Five in double digit points not enough as BYU falls to Bears 79-74 in OT 

BYU at Northern Colorado Box Score

GREELY, Colo. — Despite 20 points and 13 rebounds from Amanda Wayment, BYU women’s basketball fell to Northern Colorado 79-74 in overtime on Thursday at the Bank of Colorado Arena.

"We didn't play smart basketball towards the end," BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "We had opportunities to get the ball back, but we made mistakes. We have to be better and smarter. Losing Cassie (Devashrayee) and Shalae (Salmon) in overtime hurt us."

Wayment played 40 minutes and went 10 of 13 from the field. The senior also added four assists and one steal to her stat line. All five BYU starters scored in double figures against Northern Colorado: Wayment (20), Chase (15), Devashrayee (12), Salmon (11), Nawahine (10).

Northern Colorado (5-2) jumped out to the 67-63 lead in overtime. A Malia Nawahine mid-range jumper put BYU (3-3) back within two, 67-65, with 3:20 on the clock. UNC countered, hitting back-to-back shots to claim the 72-67 advantage with 2:08 left. 

Brenna Chase then found Wayment in the paint to make it a one possession game, 72-69. After a basket by the Bears, Paisley Johnson knocked down a 3 to bring BYU within two, 74-72. The Bears extended their lead to five, 77-72, with three free throws. Northern Colorado outscored BYU 16 to 11 in overtime to secure the 79-74 win.

Both the Cougars and Bears struggled to find their rhythm offensively to begin the game, as the teams combined for five turnovers through the first three minutes of play.

After a basket and a steal from Northern Colorado at the 7:29 mark, Wayment scored back-to-back buckets to give BYU the 4-2 lead. The Cougars then extended their lead to six, 10-2, on a layup by Cassie Broadhead Devashrayee. BYU carried the 14-8 lead into the second quarter. 

UNC started the second quarter on a 8-1 run to take the 16-15 lead. The Bears increased their lead to four, 27-23, on a 3 by Savannah Smith. Nawahine then scored four-straight points to tie the game at 27-all. Smith then drained two more 3-pointers to take the 33-27 lead into halftime.

BYU began the second half on a 10-2 run. A Chase 3-pointer helped BYU regain the 37-35 lead with 7:54 on the clock. Chase drained another 3 and made a layup to extend the Cougar lead to five 42-37.

After Northern Colorado tied the game at 46, Wayment had a put-back and a jumper to keep BYU ahead 50-46. The Bears outscored the Cougars 6 to 3 in the final minutes of the third quarter to claim the 53-52 advantage as teams headed into the fourth quarter. 

The Bears extended their lead to five, 57-52, with 7:02 left in regulation. Both teams were held scoreless for the next two minutes before Bridget Hintz made a pair of free throws to give UNC the 57-52 late lead.

Chase brought BYU within four, 59-55, as she knocked down her third 3-pointer of the game with 4:24 on the clock. After a steal on the defensive end, Wayment put BYU within two, 59-57, as she scored on the block. With 1:41 on the clock, Chase sank two foul shots to tie the game at 61-all and force a UNC timeout.

After an offensive foul was called on Devashrayee with 32 seconds on the clock, Northern Colorado got the ball with a chance to win on the last shot. BYU stopped the Bears to force overtime.

BYU women’s basketball will continue its Colorado road trip as the team travels to Fort Collins to take on Colorado State on Saturday, Dec 2 at 2 p.m. MT. The game will be broadcast on BYU Radio (Sirius XM 143) and online at byuradio.org/listen.

BYU Postgame Notes at Northern Colorado

Team
With the five point, 79-74 loss at Northern Colorado, BYU’s overall record stands at 3-3 on the year.

BYU had pulled down a first-half high 25 rebounds. Northern Colorado had 12 boards. For the game, the Cougars ended with 45 boards to the Bears 31.

In the game, the Cougars dished out more assists than the Bears 16 to 12.

For the first time this year, BYU had all five starters finish the game with double figures in points. Wayment (20), Chase (15), Devashrayee (12), Salmon (11), Nawahine (10).

BYU was not able to make any of its six attempted 3-point buckets in the first half. UNC made five of 14 attempted treys in the first 20 minutes of action.

The Bears shot 100 percent from the free throw line in the first half while the Cougars made one of three from the charity stripe. For the game, Northern Colorado when 23 of 25 from the free throw line, while BYU went 8 of 12 from the charity stripe.

Player
Senior forward Amanda Wayment picked up her first double-double of the season, second of her career with 20 points and a game-best 13 rebounds. Both the points and the boards are career bests. She also had four assists which tie for season and career bests along with one block and one steal.

Cassie Broadhead Devashrayee tied for team bests in points and in assists with six and three respectively in the first half. Before fouling out with under a minute left in regulation, she’d tallied 12 points, grabbed five rebounds, dished out three assists and had one steal.

One of five starters to finish in double-digit points, Malia Nawahine contributed 10 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out two assists.  She shot 50 percent from the field.

Before fouling out with 4:35 left in the game, Shalae Salmon tallied 11 points to go along with six rebounds, two steals and one assist.