Brigham Young University
Jan 01 | 12:30 PM
84 - 55
Santa Clara University
Marriott Center

500 E University Parkway Provo UT 84604

jkitchen | Posted: 1 Jan 2015 | Updated: 8 Nov 2020
jkitchen

Eaton leads Cougars to win over Santa Clara

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PROVO, Utah – Lexi Eaton paced BYU women's basketball with 22 points on the way to an 84-55 win over Santa Clara in the Marriott Center Thursday.
 
"​It's a good win. I'm proud of my team," BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "I thought we played well in moments tonight. We hit a really good spurt midway through the first half because we defended and executed well. My bench played well tonight as well. It was the best effort from them so far this year."
 
Eaton also tied her season-high with four assists while adding six boards. Morgan Bailey added a team-high 14 rebounds to go along with a career-high seven assists in addition to eight points. Makenzi Morrison and Xojian Harry added double-digit points with 10 and 12, respectively.
 
The Cougars got off to a quick start thanks to three-point plays from Eaton on the first two BYU possessions. Santa Clara responded with an 11-2 run to open up an 11-8 lead before a Bailey layup ended the run.
 
Down 13-10 with 13 minutes to play in the half, the Cougars began what would be a 30-12 run to close the half. Senior Harry came off the bench to provide the spark to get the run going, first hitting a free throw line jumper to give the Cougars the lead 14-13. Harry hit a 3-pointer the next time down the court to build the lead to 17-13. Harry had seven points in the half.
 
BYU shot well from three in the first half, making five of nine, including two on consecutive possessions to give the Cougars the 33-17 lead. Bailey recorded a career high in assists in the first half with six while pulling down 10 boards. Eaton led the Cougars in scoring with 17 in the half. BYU shot 50 percent from the floor while limiting Santa Clara to 24 percent.
 
The Cougars did not slow down coming out of the break. Ashley Garfield hit two free throws and Morrison added a jumper to open the scoring. The two teams traded baskets for a while until Santa Clara used a small run to cut the BYU lead to 13 points with 15 minutes to play. A couple more jumpers from Morrison helped rebuild the Cougar lead to 20 points with 11 minutes to play, 59-39. BYU put the game out of reach with a 16-3 run over the next five minutes to run the score to 75-42.
 
In a game that saw all 14 available Cougars get playing time, BYU got solid performances from several players. Bailey finished with 14 rebounds, eight points and a career-high seven assists. Harry chipped in an efficient 12 points on only six shots and Morrison finished with 10 points on only five shots. Garfield delivered a good all-around performance for BYU finishing with eight points, eight rebounds and three assists.
 
The Cougars shot well as a team going 54 percent from the field and 53 percent from three while limiting the Broncos to only 26 percent shooting from the field. BYU also recorded 23 assists as a team and got 33 points from a productive bench.
 
The Cougars return to the Marriott Center Saturday to take on San Francisco at 2 p.m. MST.  The game will be broadcast live on BYUtv and streamed online on BYU Radio.
 

Postgame Notes

Team

With this win, BYU has never lost after leading at halftime. The team led 40-25 going into the break. The Cougars have won nine of their ten games with a lead going into the half. This is BYU’s third game scoring over 80 points, second in conference play.

BYU had 23 assists in the win, compared to Santa Clara’s 12. The Cougars have dished out more assists in every game this year but one. BYU outrebounded Santa Clara 50 to 41, the seventh time this season doing so.

The Cougars held the Broncos to 26 percent shooting while they shot 55 percent. The BYU bench outscored Santa Clara’s bench 33 to 21. Every available player on the team got minutes in this game.

Player

Morgan Bailey:

Earned a career-high in assists after just the first half, ending with a game-high of seven. She added 14 rebounds and eight points.

Lexi Eaton:

Led the team with 17 points in the first half alone, finishing with a game-high 22. This is her 12th game scoring in double figures this season. She also grabbed six rebounds and dished out four assists, which tied a season-high. She made three treys, the most in the game.

Makenzi Morrison:

Scored 10 points while dishing out three assists, a tie for career-high.

Xojian Harry:

Led the effort off of the bench, scoring 12 points on 5 of 6 shooting.

Kristine Fuller:

Tied her career-high in points with seven coming off the bench. She was 3 of 4 from the field and also grabbed three rebounds.

Maddy Ziering-Smith:

Scored a career-high two points in three minutes of playing time.  
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Norma Bertoch | Posted: 30 Dec 2014 | Updated: 8 Nov 2020
Norma Bertoch

Two league games at home this week

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PROVO, Utah— The BYU women’s basketball team (9-4, 1-1) split its first two road West Coast Conference matchups of the 2014-15 campaign. They lost at Gonzaga and won at Portland.

