Hall Lifts BYU To Third Win In European Tour

Ljubljana, Slovenia (May 19, 2010) – In the third game of their European Tour, BYU’s Haley Hall put up 17 points to lead the Cougar women to an easy 85-61 victory over the Slovenian Ilirija Team, Wednesday.

Hall also grabbed seven boards, had a team high seven steals and dished out five assists.

The Slovenian team only challenged the BYU women’s basketball team in the early minutes of the first quarter when they were up 6-4, their only lead of the game. With 1:30 showing on the clock in the quarter, BYU would once again finish strong with a 9-0 run to take a 26-12 lead.

The remaining three quarters easily went the Cougars way. At the half they were up by 15, 43-28 and would lead by as many as 23 points in the fourth quarter finally closing out the game with the 24-point margin of victory.

Hall had two back-to-back treys with 6:30 left in the final quarter that gave BYU a 16-point cushion. With four minutes remaining, layups by Dani Peterson and Alexis Kaufusi gave the Cougars their largest lead of the game, 76-53.

Kaufusi, who started the game, finished with 14 points and five rebounds. Junior guard Mindy Bonham was the third BYU player to score in double figures in the contest contributing 14 points, grabbing seven boards, one assist and three steals.

“We were better defensively tonight, we did a nice job rebounding and getting second shots, and our different presses really frustrated them,” said head coach Jeff Judkins. “I thought Mindy, Haley and Jazmine played solid for us and Alexis was aggressive in the post.”

Peterson had a team-high nine rebounds to go along with her seven points and three assists while Jazmine Foreman dished out the most assists in the game with six. She also scored five points and had four steals.

Marie Beck and Coriann Wood scored seven points each with Kristen Riley picking up six points and grabbing five rebounds. Stephanie Vermunt had five points and Megan Leach finished with three to round out the scoring for the Cougars.

In the three contests played, BYU has averaged 88 points, 42 rebounds per game, and is undefeated with a 3-0 record. The team will conclude its European Tour with a game in Rome on Saturday, May 22.

Player Notes from Dani Peterson – 5/19/10

This morning we saw an amazing castle (Castelo di Miramare) in Trieste, Italy. Then we got to see a little bit of the capital of Slovenia, Ljublajana. From the castle we could see three countries (Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia).

My favorite place today was the castle, in Trieste. Unlike the other castles we’ve seen on our trip, we were able to tour the inside and see and read about its history. We then went into the city and had lunch. I ate a panini and then a gelato. Personally I thought the sandwich was pretty basic and nothing exciting. However, the gelato was absolutely amazing!

For dinner tonight we ate at a buffet type place in Slovenia. The food was kind of like what we would eat in America. We had meats, stir fry, pasta salads, fruits and salad. Then to top the meal off, I had more gelato!!!

We won our game against the Slovenia team 85-61. Even though we won I don’t think we played our best. It may be because we walk miles everyday so we are kind of tired. The game was still fun and it’s nice to break a sweat. The Slovenia team had girls that looked like they were teenagers all the way up to the high 20’s.

Today consisted of a lot of bus time. In order to get to Slovenia, where our game was, we had to bus over two hours each way. Personally, I didn’t find really anything exciting about Ljublajana, but I heard that the bus ride there was gorgeous. However, I didn’t see it because I fell asleep.