SALT LAKE CITY – Morgan Bailey’s double-double led BYU women’s basketball to a 60-56 victory over Utah in the Huntsman Center on Saturday.

“I thought it was great for us to come in, buckle down and execute," BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "I'm proud of us. I have to give Utah credit, they never quit. They came back fighting. But this team knows how to win in different ways. No matter where these two teams are, it is always a great game. We knew we didn’t play our best basketball tonight, and to come out here with a win is a great feeling.”

With the win over Utah, BYU picks up three points in the Deseret First Duel. 

Bailey scored a game-high 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Cougars. Kylie Maeda scored a career-high 16 points and dished out five assists. Lexi Eaton added 13 points in the winning-effort over the Utes.

Utah (4-5) started off the game with a 5-2 lead after a 3-pointer from Danielle Rodriguez, but BYU (7-3) answered back. The Cougars went on a 7-0 run that included a wide-open three from Eaton to take the 16-8 lead with 14:02 left in the first half.

Turnovers by the Cougars gave the Utes room to come back in the game. Seven points in a row from Nakia Arquette reduced BYU’s lead to just two, 21-19 with 7:52 remaining in the first half. Both teams traded points, with the Cougars holding onto the lead despite runs from the Utes.

BYU went on a 4-0 run to end the half before Utah’s Tanaeya Boclair hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the half. The Cougars went into the locker room with the 32-29 lead. Bailey led BYU with eight points and seven rebounds after playing all 20 minutes of the first half.

Utah began the second half with a 4-0 run to take the lead, but Eaton answered with a shot from beyond the arc to take back the lead, 35-33 with 18:15 left in the game. Bailey made a left-handed hook shot to push the Cougars’ lead. A trey from Maeda capped off a 5-0 run to go up 45-39 with 11:47 remaining.

Two 3-pointers in a row from Paige Crozon tied up the game at 47 all, but a bucket in the post from Bailey took back the lead with 8:00 left in the game. The two teams traded points, keeping the game close down to the wire.

Ashley Garfield made a huge jump shot with one second left on the shot clock, but Taryn Wicijowski, who led Utah with 15 points and 13 rebounds, answered with a layup. Maeda drilled a three to push BYU’s lead to 58-54 with 2:10 left in the game. BYU came up big in the last minute with a defensive stop. Maeda was fouled with less than a second left and made both free throws to seal the 60-56 win against Utah.

BYU is off until Dec. 22 when it will travel to Logan to take on Utah State at 7 p.m. MST. The game will be broadcast live on BYU Radio – Sirius XM 143.

Postgame Notes

Team

BYU took its first lead of the game with 17:07 showing on the clock after a layup by Morgan Bailey. The Cougars led the rest of the first half by as many as nine with 11:29 remaining before the break. BYU took a three-point, 32-29 lead into the locker room.

With the win over the Utes, the Cougar women extend their win streak to four-straight games. The win at the Huntsman Center snapped Utah’s four-game home win streak.

The Cougars grabbed 26 rebounds in the game and dished out 12 assists, one more than the Utes. BYU has now recorded more assists than its opponents in all games to date.

Player

Kylie Maeda recorded a new career-high in points with 16 against Utah. She also tied for team-bests in assists with five.

Makenzi Morrison and Morgan Bailey led the BYU effort in the first half of action with eight points each.  Bailey had also pulled down seven rebounds. With 16:37 on the clock, Bailey’s tip-in gave her 10 points recording her ninth double-digit outing in points on the year. She ended the contest with a game-high 18 points and with 10 rebounds tallied her third double-double of the season.

Ashley Garfield dished out five assists in the game tying for team-bests in that category.

With 17:29 left in the game Lexi Eaton made her second 3-pointer of the game and picked up her eighth straight double figure outing in points with 10. She finished the game with 13 along with two rebounds, one assist and one steal.

PROVO, Utah —  Riding a three-game win streak, BYU women’s basketball (6-3) continues its nonconference portion of the 2014-15 campaign, traveling to Salt Lake City to take on in-state rival Utah (4-4) Saturday at noon MST.

The battle between the Cougars and Utes from the Huntsman Center, can be heard live on BYU Radio, Sirius XM 143 and on the Pac-12 Network.

