OREM, Utah – Eleven Cougars scored in a balanced offense Thursday, as the BYU women’s basketball team beat Utah Valley University 77-51 in the UCCU Crosstown Clash.

Final Box Score

"It's nice to be able to come out and play the way I know we can," BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "We played good defense and I thought you were able to see the depth of our team especially in the second half. Shaylee Gonzales played a really good game for us, especially in the first half."

BYU (6-2) brought down a season-high 54 rebounds compared to UVU’s (4-2) 27. The scoring distribution across the whole team and a career and season-high 23 points from Shaylee Gonzales helped BYU to its widest margin of victory this season, at 26 points. Brenna Chase led the team in assists and steals with seven and three, while Shalae Salmon led in rebounding with 10.

The game remained tight early, with BYU leading, 7-6, midway through the first quarter. The Cougars went on a 7-0 run with a little over a minute left to take their largest lead, 16-8. BYU then went up by double digits, 21-11, a minute into the second quarter, led by two early threes from Paisley Johnson.

A couple of missed shots and turnovers allowed the Wolverines to bring it within three points late in the first half, but a 3-pointer from Gonzales extended the BYU lead and put her in double digits with 12 points. She then hit another 3-pointer and a jumper to give her 17 points in the first half, and send the team to the locker room with a 40-28 lead. Chase led the team in assists and steals at the break with six and three, while Salmon led in rebounds with five.

BYU was able to stay aggressive in the second half and extend its lead to 15, 51-34, with 3:22 left in the third quarter. Gonzales reached a new career-high with 23 points on the following possession and then immediately followed it up with her second steal of the game. A layup by Jasmine Moody gave BYU its first 20-point lead, 61-41, heading into the final quarter.

Babalu Ugwu went a personal 6-0 run to open the fourth quarter, putting the Cougars up by 24, 67-43, with 7:32 left in the game. A pair of free throws from Chase and a jumper from Ashley Beckstrand extended the BYU run to 10-0, as the Cougars capitalized off of four quick UVU turnovers.

Salmon reached double-digit rebounds in the fourth quarter with a game-high 10. The comfortable lead allowed BYU to give some of its newer players some playing time, with Caitlyn Alldredge and Signe Glantz scoring their first points as Cougars, and Beckstrand going for a season-high six points.

BYU gets a week off before traveling to Salt Lake City to take on the University of Utah Saturday, Dec. 8, at 7 p.m. MST in the Huntsman Center. The game will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Network.

Postgame Notes at UVU
Team

BYU took a 12-point 40-28 lead at halftime. The 40 points tied for season bests in a half for BYU. The Cougars would go up by as much as 24, 67-43 with just over eight minutes remaining in the game.

BYU got back on track with a 77-51 win over Utah Valley University, improving its record to 6-2 on the year.

The Cougars finished shooting 42.1 percent from the field, 17.2 percent from behind the arc and 72.7 percent from the free throw line.

The 54 rebounds pulled down by the BYU team are season-bests to date.

In the win over UVU, the depth of the team showed with the team bench scoring 33 points while UVU got 25 points from its bench.

The Cougars were able to score 14 points off of UVU miscues. 

The BYU defense held UVU to a total of 23 points in the second half, 13 in the third period and 10 in the fourth.

Player

In her first collegiate start, freshman Shaylee Gonzales led all scorers in the first half with 17 points for season best in a half. She finished with a game- and season-high 23 points. The three treys she made tied for season bests. Gonzales also collected five rebounds, dished out four assists and got two steals.

Junior Shalae Salmon pulled down five rebounds in the first 20 minutes of play. She finished the game dominated on the boards with a game-high 10. Salmon also contributed seven points in the BYU win.

Brenna Chase led the way in total assists for the game with seven. She also scored four points and got two steals.

Sophomore center Sara Hamson had a perfect shooting game, making all four attempted field goals for her season-best eight points. She also recorded a game-best two blocks.

Sophomore guard Paisley Johnson put up eight points and dished out one assist in the 23 minutes she played.

Senior guard Caitlyn Alldredge got her first start of the year vs. UVU. She grabbed a season-best six rebounds and scored two points.

Senior Jasmine Moody had a perfect game in the nine minutes she played. She went 3 of 3 from the field and 1 of 1 from the charity stripe for her seven points. She also collected four rebounds.

Redshirt freshman Ashley Beckstrand came off the bench and played almost nine minutes. In that time, she contributed six points and pulled down two rebounds.

PROVO, Utah — With a 5-1 record and a four-game win streak, BYU women’s basketball gets set to play two road games vs. in-state teams.

The Cougars travel to Cedar City to take on SUU (1-3), Tuesday, Nov. 27 in a 6:30 p.m. MST tipoff. They then play at Utah Valley University on Thursday, Nov. 29, at 11 a.m. MST. The game between BYU and UVU will be played at Lockhart Arena. Live video streams and live stats will be available for both games.

BYU AT UVU GAME NOTES

ABOUT BYU

• The Cougars are 5-1 on the year and are off to their best start since starting 9-0 during the 2013-14 season.
• BYU is coming off two wins at the SDSU Thanksgiving Classic. In the tournament, the Cougars beat TCU 61-58 and CBU 76-69.
• BYU is shooting 40.5 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from the 3-point line and 68.2 percent when shooting from the free throw line.
• Freshman Shaylee Gonzales leads the team in scoring with a 16.5 average. Junior Brenna Chase is next with 14.2 points with teammate Paisley Johnson contributing 13.7 points.
• Junior forward Shalae Salmon tops the leaderboard in the rebounds category pulling down 6.5 boards a game. Chase tops the stat sheet in two categories. In assists, she averages 5.1 per contest and in steals, she gets 3.0 per game

ABOUT SUU

• The Thunderbirds have compiled a 1-3 record to date with a win over West Coast Conference foe San Diego.
• SUU was selected to finish in last place in the Big Sky Preseason Poll. The Thunderbirds are the second of three teams BYU will play from the Big Sky Conference. They already played Eastern Washington and will host Northern Colorado on December 21st.

ABOUT UVU

• The Wolverines have a 4-1 record heading into Thursday’s game with BYU. They have wins over UC Santa Barbara, University of La Verne, Ottawa University Arizona and Arizona Christian. Their lone loss was to West Coast Conference foe Portland.
• UVU scores 75.0 points, grabs 40.8 rebounds while shooting 46.3 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from behind the arc and 79.3 percent from the free throw line.
• Three players put up double-digit points for the Wolverines, led by 14.2 points from Jordan Holland, Eve Braslis follows with 13.6 points. Alexis Cortes rounds out their scoring output with 11.2 points a game. Braslis is their rebounds leader with 7.4 boards a contest.
• UVU was selected to finish eighth in the 2018-19 Western Athletic Conference preseason poll. They return eight letterwinners and two starters from a squad that went 11-19, 9-6 last season.

UP NEXT FOR BYU

BYU will round out its three-week, six-game road swing with a game against in-state rival Utah. The Cougars and Utes will play in the Huntsman Center on Saturday, Dec. 8, at 7 p.m. The game will be carried live on the Pac-12 network.