2015-16 Women’s Basketball Season Preview

2015-16 Quick Facts

PROVO, Utah—As the BYU women’s basketball team prepares for the 2015-16 season, the Cougars will have three returning starters and eight letterwinners anchoring a team that has high hopes of continuing the tradition of having winning seasons, clinching conference championships and advancing in the NCAA tournament.

“We are a lot bigger this year and we will have more inside presence,” said BYU head coach Jeff Judkins. “We are going to be a more up-tempo type team and will be more balanced offensively and defensively.”

Senior All-American Lexi Eaton Rydalch is back for her final year in a BYU uniform as the team’s leading scorer (20.5) and leading rebounder (6.5). Point guard Kylie Maeda also returns as the second senior on the squad. Maeda is the team’s assist leader (4.2) while also contributing 6.2 points and 2.1 rebounds per game.  Junior Makenzi Morrison Pulsipher is the third returning starter on the 2015-16 squad. Pulsipher has the team’s best 3-point field goal percentage, shooting .411 and adds 9.6 points and 2.0 rebounds per game.

“Our returning starters are going to be a strong part of our team. They have played together for a long time and they know each other’s tendencies,” Judkins said.

“Lexi has a chance to be the top player in our league.  We expect her to continue with her scoring, create opportunities for others to score and to be a leader on the court. Makenzi had a great conference tournament run and we’ll look for her to be more balanced in her scoring and she’s one of our best defenders. It’s always great to have a senior point guard, like Kylie, on your team. She will run our offense and push our up tempo. We’ll be looking to her to give us more scoring output and to get her teammates in scoring opportunities as well,”

The experienced play from five bench players will be vital to the team’s lofty goals for the season.  Juniors Kristine Fuller Nielson and Micaelee Orton have the most experience, being on teams that played in back-to-back NCAA tournaments and won a conference championship title. Sophomores Cassie Broadhead and Alohi Robins-Hardy averaged over eight minutes of playing time last season. Amanda Wayment, the third sophomore, played in 10 games averaging three minutes of playing time.  Brooke Romney also returns for her second season with the Cougar program. She played on the 2012-13 team and then left on an LDS mission.

“We have a good group of experienced players off the bench including the inside play of Micaelee and Alohi. Amanda and Cassie will give us a good lift as well,” added Judkins.

Six newcomers will don the blue and white this season including JC transfer Kalani Purcell, from Hamilton, New Zealand. In her two years at Hutchinson Community College (Kansas), she averaged a double-double with 18.7 points and 11.8 rebounds per game and guided the team to a 72-2 record including back-to-back appearances in the NJCAA national championship game. She also brings a lot of international playing experience having been a member of the New Zealand National Team in 2013 and 2015.

“We signed one of the best JC players in the country when we got Kalani,” Judkins said. “She’ll be a fun player to watch. She has a great feel for the game, is a great passer and rebounder and can also score.”

Freshmen Shelbee Molen, Jasmine Moody, MaCayla Hanks and Eternity Galeai begin their college careers this season. Haley Bodnar, another freshmen, will sit out this season per NCAA rules since transferring from Purdue. These players come from very successful high school programs, are athletic, have a good understanding of the game of basketball and will be ready to contribute.

“We like how our freshmen players are progressing and we anticipate they’ll give us some good minutes,” Judkins commented.

The Cougar team opens up the 2015-16 campaign hosting Utah Valley University on Friday, Nov. 13 at 3 p.m. BYU has just two other home contests during its nonconference portion of the schedule. They host in-state foes Utah State on Nov. 24 at 11 a.m. and Utah on Dec. 12 at 2 p.m.

2015-16 Schedule