Cougar women win first game on Spain tour

MADRID -- In the first of four games in Spain, the BYU women’s basketball team picked up a thrilling 94-93 win over Club Baloncesto Torrelodones (CBT), a coed team.

“We've got a long way to go, but we saw some good things from our young players,” BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. “We need to do a better job adjusting on the fly, executing better and we can’t let the refs or the environment affect what we are trying to do."

Junior Lexi Eaton led the way for the Cougars with 15 points along with five rebounds and three assists. Senior Morgan Bailey picked up a double-double from 14 points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Freshman newcomer Alohi Robins-Hardy finished her first ever game wearing the BYU blue with 10 points and two rebounds.

Robins-Hardy came up big in the final seconds of the game. With the Cougars up 88-87, Robins-Hardy put up her second trey of the game to give the visiting BYU team a 91-87 lead. On the next possession, CBT made a 3-point bucket of its own to bring the game within one point, 91-90. Robins-Hardy was fouled as she went up for a basket and made both of her free throws to bring to score to 93-90. CBT was unable to score on its next time down the court giving the Cougars the ball back as the seconds were winding down. BYU’s Kristine Fuller was fouled and went to the line and made the second of two free throws for a 94-90 Cougar lead. As the seconds counted down, CBT missed on its first attempt at a 3-pointer but got the ball right back and converted on its second effort to make the final a one-point 94-93 BYU victory.

CBT got off to a quick start taking a 5-0 lead in the first two minutes of action. Eaton would put the Cougars on the scoreboard at 18:30 with her first basket of the night.

BYU kept it close in the first half with redshirt freshman Cassie Broadhead bringing the team within one, 21-20, with 8:08 in the half. Twice in the first half, the hosts led by as many as seven points, 32-25, with four minutes left and 33-26 with two and a half minutes left. Bailey finished the half on a strong note scoring six of BYU’s final eight points to give the Cougars their first lead of the game, 34-33, with 33.6 seconds remaining in the period - an advantage they took to the locker room at the break.

In the second half BYU came out strong, getting ahead by 10 on multiple occasions. CBT would come back a couple of times but the Cougars' defensive pressure came up big in the final minutes allowing the visiting team to pick up its first international tour win.

Senior Ashley Garfield pulled down 10 rebounds to go along with her four points. Junior Kylie Maeda had two assists and two points. Fuller had five points and two rebounds while teammate Makenzi Morrison contributed four points and one assist. Micaelee Orton had six points and four rebounds. Broadhead finished the game with nine points, a team-best five assists and one rebound while another redshirt freshman, Savannah Irwin, tallied a near double-double with eight points and eight rebounds. Incoming freshman Amanda Wayment had four points and three rebounds with Maddy Ziering-Smith finishing her first game in the Cougar blue with seven points and three rebounds. Hannah Packard and Carly Stratton finished with identical numbers in the game, two points and four rebounds each.

The Cougars play their next two games on Thursday in San Sebastian and in Bilbao on Friday. The fourth and final game on BYU’s tour through Spain is scheduled for Monday, Aug. 25, in Barcelona.

For more on the team's final day in Madrid, go to: Blog #3