PROVO, Utah –Coming off just its second conference loss this season the No. 22 BYU women’s basketball team dominated from start to finish en route to an 83-47 victory over Saint Mary’s at the Marriott Center Saturday afternoon.

“I’m really happy with how the team played today,” BYU coach Jeff Judkins said. “I thought it was a great defensive effort tonight.  I think this was the first game that we played both ends of the defense, both the press and half-court defense, very well.”

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Jennifer Hamson was too much to handle for the Gaels as she tied a career-high 18 points while grabbing nine rebounds. Center Kristen Riley, who also had her way in the paint, scored 15 points along with six rebounds. Haley Steed added seven points and 10 assists.

However, the most effective player might have been backup guard Ashley Garfield who had eight points, three assists and two steals in just eight minutes of play.

After losing to the Gaels earlier in the season the Cougars (21-4, 9-2) started off quick with six points and never looked back.

“I think our team was ready to go after losing to them and not playing so well the other night,” Judkins said. “I’m real proud of them. It was just a great team effort all the way around.”

Stifling defense and good ball movement propelled BYU throughout the first half.

At one point the Cougars had back-to-back-to-back 3s by Stephanie Vermunt, Kim Parker and Dani Peterson, sparking a 13-0 run, pushing BYU’s lead to 34-9.

The full court press of the Cougars proved to be too difficult for the Gaels as BYU forced 14 turnovers in the first half.

The Cougars started the second half on a 5-0 run, highlighted by back-to-back steals by Kim Parker, which led to easy baskets.

The game was blown wide open as Steed found Riley twice with beautiful assists right over the top of the defense for easy baskets.

BYU’s bench gave the team a huge lift as it outscored Saint Mary’s 40 to 19. The Cougars dominated almost every category, outscoring the Gaels 42-16 in the paint and 40-8 in points off turnovers.

The Cougars will be back in action at home against No. 19/20 Gonzaga on Thursday at 7p.m. MST. 

Postgame Notes

Team

BYU kept the Gaels scoreless from the field for six minutes to start the game, resulting in a 9-2 run for the Cougars. The only points Saint Mary’s scored from the field for the first six minutes were on free throws. The Cougars also had a 13-0 run in less than five minutes during the last part of the first half.

BYU held Saint Mary’s to 25 percent shooting from the field and only allowed one 3-point basket from the Gaels. Seven Cougars made 3-pointers against Saint Mary’s.

BYU forced 29 turnovers on Saint Mary’s and only collected nine in the first half.

The Cougars outscored the Gaels in the paint 42-16 and off turnovers 40-8. The BYU bench also outscored Saint Mary’s bench 40-19.

Saturday’s crowd of 1,296 was the third largest attendance of the season and the second largest in conference play.

The Cougars recorded 28 assists to tie their season high and had nine blocks.

Players

Jennifer Hamson recorded a season-high 18 points to tie her career high. She also had nine rebounds and three blocks.

Kristen Riley’s 15 points were her fourth-straight double-figure outing. She also grabbed six rebounds.

Ashley Garfield scored a career and season high of eight points.

Haley Steed led the team in assists with 10 and had seven points.

Kim Parker had a career- and season-high five steals.

After a disappointing loss on the road at Pepperdine, the No. 22 Cougar women’s basketball team (20-4, 8-2) looks to get back to winning this weekend. BYU is set to host Saint Mary’s on Sat. Feb. 4 at 1 p.m., from the Marriott Center.

PROMOTIONS FOR SAINT MARY’S GAME
Retired and Lovin’ It! Adults 50 and older get in FREE.
Trivia contests, giveaways and prizes for everyone 50 and older throughout the game.

BROADCAST
The game vs. Saint Mary’s airs live on BYU Radio on the internet at byuradio. org and on Satellite Radio, Sirius XM 143.

2011-12 Team Summary
- Shooting from field: (.447, 636-1424)
- Shooting from three-point line: (.352, 163-463)
- Shooting from free-throw line: (.727, 288-396)
- Average points per game: 71.8
- Average rebounds per game: 40.1
- Average assists per game: 18.9
- Average steals per game: 9.6
- Average blocks per game: 6.0
-Average turnovers per game: 16.3

2011-12 Player Summary
-Leading scorer: Senior Kristen Riley - averages 11.3 points
-Leading rebounder: Riley - averages 7.4 boards per game
-Assist & Steals leader: Senior co-captain Haley Steed - 165 and 51 respectively.
-Top blocker: Jennifer Hamson - 61 total
-Best field goal percentage: Dani Peterson - (.579, 70-121)
-Best free throw percentage: Kim Parker - (.827, 43-52)
-Best 3-pt field goal percentage: Stephanie Vermunt - (.523, 34-65)

Team Captains Selected
Seniors Haley Steed 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.

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 record on that night was 220-111 (.665) in his 11th season as head coach of the women’s program. He passed former BYU coach Courtney Leishman (1977-89) who finished at BYU with a 219-124 (.638) record.

