Deseret Duel Won On The Road

SALT LAKE CITY -- With the seconds winding down, the BYU women’s basketball team (18-7, 10-1) made a huge defensive stop to keep instate rival Utah from making a comeback as the Cougars went on to win 61-58, Saturday.

With the win, BYU takes the women's basketball Deseret Duel series for the second-straight year and stays in first place in the Mountain West Conference standings.

"We didn't shoot from the free throw line very well today," said BYU head coach Jeff Judkins. "I told the girls that sometimes you're going to get ones that aren't very pretty and I guess tonight was one of those. It was definitely a great effort though by Coriann, offensively, especially in the second half and Mindy had another solid game."

Senior Coriann Fraughton led the Cougars with 20 points to tie her season-high. Fraughton also added eight rebounds and two steals to the winning effort.

With just 41 seconds to play, BYU prevented an attempted comeback as the Utes made a three-pointer to bring them within three of the Cougars. As time wound down, BYU held off any more attempts by Utah to keep the 3-point victory in their possession.

To begin the game, Jazmine Foreman sparked a 6-0 run for the Cougars after four minutes of play with a jumper to put BYU on top by one. From there, the Cougars would keep the lead until half. Senior Mindy Bonham had already recorded double figures with 11 points for BYU when the teams left for halftime and she finished with 14.

BYU’s Jennifer Hamson scored the first four points of the second half to give the Cougars an eight-point lead. Fraughton joined Bonham’s double figures in the second half, finishing with 20 points after scoring 17 in the second half of action.

The Cougars will return home one week from today on Saturday, Feb. 19, when they take on TCU in the Marriott Center at noon MT.

Postgame Notes

Team

-BYU improved to 17-1 on the season when leading at the half. Heading into the break the Cougars were up 28-23.

-The team made five three pointers in the winning effort improving its record to 15-4 when they put up at least five treys in a game.

-BYU finished the game with 13 turnovers extending its record to 15-1 when having less than 16 miscues in a contest.

-The Cougars are now 17-1 when they lead at the half, 15-4 when they make five or more 3-pointers, 15-1 when they record less than 16 turnovers and 6-5 when they play on the road.

Player

-Mindy tallied 14 points recording the 17th double figure contest on the season, the 57th career and seventh in MWC action.

-Coriann Fraughton led the BYU effort with 20 points and eight rebounds for her 18th season, 45th career and the sixth straight double digit outing in league play.

-Kristen Riley dished out four assists to tie her season and career in that category. Teammate Haley Hall also recorded four assists to tie for team and game highs.

-Kim Parker tied her season and career high in steals with two.