Slow first half and rebounding doom Lady Cougars

BYU Women's basketball opened their home schedule with an early game against the Big West Conference favorites Cal State-Northridge in front of a crowd of elementary school children for Kid's Day.  The Cougars started off jumping out to a 10-2 lead in the first few minutes despite the cold shooting of post player Morgan Bailey.  The Cougars got to the line and guard Lexi Eaton hit a big three pointer while the Matadors were struggling to find their rhythm.

CSUN came back with a vengeance using big threes and good drives to the basket while BYU struggled to put the ball in the basket to take a 34-23 lead into halftime.  Morgan Bailey continued to struggle and the Cougars struggled with their offense the rest of the first half.  Neither team played particularly well with CSUN only shooting 32% and the Cougars shooting 28% in the first half.

The Matadors stretched their lead to 15 early in the second half, but an offensive rebound by Ashley Garfield led to a kickout 3 by Kylie Maeda sparked a huge run by the Cougars to cut the lead to 3.  During the stretch, Bailey hit 4 straight shots despite double teams and being the focus of the defense.  The Matadors stretched their lead to 10, and then the game settled into a back and forth contest with the lead varying from 3-8.

BYU made a late run with just under 2 minutes left with Bailey completing a 3 point play and a Kristine Fuller floater to cut the lead to 5, but a full 30 second possession ending with a layup put an end to that.  CSUN finished shooting a perfect 14-14 from the line and out rebounded the Cougars by a count of 48-31.  Morgan Bailey, despite starting 1-6 from the field, finished with 22 points to lead the Cougars.  Lexi Eaton, who is also counted on to score, struggled only scoring 8 points.  Ashley Guay led the Matadors with 19 points.

Next Game

The Cougars will stay home for a match-up with Nevada on Saturday, November 22nd at 7:30 pm MST on BYUtv.