BYU women's basketball: Cougars fly past Falcons on road

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A strong defensive effort helped the Cougars finish their regular season with a victory over Air Force, defeating the Falcons 39-31 in Colorado Springs Saturday.

"We had a great defensive game," said head coach Jeff Judkins. "I thought Cassie (King) had some big baskets for us. We did a good job of working together.

The Cougars took the lead halfway through the first half on a Sarah Red-Hostetter free throw at the 10:17 mark of the first half and didn't look back.

BYU scored 11 points off of Falcon turnovers in the first half, and went into the break leading 25-16.

The Cougars are 11-1 when leading after twenty minutes.

BYU continued its strong play through the second half, and Air Force would get no closer than eight. Six of Mindy Nielson's points came in the second half. BYU held Air Force to just 29 percent shooting for the game.

Air Force's Raimee Beck was the leading scorer with 14 points, and King had 12 to lead the Cougars.

The Falcons' Kim Kreke had 11 boards, a game-high, and Shawnee Slade's six were a team-high for the Cougars. Nielson chipped in 11 points. BYU has had at least two players in double figures for the last three games.

The Cougars out-rebounded Air Force 42-31 and improved to 12-1 when out-rebounding their opponent.