Two league games at home this week

PROVO, Utah— The BYU women’s basketball team (9-4, 1-1) split its first two road West Coast Conference matchups of the 2014-15 campaign. They lost at Gonzaga and won at Portland.

BYU returns home to open up its home slate of league games this week, hosting Santa Clara (5-6, 0-2) on New Year’s Day at 12:30 p.m. MST. Then they take on San Francisco (9-4, 0-2) on Saturday, Jan. 3 at 2 p.m. MST. Both games are scheduled to air live on BYUtv and will be simulcast on BYU Radio.

About BYU
Morgan Bailey, a 6-foot-2 senior forward, leads the team in both points and rebounds with 18.6 points and 10.0 rebounds per game. Lexi Eaton, a 5-foot-10 junior guard/forward combo, follows scoring 18.4 points per game. She ranks third in rebounds, pulling down 6.0 boards a contest. The team’s assist leader is Kylie Maeda, who averages 4.3 assists a game.

The Cougars are scoring 67.3 points per game while shooting 38.3 percent from the field, 69.0 percent at the free-throw line and 35.1 percent from 3-point land. In all but one game (at Gonzaga), BYU has dished out more assists than its opponents, has recorded more rebounds in seven contests to date and has an 8-0 mark when leading at the break.

• Head coach: Jeff Judkins (Utah, ‘78) 14th season
• Team’s leading scorer: #41 M. Bailey, 18.6 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #41 M. Bailey, 10.0 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #15 K. Maeda, 4.3 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #23 M. Morrison, 1.5 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #41, M. Bailey, .46 bpg

About SANTA CLARA
After the first week of WCC games, Santa Clara has a 5-6, 0-2 record, playing its first two league games at home. On the road, the Broncos are 2-3.

Santa Clara returns eight letterwinners, including three starters from last year’s squad that compiled a 10-20, 6-12 record and finished tied for seventh in the WCC regular season. This season, under first-year coach JR Payne, SCU was picked to finish in last place in the WCC regular season battle.

The Broncos are led by Nici Gilday who is averaging 19.4 points per game. Teammate Maria Bertholdt nearly scores in double digits, averaging 9.6 points and a team-best 8.1 rebounds a contest. Santa Clara scores 69.1 points, grabs 45.7 rebounds, while shooting 39.0 percent from the field, 29.1 percent from behind the arc and 71.0 percent at the free-throw line. 

• Head coach: JR Payne (St. Mary’s, 1999) First Season
• Team’s leading scorer: #12 N. Gilday, 19.4 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #15 M. Bertholdt, 8.1 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #21 R. Avila, 4.2 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #15 M. Bertholdt, 1.4 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #44 M. Allen, 2.0 bpg

Series History
BYU leads the series 8-1. In Provo, the Broncos are 0-4. Last season, the Cougars swept the series. Head Coach Jeff Judkins has a perfect 8-0 mark against Santa Clara.

Last Meeting
The two teams met twice last year, with the Cougars picking up a 61-44 win in Provo on Jan. 25 and an 87-80 overtime victory in Santa Clara on Feb. 6.

About SAN FRANCISCO
After playing two league games at home, San Francisco has a 9-4, 0-2 record with WCC losses to Pacific and Saint Mary’s. USF is at San Diego on Thursday before making the trip to Provo.

All five of San Francisco’s starters return this year. Last season, the team went 12-19, 6-12, finishing in sixth place in the conference regular season. The Dons were picked to finish sixth in this year’s league race.

The Dons have two players scoring in double figures with Taylor Proctor contributing 14.0 points and Zhane Dikes tallying 11.1 points per game. Proctor tops the list in the rebound category, pulling down 8.1 rebounds a contest. San Francisco scores 67.5 points a game, grabs 41.8 rebounds and shoots 39.5 percent from the field and 73.5 percent from the free-throw line.

• Head coach: Jennifer Azzi (Stanford, 1990) Fifth Season
• Team’s leading scorer: #32 T. Proctor, 14.0 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #32 T. Proctor, 8.1 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #1 Z. Dikes, 2.3 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #2 T. Winston, 2.4 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #32 T. Proctor and # 3 P. Spietz, 69 bpg

Series History
BYU leads the series 10-2. In Provo, the Dons are 1-5. Last season, the Cougars swept the series. Head Coach Jeff Judkins has a 7-2 record against San Francisco.

Last Meeting
The two teams met twice last year, with the Cougars picking up an 81-47 win in Provo on Jan. 23 and a 73-66 victory in San Francisco on Feb. 8.

Up Next
After hosting two conference foes, the Cougar women take to the road for their next games. BYU is at Loyola Marymount on Jan. 8 and at Pepperdine on Jan. 10.