Career night for Bonham brings win against Vikings

PROVO -- Mindy Bonham led the BYU women’s basketball team to an 82-67 victory with her first career double-double against the Portland State Vikings to continue the Cougars’ five-game winning streak Saturday at the Marriott Center.

"Mindy is letting the game come to her and she really wants to give it her all," BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "Dani Peterson also played really well tonight. We're a team that can score quickly and that's helped us a lot this season."

Bonham led the Cougars (8-3) in scoring, rebounding and steals, tying her season high of 19 points with a career-high 10 on the boards, six steals to tie her career high and four assists. Bonham was joined in double figures by Dani Peterson with a career-high 12 points. Peterson also had four rebounds.

Jazmine Foreman helped out with her own seven assists and five points.

The Cougars outrebounded the Vikings 37-34. BYU shot 53.4 percent while holding the Vikings to 41 percent.

BYU totaled 22 assists for the game, while the Vikings had six.

"Our inside presence was a big key factor for us," Judkins said.

Portland State took the first basket to start the game, but the undeterred Cougars surged back with six unanswered points.

With 15 minutes left in the first half, Bonham stole the ball from Portland State’s Courtney Vanbrocklin and charged in for an easy layup.

The Vikings held on through the first half, bringing the score to 23-22 with eight minutes to play.

Bonham turned the pressure on with another steal for a layup with 5:30 left in the half.

With a 6-0 run, BYU took a 10-point lead, the largest of the half, with 3:34 left. Bonham and Peterson kept the Vikings from cutting into that lead, swatting the ball out of bounds before Portland State could make a shot.

The Cougars ended the half shooting 55.2 percent and holding the Vikings to only 35.3 percent.

Six straight points brought the Vikings within three points of the BYU lead with 12:49 left in the game.

A 9-3 scoring streak gave the Cougars a 52-45 lead, but Viking Lexi Bishop cut the run with a three-pointer. Haley Hall answered by sinking her own three.

Bonham recorded another fast break layup to give the Cougars a 49-42 lead.

Freshman Jennifer Hamson ended the game with a jumper to bring the score to 82-67.

Vanbrocklin led the Vikings in scoring with 22 and eight rebounds. Eryn Jones put up 12 points with five rebounds.

Next up, the Cougars will head to Spokane, Wash., to take on Gonzaga Tuesday at 7 p.m. MT.

Post Game Notes

Team

BYU led the Pilots 38-28 at the break and won the game by a score of 82-67. They improved their record to 8-0 on the year when leading at the half.

The Cougars had 37 rebounds to Portland State’s 34, improving their record to 6-0 when they grab more boards than their opponents.

BYU finished the game scoring 82 points in the victory over Portland State. They now have a 7-0 mark when putting up at least 70 points.

The team finished with 18 steals, the most on the season.

Player

Mindy Bonham scored a team-high 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds recording her first double double of the year and her career. The points tie for season highs while the rebounds are season and career highs. The double figure points are her 8th on the year and 48th in her career. She tallied six steals for season highs in that category and they also tie for career highs.

Dani Peterson scored eight first half points, the most on the year for her. She finished the game with 12 for new season and career highs. She was one of two players scoring in double digits in the Cougar win over the Pilots.