Cougars control Aggies for 64-54 road win

LOGAN, Utah – BYU women’s basketball took down Utah State 64-54 at the Smith Spectrum on Tuesday.

The Cougars (4-5) had three players in double figures, led by Rose Bubakar’s 15 points on 6 of 7 shooting from the field. Nani Falatea added 13 points, seven assists and six rebounds while Lauren Gustin chipped in 11 points and 10 rebounds.

"It was a good grind it out win," BYU head coach Amber Whiting said. "We need to work on some things but a win is a win. We were in control and need to take care of the turnovers. Working together is key."

Gustin extended her streak to nine consecutive double-doubles to start the year, leading the Cougars to a 38-29 rebounding edge. 

BYU built up as much as a 19-point lead and held the Aggies (3-6) without a field goal for the last five minutes of the game. The Cougars shot 54.8 percent for the game, including 46.2 from distance and held Utah State to just 28.3 percent from the field.

The win marked back-to-back wins for the first time this season after defeating Boise State last week. 

Box Score

First quarter
Both teams started slow, with the Aggies taking a 6-5 lead at the 5-minute mark in the first quarter.

Falatea hit the first three of the game with 1:31 to go in the first quarter and Gustin followed it up with a layup on the next possession to make it 13-9 heading into the second quarter.

Second quarter
BYU put together a 6-0 run to stretch BYU’s edge to 21-13 in the first four minutes of the second frame.

A layup from Arielle Mackey-Williams made it a double-digit lead at 30-20 with two minutes left until halftime.

The Cougars took a 34-20 lead into halftime after Falatea completed a three-point play and Bubakar got a steal and one more free throw make before the break. Falatea led all scorers with 10 points at halftime and BYU shot 60.0 percent from the field.

Third quarter
BYU and Utah State traded threes but the Cougars built a 42-29 lead after Mackey-Williams drained another triple four minutes into the second half.

Amanda Barcello got on the board with a trey from the corner, giving BYU its biggest lead of the game at 47-30 with 3:35 left in the third quarter. Bubukar banked in a three minutes later and Barcello added another make from downtown for a 53-34 lead.

Utah State made a run at the end of the quarter to close the gap to 53-41 heading into the final 10 minutes.

Fourth quarter
BYU went on a 6-0 run, including back-to-back buckets by Gustin for a 59-43 lead with just over seven minutes to go.

The Aggies made another push down the stretch, turning over the Cougars and cutting the lead down to 10 points. BYU held on to win it 64-54 in the end.

BYU plays another in-state game on Saturday, hosting nationally-ranked No. 15 Utah at the Marriott Center at 5 p.m. in Provo. The game will be televised on BYUtv and streamed on the BYUtv App and BYUtv.org.