Cougars Down Aztecs on Senior Day

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PROVO -- In the final home game of the season, the BYU women’s basketball team came back from a 16-point deficit to seize a 56-52 victory against San Diego State Saturday and secure a share of the Mountain West Conference regular season title.

"I'm real proud of this team," said BYU head coach Jeff Judkins. "I think they really showed character being down and then coming back. A lot of players stepped up when they needed to and it's a joy to coach all of them."

Senior Coriann Fraughton scored 10 points for the Cougars in her final game at the Marriott Center, adding eight rebounds to her performance. Fellow senior Jazmine Foreman dished out six assists and snatched three steals.

The Cougars got off to a slow start, trailing 18-12 after just 12 minutes of action in the first. Unable to cut into the lead, BYU couldn’t stop the Aztecs from taking a 12-point lead as the clock ran down. Falling behind on rebounds and getting into foul trouble hurt the Cougars, leading to a 34-24 Aztec lead going into halftime.

"I told them at half time that things aren't going to be given to them," Judkins said. "I said they were going to need to take it and make the comeback. Each one of those kids can make a play to help this team be better."

Back from half, an 8-2 Aztec streak put the Cougars behind 44-28 before a 7-2 BYU surge cut the lead to 46-35 with 11:55 left to play.

"Even though we were down, we knew we were going to come back little by little, even if it was little by little," Fraughton said. "We believed the whole game we'd win and we stuck with our principles."

Trapping the Aztecs in the backcourt led to 13 SDSU turnovers in the second half and 10 points off those turnovers.

At 9:41, a Foreman assist led to Fraughton hitting a key jumper, boosting Cougar momentum and bringing the score within seven. Kim Parker followed with a three-pointer.

The Cougars kept up their attack with jumpers from Fraughton and Foreman, tying the game 47-47 at 6:58.

With 1:32 left in the game, senior Haley Hall drained a trey from the corner, taking the lead to 54-52 in favor of BYU for the first time of the half. Free throws from Hall put four points between the Cougars and Aztecs for the 56-52 win.

"I'm going to miss those seniors. We've gone through a lot together," Judkins said. "They've grown and I've grown too. I think when you grow together that is something special. Depth, belief and execution can win a lot of games and that's what these girls did tonight."

SDSU's Jessika Bradley led the game with a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds. Sajoyia Griffin scored 11 points with six rebounds.

The Cougars now head to New Mexico Wednesday, starting off the final week of regular season play with a matchup at 7 p.m.

Game Notes

Team

-With the win, the Cougars go undefeated at home in conference play for the 2011 season.

-The win also guarantees a share in the 2011 Mountain West Conference regular season title.

-BYU is now on a 10-game winning streak, the most its had since the 2008-09 season.

-The 1,450 fans in attendance for Senior Day were a season- and conference-high at home this year.

-BYU is now 5-5 when they are outrebounded by their opponent, 18-1 when they recorded less than 16 turnovers and 12-1 when they play in the Marriott Center. The match-up against SDSU was just the 8th time this season that the Cougars haven't led at halftime.

Player

-Senior Coriann Fraughton's 11 points tallied for her 20th season double-figure performance and third time this season she's been the only player in double digits.

-Jennifer Hamson and Dani Peterson recorded their first season steals against SDSU with one apiece.