Record Breaking Players
- Haley Steed has recorded 487 assists as of 02/02/12, which places her in fourth place all-time. She needs 18 to tie for third place with All-American and current WNBA player Erin Thorn’s 505 career total.
- Steed has 198 steals to date and needs 31 to tie for seventh place with Karina Zapata’s career high 229.
- Steed has made 168 3-pointers as of 02/02/12 putting her in sixth place overall. She needs three to tie for fifth place with Thais Kidd's career best 171.
- Kristen Riley has 76 blocks as of 02/02/12 and needs three to tie for fifth place all-time with Cathy Nixon’s 79.
- Riley has grabbed 653 rebounds as of 02/02/12, putting her in eighth place overall. She needs 20 to tie for seventh with her sister Lauren Varley (Riley) who ended her career with a total of 673 rebounds.
-Riley has a total of 938 points scored as of 02/02/12, and needs 62 to become BYU's 22nd player to reach 1,000 points in her career.- As of 02/02/12, 6-7 sophomore center Jennifer Hamson has tallied 106 blocks and needs 19 to tie for fourth place all-time with the 125 recorded by Jill Adams.

Cougs Break Into Top 25
The week of Jan. 23 and with an 18-3, 7-1 mark the team broke into the AP Poll with a No. 23 ranking. They receiving votes (1) the week of 1/16/12 as well as the week of 12/26/11 when the Cougars were 11-2.
The week of 12/26/11 they also received one vote in the USA Today ESPN Coaches Poll. On Jan. 24 they got (5) votes in the USA Today ESPN Coaches Poll. In the poll for the week of Jan. 31 the team got (8) votes.

Last Time in the Polls
The last time that BYU was ranked in the polls was during the 2006-07 season.
On Monday, Nov. 13, 2006, the Cougars were ranked No.24
On Friday, Nov. 17, 2006, the Cougars were ranked No. 18
On Wednesday, Nov. 27. 2006, the Cougars were ranked No. 23
On Saturday, Dec. 2, 2006, the Cougars were ranked No. 22

Win Streak
BYU went on a nine-game win streak, before losing on the road at Pepperdine on 2/2/12.  Prior to the loss Thursday night, they had won eight straight 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.

SATURDAY WCC OPPONENT
SAINT MARY’S COLLEGE
Saint Mary’s College has compiled a (16-7, 7-3) record to date and is making its first ever trip to Provo and the Marriott Center. Senior point guard Jasmine Smith is one of three players putting up double digits in points with a  17.4 average while grabbing 3.0 rebounds per game. She’s followed by sophomore Jackie Nared who averages 12.0 points and ranks second in the rebound category getting 7.0 boards a contest. Alex Carbonel, another senior guard rounds out the scoring in double digits for Saint Mary’s contributing 10.6 points per game and 3.1 boards. Sophomore forward Danielle Mauldin tops the team on the glass grabbing 8.5 rebounds per game. The Gaels shoot 41 percent from the field, 38 percent from three-point range and 76 percent from the free throw line while scoring 67.2 points per game. Head coach Paul Thomas is in his sixth season with the women’s basketball program at Saint Mary’s College.

Series Breakdown
Overall Series Record: 0-1
BYU Record in Provo: n/a
BYU Record in Moraga: 0-1
BYU Record in Neutral Sites: n/a
BYU Record under coach Judkins: 0-1
BYU Record in Overtime Games: n/a

Last Meeting
In their debut competing in the WCC, the Cougars fell short in the end dropping a hard fought  54-48 decision to Saint Mary’s in Moraga, snapping a 10-game winning streak. Kristen Riley led BYU with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Kim Parker had 10 points and four rebounds and Haley Steed led in assists with five and steals with three.
The Cougars shot 32.6 percent from the field while the Gaels shot 29.4 percent from the field for the game.
BYU got out to a quick 4-0 lead before SMC would go on a 10-4 run four minutes in. The Cougars stayed close the rest of the half, keeping within one possession until a 4-0 Gael scoring streak in the last minute gave them a six-point, 30-24 lead at the break.
Parker opened the second half with a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 30-27. Neither team shot the ball well for the next 12 minutes, allowing Steed to tie the game at 31-31 on a jump shot. Parker seized the lead at the 12:22 mark on her second 3-pointer of the game.
With 4:46 left on the clock, Riley gave the Cougars their largest lead of the game, 44-35 with a 3-pointer.
Saint Mary’s then went on a 10-1 run to cut the lead to one, 45-44 with just under two minutes remaining. Steed would give BYU a three-point cushion, 47-44 on a jumper with 43 seconds left in the contest.
Cougar fouls sent the Gaels to the free throw line where they scored their final points picking up the victory

What’s Next
BYU continues league play at home. No. 20 Gonzaga will make its first ever trip to the Marriott Center on Thurs., Feb. 9. That game tips off at 7 p.m. and will air live worldwide on BYUtv.

On Thurs., Feb. 16 the Cougars host San Francisco in a 7 p.m., start. The game against the Dons will air live worldwide on BYUtv.