PROVO, Utah—The BYU women’s basketball team held its second-half lead until the last minute of the game, allowing Saint Mary’s to take the 59-55 victory on Wednesday at the Marriott Center and end BYU's run in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament.

"I thought we just didn’t execute like we needed to down at the end," BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "We didn’t run our stuff right and defensively we made some mistakes. When the game is like this and it’s a close game, you just have to do a really good job of not making those mistakes. We didn’t shoot the ball well today. Some days are like that.”

Video Highlights and Interviews

BYU (23-11) took the 55-50 lead with 4:39 remaining, but didn’t make a single shot in the last four minutes. BYU shot just 33.3 percent in the game to Saint Mary’s 37.3 percent.

Jennifer Hamson led the team with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, alongside 12 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the season. Kim Parker Beeston and Xojian Harry were also in double digits with 10 points each. Haley Steed had a team-high nine assists along with her seven points in the game.

Saint Mary’s (23-10) grabbed a basket in each of its first three possessions to go up 6-0 in the first two minutes. BYU couldn’t find the hoop and missed its first six field goals, including four from 3-point range. Harry substituted in at the 17-minute mark and ended the dry spell for the Cougars with a layup to cut the Gael lead to 6-2.

BYU went on another four-minute shooting drought from the 16:35 to the 12:37 mark. It ended on a second-chance opportunity when Steed threaded a pass to Morgan Bailey who was fouled on her way to the basket. On BYU’s next possession, Harry cut the Gael lead in half with a 3-pointer, but Saint Mary’s answered with a jumper to raise its lead to 11-6.

Hamson hit her first points of the game at the 11:37 mark and followed on defense with a block in the paint to shut down the Gael offensive.

BYU held onto its offensive momentum and scored on its next two possessions with another Harry 3-pointer and a Hamson jumper to even the score at 13-13. At the 8:30 mark, BYU responded with an 11-point run, including two-straight layups from Ashley Garfield.

Saint Mary’s came back within one at 19-18, but BYU pushed ahead as Garfield went up strong to the basket and was fouled, giving BYU a 21-18 advantage. With five minutes remaining, Beeston knocked down her first trey of the game to put BYU up 24-18. The score stayed that way until Saint Mary’s hit a layup with 1:43 remaining.

BYU looked to head into the locker room up by six at the half, but two offensive rebounds prolonged the possession for Saint Mary’s and they capitalized with a shot in the paint to put the score at 26-22. In the half, BYU scored 10 of its points on fast break opportunities and 19 of its 26 points were scored off the bench.

Steed hit her first points of the game to give BYU its first field goal of the second half with a 3-pointer from the top of the key. Saint Mary’s answered with a 7-0 run to tie the game up at 29-29. Beeston hit 2 of 2 from the free-throw line to break the tie with 15:13 remaining.

Both teams continued to exchange points until a Beeston 3-pointer sparked a seven-point run for the Cougars. Harry scored on a fast-break feed from Steed and then Steed sunk a short jumper to put BYU up 39-32 with 12:57 remaining.

A good look from Garfield gave BYU some momentum at the 7:50 mark after finding Keilani Unga under the basket. Unga finished at the hoop and earned herself an extra shot to complete the three-point play and put BYU up 47-43.  

Fouls riddled BYU and Saint Mary’s in the final six minutes with both teams in the bonus. Two-straight layups from Hamson gave BYU a five-point lead at 55-50, before two foul shots from Saint Mary’s made it a one-possession game with 3:35 remaining. Saint Mary’s scored six more points in the next two minutes to give them the 56-55 lead and a foul from Hamson with 34.3 seconds remaining gave the Gaels two more security points. 

One more foul shot solidified the 59-55 victory for Saint Mary's to end BYU's season. 

“What do you say about Haley? She’s probably one of the best players to ever play at BYU,” Judkins said. “One of the toughest competitors I’ve ever been around. She can do so many things. She’s a great leader and does all the little things behind the scenes that a coach needs from a player.”

Team

• After trailing the first 10 minutes of play, BYU tied up the game at 13. The Cougars took their first lead on a basket by Morgan Bailey, part of an 11-0 BYU run.
• The Cougars held Saint Mary’s to 27 percent shooting in the first half. BYU finished shooting 33.3 percent and SMC shot 37.7 percent.
• The BYU bench outscored the Gaels’ 23-2. The Cougars also outscored in the paint 26-18 and had 12 fast-break points. The Gaels didn’t have any fast-break points.
• Wednesday afternoon was the 14^th game this season that three Cougars have scored in double figures.

Players

• Xojian Harry hit double figures on a fast-break play after Steed stole the ball and chucked it down the court to Harry, who laid the ball in. Harry finished with 10 points off the bench
• Kim Parker Beeston scored 10 points for the Cougars.
• Jennifer Hamson hit her seventh double-double of the season with 12 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Cougars in both categories. She also had a season-high six blocks. In each of the three BYU WNIT games, Hamson had a double-double.
• Haley Steed had nine assists and seven points. She also had three steals, to put her at No. 3 in BYU history for career steals with 294. She also became No. 16 in BYU history for career points with 1,290.