BYU returns home to open up its home slate of league games this week, hosting Santa Clara (5-6, 0-2) on New Year’s Day at 12:30 p.m. MST. Then they take on San Francisco (9-4, 0-2) on Saturday, Jan. 3 at 2 p.m. MST. Both games are scheduled to air live on BYUtv and will be simulcast on BYU Radio.

About BYU
Morgan Bailey, a 6-foot-2 senior forward, leads the team in both points and rebounds with 18.6 points and 10.0 rebounds per game. Lexi Eaton, a 5-foot-10 junior guard/forward combo, follows scoring 18.4 points per game. She ranks third in rebounds, pulling down 6.0 boards a contest. The team’s assist leader is Kylie Maeda, who averages 4.3 assists a game.

The Cougars are scoring 67.3 points per game while shooting 38.3 percent from the field, 69.0 percent at the free-throw line and 35.1 percent from 3-point land. In all but one game (at Gonzaga), BYU has dished out more assists than its opponents, has recorded more rebounds in seven contests to date and has an 8-0 mark when leading at the break.

• Head coach: Jeff Judkins (Utah, ‘78) 14th season
• Team’s leading scorer: #41 M. Bailey, 18.6 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #41 M. Bailey, 10.0 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #15 K. Maeda, 4.3 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #23 M. Morrison, 1.5 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #41, M. Bailey, .46 bpg

About SANTA CLARA
After the first week of WCC games, Santa Clara has a 5-6, 0-2 record, playing its first two league games at home. On the road, the Broncos are 2-3.

Santa Clara returns eight letterwinners, including three starters from last year’s squad that compiled a 10-20, 6-12 record and finished tied for seventh in the WCC regular season. This season, under first-year coach JR Payne, SCU was picked to finish in last place in the WCC regular season battle.

The Broncos are led by Nici Gilday who is averaging 19.4 points per game. Teammate Maria Bertholdt nearly scores in double digits, averaging 9.6 points and a team-best 8.1 rebounds a contest. Santa Clara scores 69.1 points, grabs 45.7 rebounds, while shooting 39.0 percent from the field, 29.1 percent from behind the arc and 71.0 percent at the free-throw line. 

• Head coach: JR Payne (St. Mary’s, 1999) First Season
• Team’s leading scorer: #12 N. Gilday, 19.4 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #15 M. Bertholdt, 8.1 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #21 R. Avila, 4.2 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #15 M. Bertholdt, 1.4 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #44 M. Allen, 2.0 bpg

Series History
BYU leads the series 8-1. In Provo, the Broncos are 0-4. Last season, the Cougars swept the series. Head Coach Jeff Judkins has a perfect 8-0 mark against Santa Clara.

Last Meeting
The two teams met twice last year, with the Cougars picking up a 61-44 win in Provo on Jan. 25 and an 87-80 overtime victory in Santa Clara on Feb. 6.

About SAN FRANCISCO
After playing two league games at home, San Francisco has a 9-4, 0-2 record with WCC losses to Pacific and Saint Mary’s. USF is at San Diego on Thursday before making the trip to Provo.

All five of San Francisco’s starters return this year. Last season, the team went 12-19, 6-12, finishing in sixth place in the conference regular season. The Dons were picked to finish sixth in this year’s league race.

The Dons have two players scoring in double figures with Taylor Proctor contributing 14.0 points and Zhane Dikes tallying 11.1 points per game. Proctor tops the list in the rebound category, pulling down 8.1 rebounds a contest. San Francisco scores 67.5 points a game, grabs 41.8 rebounds and shoots 39.5 percent from the field and 73.5 percent from the free-throw line.

• Head coach: Jennifer Azzi (Stanford, 1990) Fifth Season
• Team’s leading scorer: #32 T. Proctor, 14.0 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #32 T. Proctor, 8.1 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #1 Z. Dikes, 2.3 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #2 T. Winston, 2.4 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #32 T. Proctor and # 3 P. Spietz, 69 bpg

Series History
BYU leads the series 10-2. In Provo, the Dons are 1-5. Last season, the Cougars swept the series. Head Coach Jeff Judkins has a 7-2 record against San Francisco.

Last Meeting
The two teams met twice last year, with the Cougars picking up an 81-47 win in Provo on Jan. 23 and a 73-66 victory in San Francisco on Feb. 8.

Up Next
After hosting two conference foes, the Cougar women take to the road for their next games. BYU is at Loyola Marymount on Jan. 8 and at Pepperdine on Jan. 10.  

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