Thorn Leads BYU to Fourth Consecutive Conference Win

PROVO -- Led by All-American Erin Thorn, the Cougar women's basketball team extended their conference winning streak to four, outlasting UNLV to pull away with a 72-61 victory. The win improves BYU to 14-6, 5-2 and drops UNLV to 17-4, 5-3.

The Cougars struggled in a first half highlighted by nine lead changes, as UNLV held BYU to 33 percent shooting from the field and took a 27-26 lead into halftime. The second period contained only one lead change as Danielle Chessman hit a basket in the opening seconds to put the Cougars ahead for good.

"We came out sluggish and weren't getting back fast enough," said coach Jeff Judkins, "but when we had to make plays we made them."

Although the Cougars never lost the lead in the second half, UNLV hung tough to keep the game close and put a scare into BYU fans. Leading 59-58 with 3:44 left on the clock, Judkins called timeout to give his players what turned out to be prophecy.

"He said 'This is the game right here. If we get a stop and a basket afterwards, they're not coming back,'" said Thorn.

BYU got the stop and the points as Thorn was fouled coming down with the rebound. Thorn hit both foul shots and the Cougars held UNLV scoreless over the next 2:23 as they built an eight point lead that proved to be more than enough for the win.

The Cougars received another balanced offensive performance as four players reached double figures. Thorn led all scorers with 26 points and five assists, followed by Stacy Jensen's 16 points and three assists. Melanie Pearson had 10 points while Jennifer Leitner added 12 points and eight rebounds to the effort.

With the win, BYU moves into third place in the conference standings behind Colorado State University and the University of New Mexico.

BYU is back in MWC action against Wyoming (10-8, 3-4) at Laramie on Feb. 7 and at CSU on Feb. 9.

Official Basketball Box Score
UNLV Rebels vs BYU Cougars
02-02-02 4:00 PM at MARRIOTT CENTER, BYU, PROVO, UT
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VISITORS: UNLV Rebels 17-4; 5-3
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
13 FROHLICH, Linda..... f  6-19   2-5    8-9    1  6  7   4  22  1  2  0  0  37
15 GLASER, Petra....... c  4-8    0-1    1-2    1  6  7   2   9  1  2  0  0  35
03 DAVIS, Kinesha...... g  3-7    1-3    1-1    1  2  3   1   8  1  1  0  0  21
11 GRAY, Julia......... g  0-3    0-1    0-0    2  4  6   1   0  5  2  0  5  29
23 JINKS, Constance.... g  7-17   0-3    3-5    1  5  6   4  17  4  3  0  1  36
24 JOHANSSON, Erin.....    0-1    0-1    0-0    0  1  1   1   0  1  2  0  0  11
30 MITCHELL, Talisha...    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  1  0  0   2
54 MCCRACKLIN, Sherry..    2-6    0-0    1-3    8  5 13   4   5  0  0  1  0  24
55 MCCRACKLIN, Dishawn.    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  1  0  0   5
   TEAM................
   Totals..............   22-61   3-14  14-20  14 29 43  17  61 13 14  1  6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-30 36.7%   2nd Half: 11-31 35.5%   Game: 36.1%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  2-8  25.0%   2nd Half:  1-6  16.7%   Game: 21.4%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  3-3  100 %   2nd Half: 11-17 64.7%   Game: 70.0%    2
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HOME TEAM: BYU Cougars 14-6; 5-2
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
21 LEITNER, Jennifer... f  5-8    2-5    0-1    1  7  8   0  12  2  1  1  2  37
31 Osguthorpe, Lisa.... f  0-4    0-1    2-2    2  1  3   3   2  5  2  0  0  28
51 Cheesman, Danielle.. c  3-7    0-0    0-0    0  5  5   2   6  0  2  0  2  29
11 Thorn, Erin......... g  9-18   4-10   4-4    0  6  6   4  26  5  4  0  1  36
22 Jensen, Stacy....... g  3-12   3-7    7-8    0  3  3   1  16  3  3  0  2  33
12 Pearson, Melanie....    4-5    1-2    1-2    0  2  2   2  10  2  0  1  1  23
23 Rose, Chanell.......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  3  3   2   0  0  0  0  0   8
45 Hansen, Lisa........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   1   0  0  1  0  0   6
   TEAM................                         1  1  2
   Totals..............   24-54  10-25  14-17   4 29 33  15  72 17 13  2  8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-30 33.3%   2nd Half: 14-24 58.3%   Game: 44.4%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  3-12 25.0%   2nd Half:  7-13 53.8%   Game: 40.0%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  3-4  75.0%   2nd Half: 11-13 84.6%   Game: 82.4%    0
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Officials: ANITA MYLES, SYD GARCIA, ALLEN ENGLISH
Technical fouls: UNLV Rebels-None. BYU Cougars-None.
Attendance: 798
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
UNLV Rebels...................   27   34  -   61