BYU women's basketball falls to Colorado State 56-54 in Fort Collins

BYU at Colorado State Box Score

FORT COLLINS, Colo.— BYU women’s basketball fell to Colorado State 56-54 Saturday afternoon at Moby Arena.

"Our second quarters hurt us in both games this week," BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "We fought back in the second half, but we also made mistakes. They did a good job of getting Cassie (Devashrayee) off balance on the last possession."

Cassie Broadhead Devashrayee scored a game-high 19 points in the loss, while Brenna Chase recorded 13 points. Maria Albiero also added nine points for the Cougars, and Shalae Salmon logged 13 rebounds.

After Colorado State (5-2) took the early 8-2 lead, Chase knocked down a deep 3-pointer to put BYU (3-4) within three, 8-5. Another Chase basket tied the game at 11-all with 3:06 left in the first quarter. 

At the 1:35 mark, Paisley Johnson gave the Cougars their first lead of the game, 14-11, as the freshman converted a 3-point play in the paint. BYU took the 14-11 lead into the second quarter and held the Rams scoreless through the last five minutes of the first quarter.

Amanda Wayment extended the Cougar lead to five, 18-13, as she finished on the right block. The Rams responded with a 9-1 run to retake the lead midway through the second quarter. CSU increased its lead to five, 24-19, on a layup by Annie Brady at the 2:06 mark. 

The Rams took the 29-19 lead into halftime, as BYU battled poor shooting through the second quarter. Chase and Devashrayee combined for 13 of the Cougar’s 19 first-half points.

Colorado State continued its run in the third quarter. The Rams logged a 15-point lead, 37-22, at the 5:24 mark as Veronika Mirkovic hit an open 3. 

Albiero scored seven-straight BYU points to put the Cougars back within seven, 41-34, with 36 seconds left in the quarter. A Devashrayee layup with 16 second left sent BYU into the fourth quarter down five, 41-36.

With 6:55 to go in the game, Grace Colaivalu scored to increase the Rams’ lead to eight, 48-40. A Devashrayee layup followed by a Chase floater brought BYU within three, 48-45, as teams headed into the media timeout.

Colorado State pulled ahead by seven, 54-47, forcing a Cougar timeout with 2:33 on the clock. Devashrayee and Albiero responded with back-to-back baskets to cut into the Rams’ advantage and make it a one possession game, 54-51, with 2:19 left.

With 38 seconds left, Devashrayee drove into the paint and scored to put BYU within two, 56-54. BYU held the Rams on the next possession, getting the ball back with 7.6 seconds left on the clock. The Cougars weren’t able to convert on their last possession.

BYU women’s basketball will return to the Marriott Center to take on in-state foe Utah State on Wednesday, Dec. 6. Tip off will be at 3 p.m. MST.

Postgame Notes at Colorado State 

Team
BYU was up by three, 14-11 after the first quarter, but went on a five-minute shooting slump and was down by 10, 29-19, at the break. At the end of three, BYU was down by just five points, 41-36 after back-to-back baskets by freshman Maria Albiero and Devashrayee. The Cougars were down by just two with under three seconds left in the game, 56-54 but there were unable to score on the last possession.

The Cougars had two more rebounds than the Rams in the first half 22 to 20. For the game, they got the advantage with 43 boards compared with 37 for CSU.

Through the first 20 minutes of action, the Cougars shot 21 percent from the field compared with 48 percent for the Rams. For the game, BYU shot 36.7 percent from the field while CSU shot 39.0 percent from the field.

CSU had 20 points in the paint compared to just six for BYU in the first half. For the game the two teams finished with 28 each.

The Cougars had the advantage in points off of turnovers, getting seven points from Ram miscues. CSU had none. BYU ended the game with 13 points from CSU miscues compared with just one point for Colorado State.

With two players scoring in double figures, BYU has had at least two players scoring in double digits in all games played. Devashrayee had 19 and Chase had 13.

Player
Brenna Chase led the way for the Cougars in the first half with seven points. She finished the game with her seventh-straight double digit outing in points with 13.

Cassie Broadhead Devashrayee had six points and one rebound in the first 20 minutes of action. She picked up her 42nd contest with double-digit points with a game-best 19. Devashrayee also grabbed six rebounds while going 5 of 8 from the charity stripe and 7 of 17 from the field. She played all 40 minutes.

Shalae Salmon had a first-half high eight rebounds. She finished the game with 13 for game highs in that category. The boards are season bests for Salmon.

Amanda Wayment pulled down six rebounds and had three points along with one assist in the first half. She scored five points in the game.

Malia Nawahine was one of two players to play all 40 minutes. She had three points, five rebounds and two steals in the game.

Freshman Maria Albiero came off the bench providing a spark for the Cougars late in the game. She tallied season bests in points and in rebounds with nine and four, respectively.