Team Finishes European Tour Undefeated

Pomezia, Italy (May 22, 2010) – A balanced scoring effort that saw seven players in double figures were more than enough for the BYU women’s basketball team to finish its four-game European tour undefeated with a resounding 114-39 victory over Pomezia, Saturday.

With the win, the team concludes its European tour with a perfect 4-0 mark after playing one game in Switzerland, one in Slovenia and two in Italy. Pomezia is one of the popular teams in the area that basketball programs from the United States like Oklahoma, UConn and Stanford enjoy playing when they plan their foreign tours.

BYU’s Alexis Kaufusi topped the leader board in points with 20 followed by 15 each from Stephanie Vermunt, Mindy Bonham and Coriann Wood. Every player contributed in scoring, and also recorded at least one assist and one steal in the lopsided contest.

Both teams got off to a slow start with the homestanding team leading 2-0 at the 6:34 mark. A foul by Pomezia put Vermunt at the free throw line where she made the second of two to put BYU on the scoreboard with one point. On the next Cougar possession a Vermunt field goal gave the visiting team a 3-2 advantage, a lead they would never relinquish. BYU overwhelmed the Pomezia team with its solid inside game and full court pressure. Megan Leach stole the ball at half court with 2:25 showing on the clock which provided an opportunity for a quick basket by Coriann Wood and the Cougars had the game well in hand up 19-4.

Leach scored two of her eight points to start the second quarter of play. Vermunt followed it up with a long range three-pointer, the first trey of the game for the Cougars, putting the team out in front 28-6. Pomezia struggled offensively not able to score from the field until the 4:22 mark of the second quarter when they had back-to-back threes for a total of 13 points.

The Cougars continued their offensive barrage enjoying a 37-point, 53-16 advantage by halftime.

“This was a really fun game and it was nice to see everybody play well and contribute both on offense and defense,” said Cougar head coach Jeff Judkins. “I thought our press gave them a lot of problems.”

“I was glad that my players were able to see that even when you start off slow, you can still put people away, and I was happy with how our second tier players, all played well and they were having fun,” added Judkins.

Four different players scored in the first four Cougar possessions of the third quarter to go ahead 62-19 while Pomezia’s shooting woes continued mustering just seven total points. With time winding down in the quarter, the BYU defense was relentless getting three straight steals, two by Kaufusi in which she went coast-to- coast for four of her total 20 points to end the quarter up 88-23.

The fourth quarter belonged to Marie Beck who scored all 10 of her points, adding one steal and two of her four assists. Beck scored the first five points for the Cougars during a two-minute span. Dani Peterson chipped in five of her 10 points in the same quarter and finished with nine rebounds.

With just over three minutes left in the contest, team manager and former player Erica Eyestone got into the game to cheers from the team bench. Eyestone also got on the scoreboard with a three pointer of her own.

Kristen Riley was the leading rebounder grabbing a total of nine in the game while Jazmine Foremen led the way in assists and in steals with seven and six respectively. Riley also contributed 11 points to the overall scoring total. Foreman had five points, and Haley Hall finished with two points, six assists and three steals.

Day Summary by Jazmine Foreman – 5/22/10

We spent most of the morning on our tour of the Vatican. I really enjoyed the Sistine Chapel. I could reflect on things that I had learned in my History of Creativity class that I had taken last semester. It was really neat to be there and it made me realize that this has been an amazing opportunity for me that the basketball program has provided me with. Even though it was really crowded, anywhere you looked, you could see something amazing.

After our tour, some of us went to see an older castle and just walked around the streets of Rome.

Tonight we had our final game of our European tour. We beat them really bad. The team wasn’t very talented but they never gave up. We exchanged gifts right before the start of the game. We gave them BYU bags, and they gave us some jerseys. The people that came to watch the game were great. We gave a group of 8-12 year olds the jersey’s we played with. They made us feel like superstars!!! It’s been fun getting to play the different teams while we’ve been on our tour.

This was a really fun day for me, but my allergies went crazy!! We walked so much that my back hurt, but the city of Rome is worth it!!

Yesterday we ate dinner at a nice restaurant. They kept bringing us so many different foods that we could sample and I liked that because I could eat what I liked.

When we arrived here on Friday we got to check into our hotel and I really like the showers in the bathroom. They’re cool.

One of the things that I’ve learned is that the people here in Italy aren’t as different as we may think. They’re still just like people everywhere, even though they speak a different language.