Gillespie-Carling Leads Cougars to Victory, Grabs Two Season-Highs

PROVO -- Now on a four-game winning streak, the BYU women's basketball team (8-6, 2-0) defeated Mountain West Conference foe UNLV (6-10, 2-0) Wednesday evening in the Marriott Center, 67-55. The Cougars are still undefeated in conference play and 5-2 at home this season.

Senior guard Mallary Gillespie-Carling led BYU, scoring a season-high 26 points, marking the third highest outing of her career. Her 17 first-half points are also the most she has scored in any half this season.

Senior Lauren Riley-Varley and junior Cassie King also contributed to the Cougar win. King tied a season high with six boards and Riley-Varley's double-double is her third this season and eighth of her career.

"I am very happy for the win tonight, said BYU Head Coach Jeff Judkins. "I thought we played our best basketball in some spurts and some of our worst in others. I give UNLV a lot of credit. They work hard and are always aggressive to the end. They are a good team."

The Cougars got on the scoreboard first and never looked back. BYU scored 18 the first 22 points and took the biggest lead of the first half at 24-9 with 6:27 left in the period.

The Rebels countered the Cougars' efforts with a seven-point scoring run of their own to pull within three points of BYU with less than a minute left in the first half. Despite the short onslaught, the Cougars still led the Rebels 30-25 at the end of half.

Coming out of the locker room, the Rebels made the first basket, narrowing the Cougar lead back to three, but BYU answered with another seven-point run of its own. At 18:51, after being fouled outside the three-point arc, Gillespie-Carling tied her career-high of free throws made in one game with her eighth make.

With 8:47 left in the game, Gillespie-Carling dropped a fade-away basket to push the Cougars to their largest lead of the game to that point, 17 points, at 52-35. With that basket, Gillespie-Carling surpassed her season-high for points in a game which was 22 coming into Wednesday's contest. Riley-Varley increased BYU's lead to 21 points with dropping two baskets in a row.

Responding to the Cougars' control, the Rebels battled back to within 10 points with 1:51 left. Free throw opportunities allowed BYU to boost its lead as time ran out on the clock. The Cougars went 9-for-11 from the line in the last two minutes on the game. With 56 seconds left Carling topped her career-high free throw makes in a game with 10.

"I am very happy for Mallary [Gillespie-Carling] and what she accomplished tonight," said Judkins.

The Cougars will continue home and conference play Saturday, Jan. 19 at 7 p.m. BYU will face in-state rivals University of Utah in Deseret First's Deseret Duel rivalry challenge.

Official Basketball Box Score
UNLV vs Brigham Young Univer
01-16-08 7:00 PM at MARRIOTT CTR, BYU, PROVO UT
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VISITORS: UNLV 6-10;2-1
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
12 HOLMES, Sequoia..... f  5-11   0-0    4-8    0  3  3   4  14  1  4  1  3  23
33 OBERG, Shannon...... f  1-5    1-3    0-0    0  2  2   2   3  0  2  0  1  27
24 HAMPTON, Shamela.... c  3-9    0-1    0-0    3  3  6   3   6  1  3  0  1  25
05 HALBERG, Brittany... g  4-8    2-5    0-0    1  2  3   4  10  2  2  0  1  31
21 TIRTIAUX, Fanny..... g  0-4    0-3    2-4    3  2  5   1   2  0  4  0  1  18
01 HARRIS, Dominique...    0-2    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   3   0  0  3  0  1  10
11 HOLIDAY, Allison....    1-1    1-1    0-2    0  2  2   1   3  1  0  0  1  12
15 HELMS, Erica........    0-6    0-4    6-6    0  1  1   3   6  5  2  0  1  20
20 SCANLON, Kalie......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   0  0  0  0  0   4
23 HUNT, Latoya........    3-3    0-0    3-4    1  1  2   0   9  0  1  0  1  18
32 CHANEY, India.......    1-4    0-1    0-0    0  0  0   0   2  1  0  0  0   7
42 GERGELOVA, Karla....    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   5
   TEAM................                         4  3  7
   Totals..............   18-53   4-18  15-24  12 20 32  22  55 11 21  1 11 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half:  8-24 33.3%   2nd Half: 10-29 34.5%   Game: 34.0%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  2-7  28.6%   2nd Half:  2-11 18.2%   Game: 22.2%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  7-13 53.8%   2nd Half:  8-11 72.7%   Game: 62.5%    4
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HOME TEAM: Brigham Young Univer 8-6; 2-0
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
32 SLADE, Shawnee...... f  4-7    0-2    0-1    0  1  1   4   8  1  1  0  3  22
45 MOEAKI, Keilani..... f  1-3    0-0    2-2    1  5  6   3   4  1  3  0  1  23
52 VARLEY, Lauren...... c  7-11   0-0    0-1    5  6 11   4  14  2  6  2  0  26
22 NIELSON, Mindy...... g  1-5    0-0    2-2    0  3  3   1   4  4  4  0  2  34
30 CARLING, Mallary.... g  7-11   2-6   10-12   0  3  3   1  26  2  5  1  2  38
03 FOREMAN, Jazmine....    0-2    0-0    4-6    0  2  2   3   4  4  1  0  0  17
05 CHEESMAN, Ashley....    0-0    0-0    0-0    1  0  1   0   0  0  0  0  0   1
13 JUDKINS, Jaime......    0-1    0-1    2-2    0  0  0   1   2  0  0  0  0   4
14 RED, Sarah..........    0-2    0-1    1-2    0  0  0   0   1  0  0  0  1   5
23 WOOD, Coriann.......    1-3    0-1    0-0    1  1  2   1   2  0  0  0  0   9
54 KING, Cassie........    1-3    0-1    0-0    3  3  6   2   2  2  3  0  0  21
   TEAM................                         1  4  5
   Totals..............   22-48   2-12  21-28  12 28 40  20  67 16 23  3  9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-25 44.0%   2nd Half: 11-23 47.8%   Game: 45.8%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  2-10 20.0%   2nd Half:  0-2   0.0%   Game: 16.7%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  6-9  66.7%   2nd Half: 15-19 78.9%   Game: 75.0%    1
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Officials: RANDY CAMPBELL, ANITA ORTEGA, KENT JOHNSON
Technical fouls: UNLV-None. Brigham Young Univer-None.
Attendance: 559
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
UNLV..........................   25   30  -   55
Brigham Young Univer..........   30   37  -   67
OFFICIAL FINAL
Points in the paint-LV 16,BY 26. Points off turnovers-LV 20,BY 16.
2nd chance points-LV 5,BY 12. Fast break points-LV 2,BY 2.
Bench points-LV 20,BY 11. Score tied-1 time. Lead changed-0 times.
Last FG-LV 2nd-00:39, BY 2nd-04:44.
Largest lead-LV None, BY by 21 2nd-07:24.