BYU women's basketball: Cougar women fall to Cougars of Washington State

PULLMAN, Wash. (Nov. 24, 2012) – In a battle of two Cougar women’s basketball teams, it was the Washington State Cougars picking up a 67-52 win over the BYU Cougar women Saturday.

Lexi Eaton led the visiting Cougar team with 13 points with Morgan Bailey contributing 12 points off the bench. Ashley Garfield also came off the bench getting eight points, three rebounds, two assists and one steal, while teammate Xojian Harry tallied five points and grabbed two boards. Kim Parker Beeston led BYU in the rebound category grabbing eight.

“We didn’t follow our game plan today. Our defense was not where it needs to be and we were just out of sync today,” BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. “I thought that Ashley Garfield played her second straight consistent game for us, and that’s a plus for us.”

BYU (3-3) got off to a quick start leading 12-9 with 11 minutes left and were up 18-16 at the 8:54 mark of the first half. The visiting Cougars then went on a shooting slump allowing Washington State (2-3) to go on a 10-0 run and a 28-18 lead. A fast break layup by Lexi Eaton cut the lead to 28-20, but another 3-pointer by Washington State gave the home Cougar team a 31-20 advantage. Eaton would get the next four points for BYU with a layup and two free throws but headed into locker room down by 17, 41-24.

Shooting woes continued for BYU in the second half as the team missed several shots from the field and from behind the arc. The Cougars were down by as much as 22 points before a 3-pointer by Xojian Harry with 10:55 left in the contest cut the lead to 16, 53-37. With 5:35 remaining, Bailey made a layup and got BYU within 13, 58-43 but that was as close as it would get.

For the game, the visiting Cougars got a strong showing from their bench as they put in 33 points compared with 24 for Washington State. BYU also tallied more points in the paint 30 to 26 and finished the game shooting 27 percent from the field and just 13 percent from 3-point range, making three of 23.

Up next for the Cougars is a game in Utah at EnergySolutions Arena. BYU will play Creighton Wed., Nov. 28 at 3 p.m. That game can be seen live world wide on BYUtv.

Postgame Notes Team BYU got 30 points in the paint while Washington State tallied 26. BYU’s bench outscored Washington State’s 31 to 24. The BYU Cougars shot .846 from the free-throw line while the Washington State Cougars shot .636 from the charity stripe.

Players Haley Steed led the team in assists with seven. Lexi Eaton recorded her sixth straight double figure game in points with 13. Morgan Bailey scored 12 points in the game marking the third game where she’s put up double digits in points.

Norma Collett is the athletic communications director for the BYU women's basketball team. She can be reached at 801-422-4908 or at norma_collett@byu.edu