Riley Leads Cougars with Double-Double

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PROVO -- In a battle of interstate rivals the BYU Cougars (2-2) women’s basketball team took down the Utah State Aggies (0-4) 84-52 for their second consecutive win on Tuesday at the Marriott Center.

“We played a very good first half,” said BYU head coach Jeff Judkins. “This was a good team effort. Haley (Hall) was a big part of our success. She runs our system really well. Our bench got some really good minutes too and the team played very unselfish.”

Hall led the Cougars with nine assists and added 10 points. The BYU bench outscored the Utah State bench 42-22 in the game, with a strong performance coming from freshman Stephanie Vermunt who led the team and game with 14 points.

Kirsten Riley finished with a double-double, including 13 points and 10 rebounds, her first of the season and her third in her career. Five other Cougars reached double figures in scoring.

“We came out really aggressive,” Riley said. “We let the game come to us and when we play like that we are a very good team.”

BYU came out quickly to open the first half, jumping out to a 9-4 lead behind four points and two offensive rebounds from Riley. Freshman Kim Parker helped extend the lead to double digits at 16-6 with a three-point basket with 13 minutes remaining in the half.

The scoring came from a variety of sources for the Cougars for the remainder of the first half as they built up the lead. Seven players scored at least five points in the half, led by Mindy Bonham with nine points.

Hall, the lone Cougar that played but did not score in the first half, dished out seven assists and recorded a steal and three rebounds in the first 20 minutes of play.

BYU played strong defense to accompany the offensive outburst, holding the Aggies to 10-35 shooting in the half. Solid play on both sides of the court led the Cougars to their best first half of the season as they went to the locker room with a 27-point lead, 49-22.

Second half play started slow for both teams, with each team netting only three baskets in the first six minutes. The Cougars started the half 3-12 from the field before hitting two lay-ups to keep the lead above 20, 60-34.

Despite shooting at a lower percentage than in the first half the Cougars were able to maintain their lead for the duration of the game, never letting the Aggies back into the contest. Hall led the Cougars on the offensive side, scoring all 10 of her points in the second half.

The Cougars will be back in action on Nov. 26 and 27 in the Concord Hilton Thanksgiving Tournament in Moraga, Calif., where they will open play against the Wisconsin Badgers. BYU will next play at the Marriott Center on Dec. 11 against Weber State.

BYU Game Notes vs. Utah State

TEAM

-In the game against Utah State, the Cougars scored a season record of 49 points in the first half.

-The Cougars are 2-0 when leading at half time.

-The Cougars recorded a season high of 84 points in the game.

-BYU recorded its second highest number of assists of the season.

-The Cougars recorded their largest lead of the season, being 30 points ahead of Utah State in the second half.

-The team shot 55.9 percent in the first half, a season record.

-For the first time this season and during Coach Judkin’s time with the Cougars, six Cougars scored in double figures.

-BYU’s bench put up 42 of the 84 points.

-Last season the Cougars went 13-1 when they scored above 70 points. Thus far this season, they are 2-0 when scoring at least 70 total points.

PLAYER

-Junior Dani Peterson tied her season high of 7 points.

-Redshirt freshman Kim Parker recorded new career and season records of 11 points and three 3-pointers.

-Junior Kristen Riley put up a season record of 13 points and had 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the season and third of her career.

-Sophomore Alexis Kaufusi made a season-high 10 points and eight rebounds.

-With 14 points, redshirt freshman Stephanie Vermunt put up the second highest number of points of her career. Vermunt also grabbed a career-and season-high seven rebounds.

-Senior Jazmine Foreman broke her season record with eight assists and Senior Haley Hall tied her career high of nine assists.

-Senior Mindy Bonham tied her career high of three steals.