BYU, Utah, USU basketball: Y. women open with win; Utes fall to Aggies

PROVO — Even after watching their offense fizzle to a complete halt for eight minutes in the second half, the BYU women's basketball team still rang up a 73-51 victory over Utah Valley University in the Cougars' 2009-10 home opener.

Coach Jeff Judkins was pleased by the performance of his team, which racked up 26 offensive rebounds on the Wolverines, the most the Cougars have ever had in Judkins' era.

"We have a lot of size and our bigs are really active. Those guys can really bang it in there pretty good," said Judkins, who also was happy with the way his team's full-court press.

"I think that the press is really going to help our game this year with creating turnovers," said Kailani Moeaki.

The team maintained the full-court press throughout and proved it was also deep, with 14 players seeing playing time.

BYU had four players in double figures, with Moeaki and Mindy Nielson leading the way with 14 apiece. Coriann Wood and Dani Peterson each added 10 for the Cougars. Haley Hall started her comeback from yet another ACL tear with eight assists and two steals.

"We've got a team that can score some points this year, where last year we struggled," said Judkins.

The Cougars' largest lead was by 33 points, and they outscored UVU in the paint 28-12. The Cougars finished with 26 points off turnovers to the Wolverines' six.

UVU's Julie Smith tallied 20 points, and freshman Kaycee Mansfield finished with eight.

UTAH STATE 67, UTAH 58: At Logan, the Utah women's basketball team could not overcome a strong Utah State start, falling in their season opener to the Aggies. Kalee Whipple led Utah with 21 points while Taryn Wicijowski, who earned her first career start, was also in double figures with 12 points. Halie Sawyer pulled down a team-high 13 rebounds for the Utes.

The Aggies came out firing on all cylinders, taking a 13-point lead, 18-5, through the first six minutes of the first half. They took as much as a 22-point lead in the half and led 44-27 at halftime behind 62.1 percent shooting, led by 16 points from Amber White. Whipple had 14 points for the Utes in the half.

Utah battled back in the second half, outscoring Utah State 31-23 and coming within eight points as the minutes ticked off. The Utes held the Aggies to just two points in a six-minute stretch and cut the lead to 10 points, 59-49, with five minutes remaining, but Utah State was able to hold onto its lead the rest of the way.