BYU women’s basketball continues its run in the 2013 WNIT this week. The Cougars (23-10), advanced to the third round of the postseason tournament with a 69-58 home win over SDSU Saturday. In the third round, BYU will host WCC foe Saint Mary’s (22-10) Wed. March 27 at 3 p.m., MDT in the Marriott Center. BYU and SMC finished the 2013 WCC race tied for third place. The Gaels advanced in this year’s WNIT with a 68-58 road win at Northern Colorado. The game will air live on BYUtv.

Ticket Prices
Adult General Admission: $6
All-Sport Pass Holder: Free
Student General Admission: $5 (elementary through college)
Courtside: $20
All tickets may be ordered at the Marriott Center Ticket Office, by calling 1-800-322-BYU1 or through http://www.byutickets.com/

BYU Capsule
• The Cougar team has outrebounded its opponents in 21 games.
• The BYU bench has outscored the opponent’s bench 566-438.
• When comparing points in the paint, the Cougars have scored 834 points to 684 from opponents.
• BYU has had a halftime lead in all but eight games to date (vs. Gonzaga at WCC semifinals, vs. Gonzaga, vs. SD, vs. SMC, at USF, at Gonzaga, vs. Seattle and at Washington State).
• In only six contests (vs. Gonzaga at WCC semifinals, vs. Gonzaga, at USF, at Gonzaga, at Boston College and at Washington State) the Cougars did not record more assists than their opponents.
• Balanced scoring has added to the team’s success this year. To date, three players have put up double figures in points in 13 games and four players finished with double-digit scoring in six games (vs. SDSU, at POR, at PEP, vs. PEP, vs. Tulsa, vs. UCSB)

• Head coach: Jeff Judkins (Utah, ‘78), is in his 12th season
• Team’s leading scorer: #5 Jennifer Hamson, 11.2 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #5 Hamson, 8.3 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #33 Steed, 7.5 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #33 Steed, 2.1 spg

BYU’S PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP
#33 Haley Steed – (5-4 guard, GS.) 10.6 ppg; 4.2 rpg; 7.4 apg
#4 Kim Parker Beeston – (5-11 guard, Jr.) 10.0 ppg; 4.0 rpg; 2.2 apg
#12 Stephanie Vermunt Seaborn – (6-0 guard/forward, Jr.) 6.9 ppg; 2.8 rpg; 1.7 apg
#45 Keilani Unga – (6-2 forward, Sr.) 7.3 ppg; 4.6 rpg; 1.1 apg
#5 Jennifer Hamson – (6-7 center, Jr.) 11.1 ppg; 8.7 rpg; 0.7 apg

Saint Mary's Capsule
The Gaels have a 22-10 record to date after a 68-58 road win over Northern Colorado, Sunday in the second round of the postseason WNIT. Saint Mary’s is making its fourth straight appearance in the WNIT advancing to the second round last year.

• Head coach: Paul Thomas is in his seventh year with Saint Mary’s
• Team’s leading scorer: #3 Jackie Nared, 16.8 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #54 Danielle Maulding, 10.8 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #24 Morgan Hatten, 3.3 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #54 Maulding, 1.3 spg

Series History
The series between these two WCC foes is tied 2-2.
In Provo, BYU has a 2-0 record over the Gaels.
Head coach Jeff Judkins is 2-2 against Saint Mary’s.

Last Meeting
These two West Coast Conference foes split the series this season with each team winning on its home court.
On January 31, in Provo, BYU picked up the 66-58 victory behind 14 points each from Kim Parker Beeston and Haley Steed. Keilani Unga also finished with double digits in scoring with 13. Jennifer Hamson led the Cougar team in the rebound category with eight. Steed dished out a game-high nine assists to go along with five steals. For the game, BYU shot 38 percent form the field, 40 percent from behind the arc and 72 percent from the free throw line. The Gaels shot 34 percent from the field, 29 percent from 3-point range and 67 percent from the line. Jackie Nared finished the game with a double-double from 18 points and 11 boards. Danielle Mauldin and Kate Gaze scored 10 points apiece.
In Moraga, on Feb. 8, SMC captured the 64-52 win. Steed led BYU with 18 points on six 3-pointers. She also had seven assists and four rebounds. Unga contributed 12 points and five rebounds while Jennifer Hamson led the way in blocks with four. The Cougars shot 40 percent from the field and 46 percent from the free throw line. Danielle Mauldin recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Gaels in the victory. Kate Gaze tallied 10 points in the win. SMC shot 38 percent from the field and 72 percent from the charity stripe. The Gaels outscored the Cougar bench 22-10 and got 18 points off of BYU miscues.

What’s Next
A win over Saint Mary’s would send the Cougar women to the Quarterfinals of the 2013 WNIT. Date, opponent and time will be announced later.