Rydalch's 37 helps BYU beat Pepperdine

Box Score

MALIBU, Calif. — Behind a tied career-high 37 points from Lexi Eaton Rydalch, BYU closed out its southern California road trip with its tenth straight win, 77-66, in a close fought battle against Pepperdine, Saturday.

"We played tentatively early on, but became more comfortable as the game went on," BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "I challenged Kalani to be more aggresive at halftime and she ended up with a double-double. Lexi as well had another phenomenal game. Both of these road wins were huge for us."

Rydalch’s 37 points tied her career-high and account for her highest point total this season. Rydalch recorded a new-season high 31 points against LMU on Thursday, and has scored 68 points this week alone. Rydalch went 13 for 19 from the field, shooting 3 for 5 from the 3-point line. Rydalch also went 8 of 9 from the charity stripe and pulled down seven rebounds.

Kalani Purcell recorded her 12th double-double of the season as she scored 13 points and grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds. Purcell also dished out a game-high five assists and a team-high three steals.

The Cougars outrebound the Waves 37 to 34 and dished out 11 assists to the Waves’ 10. BYU finished the contest shooting 47.3 percent from the field and Pepperdine shot 39.6 percent. Thirty-two of the Cougars 77 points were scored in the paint to the Waves’ 22, and BYU scored 26 points off turnovers to Pepperdine’s 12.

What was a close game for three and a half periods of play, turned into an 11 point win for the Cougars (18-4, 10-1). BYU took the 51-48 lead into the fourth period. The Cougars started the last 10 minutes of action on a 9-3 run fueled by seven Rydalch points to go up 60-51.

On the next possession, Pepperdine (5-17, 1-10) cut the deficit to seven, 60-53, but the Cougar offense then scored four consecutive points to take an 11-point lead with 4:19 to play. BYU extended its lead to 13 with 1:32 to go as Makenzi Morrison Pulsipher converted a pair of free throws.

The Waves then made the game interesting, scoring four straight points in under 10 seconds to cut the lead to nine, 70-61, with less than a minute to play. Trying to chip away at the lead, Pepperdine put BYU on the free throw line throughout the last minute of the game, and the Cougars were able to keep the 11–point cushion to finish the ball game.

At the 8:14 mark in the first period, Jasmine Moody scored the first two points of the game to give BYU the early 2-0 lead. Rydalch extended that lead to five, 7-2, as she scored five straight Cougar points.

Pepperdine then went on a 7-0 run to go up 9-7. On the next possession, Rydalch scored on a fast break layup tying the game at 9-all. Rydalch scored seven of the first nine BYU points. Pepperdine closed out the first 10 minutes of play on a 10-4 run to take the 19-13 lead into the second period.

Cassie Broadhead opened the second period with a long jumper to cut the Pepperdine lead to four, 19-15. Broadhead then drove into the paint shortening the Waves lead to two, 21-19, giving her six points in the game. BYU continued their run as Rydalch hit her second 3-pointer of the game and Amanda Wayment finished a contested layup to retake the lead, 24-21.

BYU extended its lead to seven, 28-21, backed by four straight points from Purcell to complete its 13-0 run. Pepperdine then went on a 13-1 run of its own to close the period, going into halftime with the 34-29 lead.

Pulsipher opened the second half with a long jumper followed by a layup by Moody to cut the deficit to one, 36-35. The Cougars took the lead, 37-36, for the first time in the third period at the seven-minute mark as Purcell pushed the ball up the court finding Rydalch on a fast break layup. BYU had 14 fast break points in the game to Pepperdine’s six.

With 4:08 to go in the third, Purcell extended the Cougar lead to three, 43-40. Purcell went 5 for 6 from the free throw line in the contest. BYU held on to its three-point lead, 51-48, as Rydalch converted a contested jumper, giving her 22 for the game. The Cougars outscored the Waves 22 to 14 in the third period of action.

Rydalch opened the fourth period with four straight points to give the Cougars a five-point lead, 55-50. BYU finished the game outscoring Pepperdine 22 to 16.

BYU will continue conference play as they travel to Northern California to take on Pacific Thursday. The Cougars will tip off against the Tigers at 8 p.m. MT. The game will be broadcast live on TheW.tv. Links to live stats and media can be found on the BYU women’s basketball schedule page.

Postgame Notes

Team

With the 77-66 win at Pepperdine, the Cougars improved to 18-4, 10-1 on the year and are on a 10-game win streak.

BYU grabbed 15 rebounds in the first half while PEP had 17. For the game, the Cougars won the rebound battle with 37 boards to the Waves 34.

In the first half of action, the Cougars hard recorded six steals and concluded the game with 11 steals. The Waves had a total of six steals in the contest.

The Cougars ended the game with one more assist than the Waves, 11 to 10.

BYU had a strong inside presence against Pepperdine, tallying 32 points in the paints, compared with 22 for the Waves.  The Cougars had a total of 14 fast break points in the contest with Pepperdine getting just six.

Player

Lexi Eaton Rydalch led the Cougars through the first half of play with 10 points, three rebounds and one steal. She picked up her 17th game with 20-plus points with a game-high 37. The points tie her career high. Rydalch also had seven rebounds, went 8 of 9 from the free throw line and had two steals.

Kalani Purcell scored four points, grabbed three rebounds, dished out two assists and had one steal in the first half. She finished the league contest with her 12th doub-double of the season with 13 points and a game-best 14 rebounds. Purcell also had a game-best five assists and a team-best three steals.

Heading into the break, Kylie Maeda had two assists and two steals after playing 12 minutes. For the game, she dished out four assists, had three rebounds, two steals and made one of two free throws.

Cassie Broadhead came off the bench scoring six points, pulling down three rebounds and recording one steal.

Amanda Wayment had six points through the first two periods of play. Before fouling out with 3:57 left in the game, she totaled eight points and grabbed five rebounds. She also went 2 for 2 from the free throw line in the game.