncos will matchup on Sat. Jan. 28 in a 2 p.m., PT tip from the Leavey Center. Both games can be heard live on BYU Radio.

2011-12 Stats Summary
- Shooting from field: (.450, 566-1258)
- Shooting from three-point line: (.358, 144-402)
- Shooting from free-throw line: (.726, 255-351)
- Average points per game: 72.9
- Average rebounds per game: 40.2
- Average assists per game: 19.4
- Average steals per game: 10.2
- Average blocks per game: 6.0
- Average turnovers per game: 16.1

About BYU
-The Cougars leading scorer is true freshman guard Lexi Eaton who averages 10.9 points per game.
-Senior co-captain Kristen Riley is at the top of the leaderboard in rebounds averaging 6.9 boards per game.
-Haley Steed leads the way in assists and steals with 147 and 47 respectively.
-Jennifer Hamson tops the list in blocks with 48.
-Dani Peterson has the team’s best field goal percentage (.594, 63-106).
-Eaton has the team’s best free throw percentage (.826, 38-46).
-Stephanie Vermunt is the squad’s best scorer from behind the arc, shooting (.558, 29-52).

Winningest Coach in BYU History
- BYU head coach Jeff Judkins became the all-time winningest coach in BYU women’s basketball history, picking up his 220th career win when the Cougars defeated Pepperdine, 80-56 Thurs. Jan. 12, 2012. Judkins passed former BYU coach Courtney Leishman (1977-89) for the record and is now 220-111 (.665) in his 11th season as head coach of the Cougars. Leishman finished at BYU with a 219-124 (.638) record.
- Judkins picked up his 200th career victory in the 64-55 road win at CSU on 2/23/11 last  season. The win marked the fifth 20-plus win season for coach Judkins, and the second straight.

Record Breaking Players
- Haley Steed has recorded 469 assists as of 01/23/12, which places her in fourth place all-time. She needs 36 to tie for third place with All-American and current WNBA player Erin Thorn’s 505 career total.
- Steed has 194 steals to date and needs 35 to tie for seventh place with Karina Zapata’s career high 229.
- Steed has made 163 3-pointers as of 01/23/12 putting her in sixth place overall. She needs eight to tie for fifth place with Thais Kidd's career best 171.
- Kristen Riley has 74 blocks as of 01/23/12 and needs five to tie for fifth place all-time with Cathy Nixon’s 79.
- Riley has grabbed 619 rebounds as of 1/23/12, which puts her tied for ninth place with former teammate Coriann Fraughton's 619. She needs 15 to move into an eighth place tie with former All-American Ambrosia Anderson who grabbed 634 career rebounds.
- As of 01/23/12, 6-7 sophomore center Jennifer Hamson has tallied 93 blocks and needs 32 to tie for fourth place all-time with the 125 recorded by Jill Adams.

Cougs Break Into Top 25
With a 18-3, 7-1 mark the team is ranked No. 23 in the AP Poll for the week beginning Jan. 23. They receiving votes (1) last week as well as the week of 12/26/11 when the Cougars were 11-2.  That week they also received one vote in the USA Today ESPN Coaches Poll.

Win Streak
BYU is currently on a seven-game win streak, winning the last five league games. Earlier this season the Cougars won 10 games in a row, which was the longest current winning streak in the West Coast Conference before losing its debut game competing in the WCC, a 48-54 decision at Saint Mary’s.
Last season BYU went on a 12-game win streak during the 2011 Mountain West Conference race.
The longest win streak in the program’s history is 15 games played from 12/31/92 to 2/26/93.

WEDNESDAY OPPONENT
SEATTLE UNIVERSITY
Seattle has compiled a (12-8) record to date, most recently picking up a 86-58 road win at UC Irvine. They’ve played five WCC teams getting wins over San Francisco, Portland and Santa Clara and losing to San Diego and Saint Mary’s. The Redhawks have three players scoring double figures in points led by Talisa Rhea who averages 14.0 points and grabs 4.4 rebounds per contest. She’s followed by Kacie Sowell who tallies 13.9 points and is tops on the glass getting 8.8 boards per game. Ashley Ward rounds out the double digit scoring with 11.3 points and 3.2 boards a game. Rhea has the most assists on the team with 113 while Daidra Brown has a team best 29 assists to date. Seattle is shooting 44 percent from the field, 32 percent from three-point range and 68 percent at the free throw line while scoring 71.7 points per game. Head coach Joan Bonvicini is in her third season with the women’s basketball program at Seattle.

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

SATURDAY WCC OPPONENT
SANTA CLARA
Santa Clara enters this week’s WCC race with a (8-11, 1-5) record. They are at Saint Mary’s on Thursday night before hosting the Cougars on Saturday afternoon. The Broncos have three players that are putting up double figures in points. Senior guard Alyssa Shoji tops the list with 15.6 points and 2.1 rebounds per game. She’s followed by Morgan Phillips, a 5-7 junior guard, who contributes 10.8 points and 4.0 boards in games. Rounding out double digits in scoring is 6-2 junior forward Lindsay Leo with her 10.4 points and 7.0 rebounds per contest. Santa Clara is averaging 69.7 points while shooting 42 percent from the field. Shoji has the most assists with 62 and with Ricki Radanovich getting a team best 27 steals to date. Head coach Jennifer Mountain is in her fourth season at the helm of the women’s basketball program for the Broncos.

Series Breakdown
Overall Series Record: BYU leads the series 2-1
BYU Record in Provo: 1-0
BYU Record in Santa Clara: 1-1
BYU Record in Neutral Sites: n/a
BYU Record under coach Judkins: 2-0
BYU Record in Overtime Games: n/a

Last Meeting
The last time these two teams met was during the 2006-07 season on Nov. 22, 2006 with the then No. 22 ranked Cougar team defeated the Broncos 77-63 in Provo. In that game current assistant coach Melinda Johnsen (Bendall) tallied 10 points, seven rebounds, three assists and one block. Freshman Haley Hall (Steed) came off the bench grabbing two rebounds, one point and one assist.

Travel Itinerary
To Seattle -
Team Flight (1/24/12): Delta #1457 departs Salt Lake City at 1:55 p.m., arriving in Seattle at 5:55 p.m.
Team Flight (1/26/12): Delta #1857 departs Seattle at 10:10 a.m., arriving in Salt Lake City at 1:09 p.m.
Hotel: Courtyard Seattle Downtown/Lake Union, 925 Westlake Avenue North, 206-213-0100, 206-213-0101, fax.

To Santa Clara -
Team Flight: (1/27/12): SW #180 departs Salt Lake City at 1:15 p.m., arriving in Oakland at 2:15 p.m.
Team Flight: (1/29/12): SW #1699 departs Oakland at 8 a.m., arriving in Salt Lake City at 10:50 a.m.
Hotel: Santa Clara Marriott, 2700 Mission College Blvd., 408-988-1500, 408-352-4353, fax.

What’s Next
The Cougars make one more road trip to California for its next WCC game. BYU will be in southern California on Thurs., Feb.  2 for a contest in Malibu against Pepperdine. That game tips off at 7 p.m., PT.

BYU then returns home for its next five league games beginning on Feb. 4 when they host Saint Mary’s in a 1 p.m. tip off. The following week No. 22 Gonzaga will make its first ever trip to the Marriott Center on Feb. 9. That game tips off at 7 p.m. and will air live worldwide on BYUtv.