BYU basketball: Halftime talk inspires BYU women to victory

PROVO — With a 76-69 victory over Weber State on Wednesday at the Marriott Center, the BYU women's basketball team won its fourth straight game.

Not that it was easy. Then again, playing in close games is becoming a trend for the Cougars, as all four of those victories have been by less than 10 points.

"I like blowouts, personally," said coach Jeff Judkins. "But a win's a win."

Trailing at halftime, 33-32, BYU's players listened to an impassioned speech by Judkins in the locker room and promptly scored the first 14 points of the second half to seize a 13-point advantage.

From there, the Cougars hung on to improve to 6-2 on the season. The Wildcats fell to 3-5.

"We came out strong because his talk at halftime was amazing," said Coriann Wood, who came off the bench to score a career-high 15 points, including 3-for-3 from behind the 3-point line, in 20 minutes of action.

"We played a real good start to the second half," Judkins said. "We came out with the intensity we should have had from the start of the game."

Still, after that 14-0 run, the Wildcats answered with an 8-0 run of their own to cut the deficit to five.

That was similar to what happened in the first half, when the Cougars jumped out to a nine-point lead, only to watch Weber State outscore them, 21-9, over a six-minute stretch.

"We had a lapse in the first half," Judkins said. "For some reason, we relaxed ... (The players) know when they can 'D' it up when they have to and do it for longer periods of time."

Wood is one Cougar who doesn't know how to relax, grabbing five rebounds to go along with her 15 points.

"I'm really happy with the way Coriann's playing," Judkins said. "She gives us a big lift."

"My No. 1 goal when I come into the game is to bring energy," Wood said. "I try to give a spark, whether it's rebounding, defense or whatever."

Wood was one of four BYU players to score in double-figures. Nielson scored 11 while Shawnee Slade recorded a team-high 16 points and Cassie King had 12.

"Balance is a great thing," Judkins said. "We had an inside presence and an outside presence."

BYU outscored Weber State, 40-14, in the paint and outshot the Wildcats 55 percent to 32 percent in the second half.

With the win, the Cougars avenged a 65-54 loss at Weber State a year ago. The Wildcats are now 1-18 all-time in Provo.

BYU hosts Utah State Saturday at 3 p.m.

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E-mail: jeffc@desnews.com