Cougar women cruise to a 76-42 win over BK Duchess, improve to 2-0 on European Tour

VIENNA, Austria — Led by 13 points from junior Brenna Chase, BYU women’s basketball easily defeated BK Duchess 76-42 in Vienna Thursday.

The victory improved the team’s record to 2-0 on its European Tour with two games remaining on the schedule.

Shalae Salmon tallied 12 points and freshman Shaylee Gonzales contributed 11 in their second-straight game with double-digit points. Junior Jasmine Moody pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds along with four points and one assist. Tahlia White finished the game with nine points and five rebounds. Sophomore Paisley Johnson’s stat line included eight points, four rebounds and one assist. Abby Mangum and Kaylee Smiler scored five points each.

The Cougars pulled down 54 rebounds while shooting 38.3 percent from the field, 22.2 percent from 3-point range and 80.0 percent from the charity stripe. They also dished out 15 assists and collected 25 steals, the most so far on their tour.

“I thought we were a little sluggish to start the game but Shalae and Brenna gave us a good spark and got us going,” BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said.  “I’m really impressed with our freshmen, they are playing with a lot of confidence. I was also impressed with how Shalae and Jasmine have been consistent in both of our games. We played well in spurts and I thought we had a really good rebounding night.”

After being down by one, 9-8, midway through the first period, BYU used a 17-0 run to take a 25-12 lead into the second quarter of play and never looked back.

BK Duchess made the score 25-16 with just over eight minutes remaining in the second quarter. The Cougars’ Maria Albiero put up a three at 6:27 to give BYU its first points of the period. Despite a scoring drought in the second quarter, good defense by the Cougars held the home team to just 12 points as they took a 17-point, 41-24 lead into halftime.  

BYU's defense continued into the second half of action as the visiting team held BK Duchess to just seven total points and enjoyed a 33-point advantage, 59-26, with under five minutes remaining in the period.

The fourth period saw both teams struggle offensively with each only scoring 11 points to finish the game. BYU’s 34-point lead heading into the fourth quarter was more than enough to secure the 76-42 victory.

All available players for the Cougars saw playing time in the game.

The team departs for Lake Bled, Slovenia, Friday and plays in that country’s capital, Ljubljana. on Saturday.

Athlete journal - Babalu Ugwu - Thursday, Aug. 23

We did some sightseeing today in Vienna. We went to St. Stephen's Cathedral, one of the biggest churches I've seen. It is a Roman Catholic Church built in 1716. We also walked between the small sheets and got to learn about Bertha von Suttner, the first Austrian female to be awarded the Nobel Peace Price in 1905.

I learned that Vienna was created by a military camp. We saw a monument against war and fascism. Vienna remembers the victims of the Nazis with The Gates of Violence Monument.

Our tour guide was Gert Schmidt. She was born and raised in Vienna. She told me that her favorite part of the city is the St. Stephen's Cathedral and the food.

For lunch, I went to a place called Plachuttas Gasthaus zur Opur. I ate roast beef with mashed potatoes and fried onions. I also went to one of the main streets and bought a white T-shirt that says "I love Vienna."

Game recap by Tahlia White - Thursday, Aug. 23

In the BYU vs BK Duchess game, the Cougars came out on top with a 34-point win. The other team was very physical, but we matched their intensity and competed hard. In the first half, our shots weren’t falling, but we stayed aggressive and crashed the boards. Our offensive rebounds and putbacks kept us in the game and gave us our advantage. 

We had a huge advantage because of our size. The bigs really mixed it up inside, scoring easily on their smaller opponents, playing tough D, and rebounding. The guards were scrappy and ran the floor well, resulting in fastbreak opportunities. 

Even months before the season, you can already tell this team has good chemistry. We have a lot of work to do, but I can’t wait to see where we are at when October rolls around. This group makes playing ball SO fun!