BYU scores a season high in 78-43 rout of Pepperdine

BYU vs. Pepperdine Box Score

PROVO, Utah -- Senior Cassie Devashrayee led BYU to a season-high in points in its decisive 78-43 win over Pepperdine on Thursday night at the Marriott Center.

"I thought that tonight, defensively we were really sharp, especially early," BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "We did a good job of staying with our game plan. The team played well together. I thought tonight all of our posts had their best overall performance of the season. I thought Paisley played another outstanding game defensively and was really active. Brenna is getting better as the season goes on. We executed really well when we needed to and hopefully we can keep it up."

Devashrayee finished with 19 points and led the Cougars' in scoring. Freshman Sara Hamson and sophomore Shalae Salmon dominated the paint for BYU, with 12 and nine rebounds respectively, and Salmon added three blocks to the stat sheet.

The Cougars started off the first period hot, shooting 52 percent from the field and pulled ahead early against the Waves. Malia Nawahine hit a big 3 at the 7:30 mark to make it an 8-0 run for BYU and forced Pepperdine to take a timeout. Out of the timeout, Pepperdine made a couple of buckets to get on the board for the first time with 6:30 left in the first period.

However, following a nice basket under the hoop by Devashrayee, the Cougars extended their lead to 14-4 and went on a 9-0 run. With 35 seconds left in the first period, Monique Andriuolo of Pepperdine hit a 3 to cut the lead to 23-7 for the final basket of the quarter. 

Pepperdine began the second period strong, scoring two quick baskets in the first minute to make it 23-11. BYU answered with two straight baskets of its own, to go up 27-11 with 7:55 left in the half.

Salmon received a great dish down low from senior Amanda Wayment through traffic to lay it in and give BYU a 20-point lead, at 34-14 with 4:45 left in the second period.

Pepperdine's Kim Jacobs responded with a 3 to try and give her team a spark, but following multiple trips to the charity stripe for the Cougars in the remaining minutes of the quarter, BYU ended the half up 39-17.

Devashrayee scored the first basket for the Cougars in the third period with a mid-range jumper, after an offensive rebound by Hamson, making it 41-17. At the 6:27 mark, Wayment made a great drive past all the Pepperdine defenders to get a tough basket at the rim and extended BYU's lead to 47-23.

Coming off the bench, freshman Paisley Johnson gave BYU an added boost with a great dish to Nawahine behind the arc for 3 and the 50-23 lead. Nawahine returned the favor with three minutes left and delivered a tough assist through defenders to find Johnson for the lay-up to add to BYU's 58-25 lead. Freshman Liz Eaton entered the game and scored BYU's final points of the period with a deep trey, with Pepperdine's Paige Fecske answering with a 3 of her own to end the third with a score of 61-30.

Eaton began where she left off in the third quarter and started the fourth with another 3-pointer to make it 64-27 in favor of BYU. At the 7:54 mark, Brenna Chase hit another 3 to go up 67-33. The young trio of freshmen off the bench led the Cougars through the final minutes of the game. Maria Albiero dished a nice pass to Johnson, who hit a trey to go up 73-38. Eaton hit a mid-range jumper with 2:35 left in the game to give BYU its largest lead of the night at 40, 78-38.

The Cougars take on San Diego, Saturday at 12:00 p.m. MST at the Marriott Center. The game will be broadcast live on BYUtv and live stats can be found on the team's online schedule page.

BYU vs. Pepperdine Postgame Notes

Team
The Cougars led the Waves by 22 at halftime, 39-17, and recorded the 35-point, 78-43 victory. BYU is now 8-0 against Pepperdine at home and the Cougars lead the all-time series 17-2.

BYU has scored 70+ points in 15 games this season. Their 78 points against Pepperdine on Thursday makes for the most points scored this season.

For the sixth time this season, four Cougars finished the game in double digits: Devashrayee (19), Wayment (11), Nawahine (11) and Eaton (10).

BYU outscored Pepperdine in points in the paint 34 to 12. The Cougars also outscored the Waves in second chance points, 18 to nine. 

With the win, the Cougars are 13-1 when leading at halftime. BYU recorded 53 rebounds, while Pepperdine had 40. The Cougars are 8-4 on the year when they pull down more rebounds than their opponent.

Player
Cassie Broadhead Devashrayee led the Cougars with 11 first-half points. Devashrayee finished the contest with 19 points, continuing her streak of scoring in double digits in every game to date this season. Devashrayee finished the game shooting 9 of 18. 

Amanda Wayment scored 11 points and logged four rebounds in the win. The senior also dished out two assists and had two steals.

Malia Nawahine finished the contest with 11 points, going 3 of 4 from behind the arc. Nawahine also had six rebounds and five assists.

Liz Eaton chipped in 10 points for the Cougars in 12 minutes off the bench.

Brenna Chase logged a career- and game-high seven assists against the Waves. Chase also had eight points, three steals and two blocks.

Shalae Salmon totaled eight points in the win, on 3 of 6 shooting. The sophomore also recorded nine rebounds and a game-high three blocks.

Sara Hamson pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds. She also had two points, one assist and one block.