PROVO, Utah –The BYU women’s gymnastics team fought hard, but eventually lost to No. 17 Denver 193.750 to 191.850 at the Smith Fieldhouse on Friday night.

To watch video click here

BYU started the night on vault where Jordan Schult set a career high with a score of 9.800. Teammate Natalie Eyre Pickard had the team-high score on the vault with 9.825 helping the Cougars take an early 48.800 to 48.600 over the Pioneers.

Eyre-Pickard excelled on the bars with a second consecutive score of 9.825. KayCee Gassaway, back from injury for the first time in several weeks, scored a 9.625, but is was not enough for the Cougars to keep the lead. Moriah Martin of Denver scored a 9.900 in the rotation, helping the Pioneers to a 97.575 to 97.475 lead over BYU.

The beam proved to be the most difficult rotation for the Cougars who battled but continued to give up ground to the Pioneers. Both Krysten Koval and Raquel Willman received scores of 9.725, pushing BYU’s score to 144.800. After the Pioneers’ rotation on the floor, their team score increased to 146.225. The Cougars struggled with falls on the beam, which would continue onto the floor.

The final rotation for BYU was the floor where Mickell Merrell led the way. Merrell scored a team-high 9.725 with a solid routine.

“It’s just one meet,” BYU head coach Brad Cattermole explained. “That’s all it is. We had a meet like this early in the season and we came back and did much better. We are capable of much better we just have to do it. Every once and awhile you have a bad week and this was a bad week.”

The Cougars will head to Tucson, competing Friday, February 17th at 7 p.m. against the University of Arizona.

February 8, 2012 – The BYU women’s gymnastics team (1-3) will host No. 17 University of Denver (2-3) Friday night at 7:00 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse. This will be the second consecutive home meet for the Cougars.

This season has proved to be a battle against injuries as four gymnasts were unable to compete last meet due to various ailments. However, the team is excited and confident about the abilities of the gymnasts stepping up to fill in the lineups. True freshman Marguerite Lindstrom, Jordan Schult and Stephanie Sander will all be competing this weekend.

“We have some new ones in the lineups,” BYU head coach Brad Cattermole said. “They are kind of learning the ropes and they will have to learn quickly because we are midseason. They are working hard and giving it their best. This last meet I was very happy with what we did with what we had.”

After improvements throughout the season, the team is looking to be more consistent throughout the meet.

“We’d like to have fewer falls,” said Cattermole. “That’s everyone’s goal early in the season, to try and get more sticks. We are getting better and better, so we can start expecting to have fewer falls.”

The meet will be broadcast live on BYUtv. Live stats will be available at byucougars.com