Cougars in WNIT Quarterfinals

LARAMIE -- In their third matchup of the season, playing for an advancement to the quarterfinals of the 2010 WNIT tournament, the BYU women’s basketball team defeated the Wyoming Cowgirls 67-63 on Thursday.

A rebound and put-back from Jazmine Foreman, with 20 seconds left on the clock, gave BYU a two-point advantage and led them to an eventual 67-63 victory in Laramie. Subsequent free-throws from Haley Hall and Coriann Wood padded the final score to advance the Cougars in the tournament.

"This is a great win for our program," said BYU head coach Jeff Judkins. "It's going to go down as one of the top wins for me. It was a great team effort. I tried to sub as much as I could to keep everyone fresh on the court."

Wood finished the game leading the Cougars with 18 points, going 4-4 from beyond the arch to tie her season-and career-high.

"Coriann played very, very well tonight," Judkins said. "She did a great all-around job for us."

Mindy Bonham and Foreman were the other two players to record double-digits for the Cougars. Bonham finished with 11 points while Foreman added 12 of her own.

The Cougars took a quick lead against the Cowgirls with some help from three of its starters. Foreman started the game off with a swift 3-pointer followed by a put-back from Keilani Moeaki in the very next possession. A 3-for-4 performance from the charity stripe for the Cowgirls was followed by a fastbreak layup from Bonham to give the Cougars a 7-3 lead in the first five minutes of play.

Six minutes away from the halftime whistle, the Cougars went on a 14-0 run to carry them through two-and-a-half minutes of play, bring them back from being behind and give them a 32-26 lead.

The Cougars would keep the lead as they headed into the locker room up 34-32. They are now 21-2 in the season when they lead their opponent at the half.

The largest lead of the game for BYU came in the second half by 10 points with a 48-38 lead after seven minutes of second half action.

BYU shot 53.3 percent from beyond the arch in the victory compared to Wyoming’s 37.5 percent. The Cougars are now 14-4 on the season when they outrebound their opponent after outrebounding the Cowgirls 32-29 in Thursday’s matchup.

Wyoming and BYU split the regular season of the 2009-10 campaign in the Mountain West Conference with both teams winning on their home courts.

The Cougars will play the University of California in Berkeley on Saturday, March 27, at 6 p.m. PT.