Brenna Chase's career night edges Portland

PORTLAND, Ore. – Junior guard Brenna Chase hit a career-best seven 3-pointers and helped lift the BYU women’s basketball team to a 70-69 road win over Portland on Thursday night at the Chiles Center.

"We’re happy with the road win tonight, especially how we started off in the first quarter," BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "That’s always good to see. We need to be more consistent on both ends of the ball."

BYU (19-6, 11-3) held off a pesky Portland (10-14, 2-11) team that tied the game after a run in the first half and hung around down to the final seconds.

Portland inbounded the ball with 11.3 seconds left and tried to get off a shot under the basket but 6-foot-7 center Sara Hamson and sophomore guard Paisley Johnson were right there to block the wild attempt and secure the one-point Cougar victory.

BYU-Portland Box Score

Chase finished with a season-high 24 points, including going 7 of 11 from downtown. She also tied a career-high with seven boards and had four steals. Sophomore guard Shaylee Gonzales added 19 points, nine boards and six assists. Johnson added 16 points, a career-best seven assists and six rebounds. It was the 12th time this season BYU had three in double figures. Hamson added five blocks and eight rebounds. 

BYU started the game out shooting 7 of 11 from the field, building an 18-5 lead at the 3:37 mark in the first quarter with Chase and Gonzales combining for 16 of the 18 points.

Portland opened the second quarter on a 7-0 run to cut the Cougar lead to 28-19 before Johnson broke up the run with a triple at the 7:26 mark. The Pilots wouldn’t go away and answered with back-to-back threes, trimming BYU’s advantage to 31-25 with 6:42 left until halftime.

Portland went on an 8-0 run again and tied it up under a minute to go and both teams went into halftime tied at 37-37. Gonzales led all scorers with 16 points at the break.

Both teams traded baskets in the third quarter with neither team leading by more than three. The Cougars held a two-point advantage heading into the fourth quarter at 52-50.

BYU went back up by six at 64-58 with 5:32 to go after a jumper from Johnson. Portland came back to make it 64-62 after two free throws and a bucket from Julie Spencer.

Chase hit her seventh trey of the game inside of three minutes to push the Cougar lead back to five points but the Pilots made it interesting with another 3-pointer from Kate Anderson to make it a 70-69 game with 42 seconds remaining.

Portland’s defense forced a shot clock violation on the other end to get the ball back with 11.3 seconds left and down one point. The Cougars had a defensive stand of their own on the other end with a blocked last-second attempt to end the game and hold off the Pilots for a 70-69 win.

BYU travels to Spokane to take on No. 13 Gonzaga on Saturday, Feb. 16 at, 2 p.m. PST. A live video stream of the game will be available on TheW.tv.

Postgame Notes at Portland
Team

• With the 70-69 win at Portland, BYU women’s basketball improved its record to 19-6, 11-3 on the year.
• For the 12th time on the year three Cougar players scored in double figures. Brenna Chase (24), Shaylee Gonzales (19), Paisley Johnson (16).
• BYU finished the game with the advantage in rebounds 44 to 34. It dished out more assists then Portland 20-15 and recorded seven blocks to the Pilots’ one. 

Player

• Junior guard Brenna Chase tallied a season-high 24 points to lead the Cougars in the win. Her seven made 3-pointers are career bests.
• For the 23rd time this year Shaylee Gonzales had double digits in points in a game finishing with 19 at Portland. She grabbed a team-best nine rebounds.
• Paisley Johnson picked up her 21st game with double figures in points with 16.  She led the team in assists with seven.
• Sara Hamson recorded a game-best five blocks in the win along with eight rebounds, two points, one assist and one steal.