PROVO – In a battle to the finish, the BYU women’s basketball team fell to the No. 8 ranked Duke Blue Devils 61-55, Friday night at the Marriott Center before a crowd of 2,553--the largest home crowd since the Cougars played UConn in the 2008-2009 season.

"I’m proud of my team," BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "Duke is a very well coached, experienced, athletic team. I thought this year’s team was better than last year’s team.  They’re athletic in every position and deep. My team didn’t quit. We’ve really learned as a team what our future is. If we play with that energy and intensity we can beat a lot of people."

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Starters for the Cougars included seniors Dani Peterson, Kristen Riley and Haley Hall Steed along with sophomore Kim Parker and true freshman Lexi Eaton. Early on it was clear that the game was going to be a defensive battle as both teams struggled to find the basket. Parker scored the first points for the Cougars with a 3-pointer at the 17:24 mark. A Peterson layup gave the Cougars their first lead of the game, but the Blue Devils came back on a 3-pointer by Chloe Wells. Through the first half of play the Cougars kept the score close, finishing the half with Duke leading 27-20.

"We had some unforced turnovers at crucial times," Judkins said. "But we had a lot of young kids out there. We’re going to learn from this game as a team. Hopefully we can just get better."

 The Cougars came out of the locker room ready to play and went on a 7-0 run ignited by a Steed 3-pointer. The Cougars took the lead for the first time of the second half with another Steed 3-pointer at the 15:38 mark. The teams continued to trade points, but BYU was never able to overcome the deficit despite a valiant offensive effort late in the half. The Cougars scored 13 points in the last five minutes, but lost on fouls in the last minute.

Kim Parker led the BYU effort with a team high 14 points while teammate Steed put in 12 points and a game high 15 rebounds for her second double-double of her career.

The Blue Devils were led by Haley Peters with 11 points and Chelsea Gray with six steals. Gray also had five rebounds to lead the Blue Devils.

Freshman Eaton, who was making her first ever career start chipped in 10 points, two rebounds and two assists. Also of note, the game was the first regular season appearance of junior Alexis Kaufusi after her battle with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.

Next up for BYU, a road trip to Tulsa to take on the Hurricane Monday at 7 p.m. CST.

Postgame Notes

Team

BYU outrebounded Duke 41-36 and forced 17 turnovers.

The Cougars held the Blue Devils to 37.9 percent shooting from the field and 28.6 percent from beyond the arc.

Head coach Jeff Judkins is 1-4 when playing Top 10 teams and 9-2 in home openers.

The Cougars had 2,553 fans in attendance Friday night, the highest attendance since the team hosted UCONN in 2008 and the highest attendance for a home opener since the 2003-04 season.

Players

Haley Steed totaled a career-high 15 rebounds, eight in the first half, and accounted for four of the team’s eight steals. With 12 points, Steed recorded her second career double-double. Hall also led the team in assists with five.

Kim Parker put up 14 points on 60 percent shooting to lead the Cougars, also contributing six rebounds.

Lexi Eaton scored 10 points in her BYU debut and was 4-10 from the field.

Xojian Harry scored eight points in the first half in her first regular season game for the Cougars.

Duke Quotes

Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie:

They’re movement was excellent offensively. They are very well coached. For the most part they had to work very hard for their shots. The most disappointing thing was our rebounding. To see a guard, No. 33 get 15 rebounds, that’s unheard of, I don’t know how to explain that. That’s an incredible thing; I’ve never seen that before.

We’d like to attack; we’d like to be aggressive. Broken plays are a lot of fun, when we can attack and use them, that’s a very good thing. Offensively we weren’t stellar. We improved in the second half and improved enough to get the job done. This is a great learning film for us. It will be a great teaching film.

After two exhibition victories, the Cougar women’s basketball team is set to begin the 2011-12 campaign.

BYU opens the season with a home game against No. 8 Duke on Friday, Nov. 11 at 7 p.m.

The game is the season opener for both teams and it marks the first time that the Blue Devils have played in the Marriott Center.  The contest is scheduled to air live worldwide on BYUtv.

DUKE Game Promotions

The game is FREE to everyone. There will be halftime activities for children and FREE photo booth for everyone.

Fans check out the women’s basketball team’s Facebook page: Here

2010-11 Stats Summary 

--Shooting from field: (.427, 888-2081)
--Shooting from three-point line: (.331, 238-718)
--Shooting from free-throw line: (.681, 341-501)
--Average points per game: 69.3
--Average rebounds per game: 39.1
--Average assists per game: 19.1
--Average steals per game: 8.4
--Average blocks per game: 4.1
--Average turnovers per game: 14.1

About BYU 

--The Cougars return two of the team's scorers in Kristen Riley and Haley Hall Steed. Riley enters the 2011-12 campaign with an 8.9 points average while Steed puts up 8.5 points per contest

--In the rebounding category, Riley tops the list grabbing 5.4 boards a game with sophomore center Jennifer Hamson averaging 5.1 rebounds.  

--Steed returns as the team’s assists and steals leader with 168 and 62 respectively.

--Hamson tops the leader board in the field goal percentage category (.559, 90-161). She also has the most blocks on the team with 45.

Team Captains Selected

Seniors Haley Steed (Hall) and Kristen Riley were chosen by their teammates as co-captians for the 2011-12 season.  It marks Steed’s fourth straight co-captain selection.

This Week’s Opponent

DUKE

Duke comes to Provo ranked No. 8 in the country in the preseason USA Today ESPN Div. I Coaches Poll after an impressive year finishing in the Elite Eight of last year’s NCAA tournament. The Blue Devils will make their first trip to Provo. They are the second highest ranked women’s basketball team to play in the Marriott Center. During the 2008-09 season, the Cougar women hosted then No. 1 ranked Connecticut on Nov. 25, 2008.  Duke concluded last season with a 32-4 overall record and tied for first place in the ACC with a 12-2 mark. They return eight letterwinners including two starters from last year’s team. The two returning starters are sophomore Chelsea Gray, a 5-11 guard who averaged 8.7 points and 3.3 rebounds per game and Haley Peters a 6-3 forward who tallied 6.7 points while grabbing 3.6 boards a contest. Head coach Joanne P. McCallie enters her fifth year at Duke.

Series Breakdown

Overall Series Record: Duke leads 2-0
BYU Record in Provo: 0-0
BYU Record in Durham: 0-2
BYU Record in Neutral Sites: n/a
BYU Record under coach Judkins: 0-1
BYU Record in Overtime Games: n/a
Longest BYU Win Streak: n/a
Longest Duke Win Streak: 1 (2010)
Largest BYU Margin of Victory: n/a
Largest Duke Margin of Victory: 20, 80-60 in 1987

Last Meeting

The Cougars traveled to Durham to open the 2009-10 season at Duke where they fought hard, but fell 54-69 to the Blue Devils after being down by just seven, 23-30 at the break. BYU’s Mindy Bonham led the team in scoring with 12 points followed by eight points each from Haley Hall and Coriann Fraughton. Hall also grabbed seven rebounds while teammate Jazmine Foreman dished out a team high five assists.

What’s Next

BYU begins a three-game road swing with games at Tulsa on Monday, Nov. 14, at Kansas State on Wednesday, Nov. 16, finishing at instate rival Weber State on Saturday, Nov. 19. The team is back in the Marriott Center on Nov. 23 hosting Wisconsin.