LAIE, Hawaii – Lexi Eaton led BYU women's basketball to a 73-52 win against BYU-Hawaii Thursday at the Cannon Activities Center. 

"We did a good job defensively today because they threw a lot of different stuff at us," BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "Makenzi (Morrison) once again played well and got some big shots for us. It was good to see Alohi (Robins-Hardy) get some good minutes in the game today."

Eaton led the Cougars with 17 points to go along with four assists and three rebounds. Morgan Bailey led the team in rebounds with nine while contributing 13 points. Kylie Maeda had a team-high five assists while Makenzi Morrison added double-digit points with 10.

BYU (3-2) overpowered the Seasiders, collecting 43 boards to BYU-Hawaii's (2-2) 28. The Cougars also led in points in the paint 28-10 and bench points 29-9. 

Bailey and Morrison each made their first two buckets of the game en route to their team jumping out to a 12-2 lead over the Seasiders. Eaton continued to extend BYU's lead to 14 at 21-7 after nailing a 3-pointer with 12:59 left to go in the first half. 

BYU-Hawaii kept the score manageable, however, getting consecutive buckets to bring it within 11 at 24-13. The Cougars countered, scoring the next six points to go back up 30-13 with 7:39 remaining before the break.

Brydgette Tatupu-Leopoldo from the Seasiders hit a pair of shots from beyond-the-arc that were quickly countered by an Eaton trey to keep BYU up 41-20 with five minutes on the clock. The two sides traded points from there to end the half with the Cougars ahead by 20 at 45-25.

BYU scored the first five points of the second half, but BYU-Hawaii remained undeterred, hitting a jump shot with 15:12 left in the game to bring it within 53-31. The Cougars ensued with a 7-2 run, capped off by an Ashley Garfield free throw, to extend their lead to 27 at 60-33.

A pair of Kristine Fuller free throws ended a three minute scoring drought from both sides as the points brought BYU's advantage back up to 27 at 62-35 with just under seven minutes remaining in the game. The teams exchanged baskets from there with the Cougars eventually coming out with a 73-52 victory.

The Cougars stay on the islands for one final game in the Tom Weston Invitational, facing No. 19 Oregon State Saturday at 1 p.m. HST. Links to live stats can be found on the BYU women's basketball schedule page.

Postgame Notes

Team

The Cougars led the Seasiders by 20, 45-25 at the break. The points are the most that BYU has tallied in a first half to date. The Cougars defeated BYU-Hawaii by 21, 73-52, making it the largest margin of victory to date.

BYU got 28 points in the paint compared with 10 for BYU-Hawaii. The Cougars also tallied 17 points off of Seasider miscues.

The Cougar bench had a strong showing in the win, contributing 29 points. BYU-Hawaii got nine points from its bench.

In the rebound category, BYU pulled down 15 more boards than BYU-Hawaii, finishing with 43. The Seasiders grabbed 28 boards in the game.

Player

Lexi Eaton led all scorers with 14 points at the break. She ended with a team-best 17 points making it the third-straight time this year that she’s recorded double figures in points. Eaton went 5 of 6 from the charity stripe, dished out four assists and had one steal.

Morgan Bailey pulled down six rebounds in the first half, the most in the period. She finished with a game-best nine boards along with 13 points, one assist, one block and one steal.

Makenzi Morrison scored 10 points in the game, making it the second-straight outing she’s recorded double digits in points. She also had three steals and one assist.

For the second-straight game, Kylie Maeda has dished out the most assists on the team. In the contest vs. BYU-Hawaii she dished out five assists.

Micaelee Orton played nine minutes off the bench, grabbing four rebounds and scoring six points.

Savannah Irwin played 12 minutes and contributed two points and pulled down four rebounds in the BYU win.

After a 65-60 home win over Nevada, BYU women’s basketball (1-2) continues play on the road this week competing in the Tom Weston Invitational in Laie, Hawaii where they will play three games.

The Cougars battle Butler (0-4) at 3 p.m. HST on Wed. Nov. 26. On Thanksgiving Day BYU plays BYU-Hawai’i at 1 p.m. HST. The Cougars conclude the week with a matchup against No. 20 Oregon State Sat., Nov. 29 at 1 p.m. HST. All games will be played at the Cannon Activities Center on the BYU-H campus.

About BYU
BYU returns three starters and nine letterwinners from last year’s team that compiled a 28-7, 14-4 record. The Cougars finished second in the West Coast Conference and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. This year they were selected to finish second in the WCC regular season.

Morgan Bailey, a  6-foot-2 senior forward leads the team in points and rebounds with 19.7 points and 9.0 rebounds per game. Junior Kylie Maeda tops the list in the assists category for BYU dishing out 3.0 per contest.

