SAN FRANCISCO – A double-double from senior Jennifer Hamson helped lead BYU women’s basketball (19-5, 9-4) to a 73-66 victory Saturday on the road at San Francisco.

“I'm really proud of these girls,” BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. “This was a tough trip after being on the road for two weeks now. I really thought Kylie (Maeda) did a great job at attacking the rim today. She gave us one more option to score when they tried to key on Jen or Lexi. We made defensive plays when we needed to and were able to get the ball into Jen in the post. She made some big baskets for us when they were trying to make runs down the stretch.”

Hamson had 25 points, 13 rebounds and eight blocks to lead the Cougars. Lexi Eaton contributed 19 points, five boards and four assists. Kylie Maeda scored 13 points for the second-straight game while Kim Beeston was the fourth Cougar to score in double figures with 10.

Despite shooting near 15 percent from the floor to start the game, BYU ended hitting 40 percent while holding San Francisco (9-15, 4-9) to 39 percent shooting.

It took the Cougars nearly four minutes to get their first field goal of the game – a turnaround jumper from Hamson made the score 5-3, advantage Dons.

A made free throw from Kristine Fuller tied things up at 11 apiece with 11:15 left to go in the first half. San Francisco followed that point with a 10-0 run to go ahead by double digits, 21-11.

BYU then went on a 10-2 rally of its own to cut the score to 23-21 with help from a pair of layups by Eaton.

An Eaton 3-pointer put the Cougars up with their largest lead of the half at four, 33-29, and forced the Dons to call a timeout.

It was all tied 33-33 at halftime after San Francisco had the last made shot of the half with 39 seconds remaining.

Beeston got her first points of the game after hitting a 3-pointer to start things out in the second half.

With just over three minutes played after the break, BYU went up by eight points at 43-35 from a pair of Eaton free throws. Hamson hit a layup just over a minute later to put the Cougars up by double digits for the first time at 47-37.

San Francisco followed with a 10-4 run to cut BYU’s advantage to just four at 51-47. Both teams traded points from there with the Cougars staying ahead 66-60 at the under four media timeout.

With 2:16 remaining in the game, Paige Spietz for the Dons hit a jumper to cut BYU’s lead to three. The score remained at 68-65 until a foul on San Francisco gave Eaton a point from the charity stripe with 37 seconds remaining in the game.

Maeda and Hamson sealed the 73-66 win by both hitting a pair of free throws in the last seconds of the game.

The win puts the Cougars tied for second place in the West Coast Conference, behind league leader Gonzaga.

BYU returns home to the Marriott Center next Thursday at 7 p.m. MST to take on the Portland Pilots before hosting No. 20/15 Gonzaga Saturday at 2 p.m. MST. Both games will be broadcast live on BYUtv. Links to live stats and video feeds can be found on the BYU women’s basketball schedule page. 

Postgame Notes

Team

The win over San Francisco puts BYU tied for second place with Saint Mary's in the West Coast Conference standings with a 9-4 mark.

With four players finishing in double figure points in the road win over San Francisco, it’s the 16th time BYU has had at least three players with 10-plus points. Hamson (25), Eaton (19), Maeda (13) and Beeston (10).

The Cougars had a strong inside presence against the Dons with a 30 to 12 point advantage inside the paint.

BYU finished the game shooting .870 (20-23) from the free throw line, the best of the season to date.

Player

Jennifer Hamson picked up her 16th double-double of the year and the fourth straight from 25 points and 13 rebounds. The 25 points are the 12th time and the third straight that she’s finished a game with 20-plus points. Both the points and rebounds were game highs, as were the eight blocks.  

For the fourth straight and 18th time this season, Lexi Eaton recorded double digits in points with 19. She also had five rebounds, four rebounds and a team-best two steals. 

Kylie Maeda finished the game with 13 points for the second straight and the fifth game this year that she’s had double digits in points. It’s also the second straight she’s been perfect at the free throw line going 4 for 4.

Kim Beeston tallied 10 points, six coming from 3-point range making it the 17th time this season she’s finished in double figures in points.

With an 87-80 overtime victory at Santa Clara, BYU women’s basketball (18-5, 8-4) continues West Coast Conference action on the road. The Cougars stay in northern California to play at San Francisco (9-14, 4-8), Saturday at 2 p.m. PST. Fans can follow the action live on BYU Radio.

About BYU
Senior center Jennifer Hamson leads the BYU team in points, rebounds and blocked shots with 17.6 points and 11.1 rebounds per game while averaging 4.1 blocks.  Nationally, Hamson leads the nation in blocked shots, ranks 12th in double-doubles, 13th in field goal percentage and 21st in rebounds per game.

Three other Cougar players are also recording double figures in points with Lexi Eaton putting up 16.7 followed by 11.4 points from Kim Beeston. Junior forward Morgan Bailey rounds out the scoring output contributing 10.3 points. She ranks third in rebounds, pulling down 7.2 per contest.

As a team, the Cougar women are averaging 71.8 points per game and are holding opponents to 65.1 points. BYU, who ranks fifth in the country in blocked shots per game, has recorded more blocks than opponents in 20 games and has dished out more assists in 17 of the 22 games played to date. They have also recorded more rebounds than opponents in 18 contests.

• Head coach: Jeff Judkins (Utah, ‘78) 13th season
• Team’s leading scorer: #5 Hamson, 17.6 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #5 Hamson, 11.1 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #4 Beeston, 3.6 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #4 Beeston, 1.2 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #5 Hamson, 4.0 bpg

About USF
San Francisco (9-14, 4-8), is coming off a huge 78-74 home win over San Diego.

Taylor Proctor is one of four players that are scoring in double figures for the Dons with a team-best 13.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. Zhane Dikes  is next with 12.2 points per contest. Teammate Taj Winston contributes 10.7 points and rounding out the double-digit scoring output is Rachel Howard who is putting up 10.5 points per game.  San Francisco is scoring 69.0 points per game, pulls down 38.3 rebounds, and is shooting 40 percent from the field and 71 percent from the free throw line.

• Head coach: Jennifer Azzi (Stanford, ‘90) 4th season
• Team’s leading scorer: #32 Proctor, 13.3 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #32 Proctor, 7.3 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #1 Dikes, 2.5 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #2 Winston, 1.7 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #11 Howard, 0.8 bpg

Series History
BYU leads the series 9-2. When playing in San Francisco, the Cougars have a  3-1 record. The last time they played at War Memorial Gym was on Jan. 26, 2013 during last year’s league race. In that contest, San Francisco picked up the 65-56 win. It was the first time that BYU had lost a game to the Dons in San Francisco.

Last Meeting
BYU went to 5-3 in conference play after an 81-47 victory at home against San Francisco earlier this year. The Cougars opened up the game on an 11-0 run and never looked back. BYU picked up a new season highs in rebounds (58) and blocks (12). The Cougars outshot the Dons 46 percent to just 21 percent and won the battle of points in the paint, 30-10.

Kim Beeston recorded her first career double-double from 11 points and 10 assists. Morgan Bailey (13 points, 12 rebounds) and Jennifer Hamson (14 points, 17 rebounds) also picked up double-doubles. Hamson recorded 17 rebounds to tie her career high in the category for the second-straight game. She was two blocks shy of a triple-double. Lexi Eaton led the team in scoring with 23 points. Ashley Garfield hit double-digits in rebounds by coming off the bench with 10.

Up Next
After the game at San Francisco, the Cougar women return to Provo to play two WCC teams in the Marriott Center. BYU hosts Portland, Thursday, Feb. 13 and  No. 15 ranked Gonzaga, Saturday, Feb. 15.