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

Lexi Eaton, a 5-foot-10 junior guard/forward combo, leads the team in points with 18.7 per game. She ranks third in rebounds pulling down 6.3 boards a contest. Morgan Bailey, a 6-foot-2 senior forward, follows with 17.9 points and a team-best 9.1 rebounds per game.

After nine games, the Cougars are scoring 67.6 points per game while shooting 43.3 percent from the field, 71.1 percent at the free-throw line and 34.6 percent from 3-point land. In all games, BYU has dished out more assists than its opponents and have recorded more rebounds in five contests to date.

• Head coach: Jeff Judkins (Utah, ‘78) 14th season
• Team’s leading scorer: #21 L. Eaton, 18.7 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #41 M. Bailey, 9.1 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #15 K. Maeda, 4.2 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #23 M. Morrison, 1.2 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #41, M. Bailey, .56 bpg

About UTAH
Utah improved its record to 4-4 on the year after Wednesday night’s 59-40 win over Idaho State. When playing in the Huntsman Center, the Utes are 4-0 this season.

The University of Utah has 10 returning letterwinners including three starters from last year’s team that compiled a 12-19, 4-14 record with an 11th place finish in the Pac-12.

This season the Utes were picked to finish in 10th place in the Pac-12 regular season race.

Senior forward Taryn Wicijowski tops the leaderboard for Utah in both points and rebounds averaging 15.3 ppg and 11.0 rpg. Teammate Tanaeya Boclair contributes 8.8 points and 3.5 boards a game.  Utah is averaging 58.9 points per contest, while shooting 37.9 from the field, 73.2 from the free-throw line and 27.6 from 3-point range.

• Head coach: Anthony Levrets (Lafayette, 2001) 5th season
• Team’s leading scorer: #11 T. Wicjowski, 15.3 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #11 T. Wicjowski, 11.0 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #22 D. Rodriguez, 4.1 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #11 T. Wicjowski, 1.0 spg
• Team’s blocks leader: #11 T. Wicjowski, 1.3 bpg

Series History
Utah leads the overall series 62-40. When playing at the Huntsman Center, BYU has an 11-30 mark. The last time the Cougars won in Salt Lake City was on Dec. 8, 2012 when they recorded a 53-48 victory.

Last Meeting
The two in-state foes played last year in Provo where the Utes picked up the 82-74 double-overtime win on Dec. 14.

The Cougars were outscored 15-7 in the second overtime, highlighted by Utah’s Michelle Plouffe scoring nine points. Plouffe’s 3 opened the period and was followed by back-to-back buckets from Nakia Arquette to give the Utes a seven-point lead. BYU cut the lead to five on Kim Beeston’s three with one minute to play, but Plouffe’s six free throws iced the game.

BYU was led by Lexi Eaton’s 20 points and five assists. Morgan Bailey had 16 points, and Kylie Maeda and Beeston chipped in 12 each. Plagued by early foul trouble, Jennifer Hamson had a near double-double with nine points and 12 rebounds.

With the Cougars trailing by one with 18 seconds left in the first overtime, Eaton drove to the left side of the lane and kicked to Bailey, who hit her fourth 3-pointer of the game with just under 10 seconds left to give the Cougars a 67-65 lead. After a Ute timeout, Plouffe made a driving layup to tie the game at 67 and send the game into another overtime.

Trailing by one at half, the Utes started on a 9-3 run to take a 42-37 lead in the second. Hamson scored the Cougars’ next five points and a trey by Xojian Harry capped an 8-1 run to give them a 45-43 lead. After a 6-0 Utah run, Maeda hit back-to-back 3s to give BYU a 55-54 lead. Down 62-60, Plouffe hit a jumper to tie the game with under a minute left. After a BYU miss, the Utes failed to get a shot off before the shot clock expired and left just two seconds for BYU to try a final shot. Maeda’s half court heave bounced off the rim, forcing the first overtime.

Up Next
BYU plays one final nonconference game this month when they travel to Logan to battle in-state foe Utah State on Monday, Dec. 20 at 7 p.m. MST.

Following a short Christmas break, the Cougar women begin their run in the 2014-15 West Coast Conference race on the road traveling to Gonzaga and Portland on Dec. 27 and 29, respectively.