The Cougars are scoring 61.3 points per game while shooting 40 percent from the field, 67 percent at the free-throw line, 38 percent from 3-point land and have recorded more assists than their opponents.

• Head coach: Jeff Judkins (Utah, ‘78) 14th season
• Team’s leading scorer: #41 M. Bailey, 19.7 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #41 M. Bailey, 9.0 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #15 K. Maeda, 3.0 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #21 L. Eaton, 2.0 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #20, Cassie Broadhead, 1.5 bpg

About BUTLER
Entering this week’s invitational the Bulldogs are 0-4 on the year. Butler returns five letterwinners from last year’s team that compiled a 16-16, 10-8 record, finishing sixth in the Big East Conference.

Ijeoma Uchendu leads the team with a double-double from 21.0 points and 13.5 rebounds a game. Loryn Goodwin follows with 20.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. Blaire Langlois rounds out the double digit scoring contributing 13.3 points and 3.8 rebounds and a team best 2.5 assists per contest.

Butler scores 58.0 points per game while shooting 34 percent from the field, 65 percent from the free-throw line and 28 percent from 3-point range.

• Head coach: Kurt Godlevske (Northern Michigan,1994) First season
• Team’s leading scorer: #01 I. Uchendu,  21.0 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #01 I. Uchendu, 13.5 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #2 B. Langlois, 2.5 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #32 L. Goodwin, 2.3 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #01 I. Uchendu, .75 bpg

Series History
This will be the first meeting between these two schools.

About BYU-HAWAII
The 2014-15 Seasider team features players from four countries (United States, Tonga, New Zealand and China). In the Tom Weston Invitational, BYU-Hawaii plays the Cougars on Thanksgiving Day and Butler on Saturday, Nov. 29.

BYU-Hawaii returns six letterwinners including four starters from a team that went 3-19, 3-14 last season. The four starters are Brydgette Tatupu-Leopoldo (16.7 ppg, 5.5 rpg), Whitney Fieldsted (6.9 ppg, 8.8 rpb), Marquessa Gilson (6.9 ppg, 4.4 rpg) and Jiashen Cui (7.1 ppg, 1.8 rpg).

This year, the Seasiders were selected to finish 12th in the Pacific West Conference.

• Head coach: Craig Stanger (Western Oregon,1995) 2nd season
• Team’s leading scorer: #22 B. Tatupu-Leopoldo,  16.7 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #35 W. Fieldsted, 8.8 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #33 J. Cui, 2.1 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #35 W. Fieldsted, 1.8 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #42 U. Tonga, .27 bpg

Series History
BYU leads the series 2-0. In the previous two meetings, the Cougars captured a 101-51 victory on Dec. 3, 2010 and an 88-27 win on Nov. 29, 2011. Both games were played on the BYU-Hawaii campus.

About No. 20 Oregon State
Oregon State has compiled a 3-0 record to date, recording home wins over Portland, Utah State and Concordia.  In the Tom Weston Invitational, the Beavers play Butler on Thanksgiving Day prior to battling the Cougars on Saturday.

Oregon State returns nine letterwinners including all five of its starters from last year’s team that compiled a 24-11, 13-5 record and tied for second in the Pac-12. Oregon State played in the first round of the NCAA tournament. In this year’s Pac-12 race, the Beavers were picked to finish third.

Four Oregon State players are putting up double digits in scoring, led by 15.7 points from Ruth Hamblin - who nearly gets a double double as she pulls down 9.7 boards per game. Sydney Wiese follows with 11.7 points and 2.3 rebounds, while teammate Ali Gibson contributes 10.7 points and 5.3 boards. Rounding out the double figure scoring is Deven Hunter who tallies 10.7 points and pulls down 5.3 boards per game. The Beavers average 88.0 points a game, shoot 48 percent from the field, 67 percent from the free-throw line and 39 percent from behind the arc.

• Head coach: Scott Rueck (Oregon State, 1991) 4th season
• Team’s leading scorer: #44 R. Hamblin, 15.7 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #44 R. Hamblin, 9.7 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #24 S. Wiese, 6.7 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #14 A. Gibson, 3.0 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #44 R. Hamblin, 3.7 bpg

Series History
Oregon State leads the series 5-4.  The two team have not played since the 2000-01 season when the two met in the first round of the postseason WNIT. In that matchup, BYU recorded the 78-63 win in Corvallis. When the two teams play on a neutral court, the record is 1-1.

Up Next
After the three games the team will play in Laie, the Cougar women return to Provo for two games. They host MWC foes UNLV on Thursday, Dec. 4 in the Smith Fieldhouse and then host Colorado State at EnergySolutions Arena on Saturday, Dec. 6. Both of the games will air live on BYUtv and will be simulcast on BYU Radio.