Devashrayee and Chase lead Cougars to 73-69 win over Eagles

BYU at Eastern Washington Box Score

CHENEY, Wash. — Cassie Broadhead Devashrayee and Brenna Chase led BYU women’s basketball to a 73-69 win over Eastern Washington on Friday night at Reese Court.

"I thought we played a great second half," BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "We were a lot more patient and ran the plays that we needed to. We have a long way to go, but we’ve made some improvements. I thought our bench really played well, especially in the first half. Liz, Maria and Paisley gave us a good lift."

Devashrayee led all scorers with 25 points, while Chase recorded a career-high 17 points. Shalae Salmon brought down a team-high 11 rebounds and Paisley Johnson tallied a team-high three assists.

The Cougars (2-1) logged the early 3-0 lead, as Malia Nawahine opened the game with a layup and Salmon went 1 of 2 from the free throw line. After an Eastern Washington (1-2) 3-point basket, Chase stole the ball in the Eagles backcourt and scored to keep BYU ahead, 5-3.

Eastern Washington then went on an 11-0 run to take the 14-5 lead with 3:14 left in the first quarter. The Eagles led the Cougars 15-9 heading into the second quarter.

The Eagles began the second quarter strong, claiming the 23-11 lead at the 7:55 mark. With 6:31 left in the half, Devashrayee drained a 15-foot step-back jumper to bring BYU within 10, 23-13. 

Devashrayee drained two free throws and Johnson made back-to-back layups to bring BYU within four, 31-27, as teams headed into halftime. 

Back-to-back 3s by Devashrayee and Chase brought BYU within three, 36-33, for the first time since the 4:27 mark of the first quarter. Chase then hit her second trey of the game to tie the game at 36-all.

A Nawahine 3 gave the Cougars their first lead of the game since the 5:24 mark of the first quarter, 39-38. Eastern Washington then went on a 7-0 run to take the 45-39 lead into the media timeout.

With 2:13 left in the third, Chase knocked down her third 3-point field goal of the contest to put BYU within two, 48-46. A jumper by Delaney Hodgins gave Eastern Washington the 53-49 lead through three quarters of play.

A layup by Chase tied the game again at 57-all. BYU retook the lead, 59-57, as Salmon scored in the paint with 5:20 left in the game. The Cougars then extended their lead to eight, 65-57, fueled by five straight points from Devashrayee. 

With 1:04 on the clock, Eastern Washington closed the gap to four, 66-62. Devashrayee then sank six free throws to seal the win.

BYU outscored Eastern Washington 24 to 16 to in the fourth quarter. 

The Cougars return to the Marriott Center on Tuesday, Nov. 21 to take on UVU at 11 a.m., in the annual Kid's Game.

Postgame Notes at Eastern Washington

Team
With a 73-69 road win over Eastern Washington, BYU improved its record to 2-1 on the year.

The Cougars have scored at least 70 points in each of the three games played to date.

BYU recorded 11 second chance points in the first half of action and finished the game with 17 compared with 12 for EWU.

The Cougars outrebounded the Eagles 24 to 20 in the first half. Eastern Washington finished the game pulling down one more board than BYU, 38-37.

In the first half, the BYU bench had scored 14 points compared to 11 for Eastern Washington. For the game, the Cougars tallied 16 points from their bench while the Eagles did not get any points from their bench in the second half.

Each team had five steals in the first half. The Cougars concluded the game with the advantage in steals with 13 to the Eagles 11.

Eastern Washington led the away in assists with 13 compared to nine for BYU.

For the game, the Cougars shot 42 percent from the field, 35 percent from 3-point range and 71 percent from the charity stripe.

BYU finished the game with 21 points from EWU miscues. The Eagles tallied 16 points from Cougar mistakes.

Player
Cassie Broadhead Devashrayee had six points, two rebounds and one steal in the first half. She finished the game tied for a game-high 25 points, going 14 of 17 from the free throw line.

In rebounds, Shalae Salmon led the way in the first 20 minutes of action with six. She also had three points and one assist. For the game, she tied for game-bests in boards with 11 while contributing seven points, two assists and two blocks in the win.

Brenna Chase picked up a career-high 17 points shooting 50 percent from the field and from 3-point range. She was one of two Cougars to score in double figures in the win. Chase also shot 100 percent from the free throw line and tied for game highs in steals with four.

Liz Eaton came off the bench contributing nine points to go along with five rebounds and one steal. She went 4 of 6 from the charity stripe in the game.