BYU Women's vs San Francisco recap: Cougars survive scare from Dons

Coming off a blowout win over Santa Clara, the Lady Cougars seemed to have lost some of their energy from the New Years Day game and struggled as they faced a tough San Francisco team. The game started with a bucket from Kylie Maeda but the Dons would answer right away with a three and the game was on. The first half was a half of streaks as both teams went on runs and forced their opponents into droughts. BYU would go on the first run as they went 7-0, taking a 9-3 lead before San Francisco went on their own 13-0 run as they took a 16-9 lead.

BYU would come back for their own 10-0 run that was led by Morgan Bailey and four straight points. During the run the Dons struggled from the floor as they went over four minutes without a bucket. As the teams intensity increased, so did the physical play and for quite a while the refs allowed the teams to play through contact. The teams would play back and forth for the rest of the half as their were eight lead changes and 11 ties throughout the game. The Cougars would allow the Dons to stay in the game as they went 25% from behind the arc, 3 of 12, while San Francisco hit on 60% of their three point attempts. Even with the poor shooting, the Cougars shot 34% to the Dons 56%, the Cougars kept the game close as they went into the locker room only down two at 35-33.

The Cougars looked start strong in the second half but they started off with a turnover for the Cougars and a missed shot for the Dons. BYU would take the lead after a 4-0 run and would never relinquish it. Bailey once again showed how valuable she is to the team as she ended with 26 points and 12 rebounds, including a beautiful hook shot that brought back memories of her uncle Thurl. The teams continued to battle and things became a bit chippy at times, but both teams had their chances to take the game over. The Cougars used second chance points, and another four minute scoring drought for the Dons, to take over the game after the under 8 minute time out. As shot after shot rimmed out, the Cougars built up their largest lead of the game to nine at 62-53 before San Francisco made one last run. A 6-0 run started by a Proctor three pointer pulled the Dons back to within two but Maeda would hit three of four free throws to give the Cougars the 65-62 lead and only 13 seconds on the clock. The Dons decided to go for the tie but couldn't find an open shooter and a desperation shot careened off the backboard and the Cougars walked away with the hard fought win.

Next Game

The Cougars will next travel to Los Angeles to take on Loyola Marymount on Thursday, January 8th at 8pm MST. At this time there are no broadcasting plans for this game. On Saturday the Cougars will face Pepperdine in Malibu with a 1 pm MST tip on BYU Radio.