PROVO, Utah (Dec. 7) - The BYU women's basketball team overcame a 12-point halftime deficit to beat Northern Iowa 69-68 in overtime, Thursday, at the Marriott Center.
Good free-throw shooting and tough defense down the stretch proved to be the winning combination for the Cougars. A driving lay-up by junior guard Stacy Jensen tied the game at 61-61 with 16 seconds remaining in regulation. BYU then played stellar defense, not allowing the Panthers to get a shot off and forcing overtime.
In overtime, Jensen hit two free-throws, Caroline Beus made a basket and sophomore All-American Erin Thorn hit four free-throws to put the Cougars up by one as time expired. BYU shot 60.9 percent from the field in the second half compared to a cold 25.9 percent in the first half. Northern Iowa shot 57.7 percent from the field in the first half but the Cougar defense held the Panthers to 40.7 percent shooting in the second half.
"We did a good job adjusting defensively on the interior," head coach Trent Shippen said. "We had to climb back slowly the whole game but the team had the desire and focus to win."
Thorn got off to a slow start but ended the game with 20 points, eight rebounds and six steals. Beus chipped in 15 points and seven boards while freshman Heather Cheesman scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds. BYU made 7-of-9 second half free-throws.
"They (Northern Iowa) are a very good team," Shippen said. "They only had one loss coming in to tonight's game. This is a great win for us on our floor."
BYU improves to 5-2 while the Panthers suffered only their second loss of the season. The Cougars play Montana, Saturday, at 7 p.m., in the Marriott Center.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
PANTHERS vs BYU
12-07-00 4:30 PM at PROVO UT MARRIOTT CENTER
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VISITORS: PANTHERS 7-2
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
41 SPETTEL NIKKI....... f 4-8 0-0 0-0 1 3 4 4 8 3 3 0 3 37
42 MILLER KATIE........ f 3-7 0-1 2-4 1 3 4 4 8 1 2 0 1 26
02 SCHUTTLE ABBI....... c 7-14 0-0 1-2 1 4 5 4 15 2 0 2 0 37
03 DAWSON KARY......... g 4-12 4-8 0-0 0 5 5 1 12 5 5 0 1 34
10 OPP KARA............ g 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 5 0 0 1 0 0 21
30 SEIDL JILL.......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 10
35 BRANDT NADINE....... 2-7 1-4 0-0 0 2 2 4 5 3 0 0 0 21
43 SORRELL KATIE....... 0-0 0-0 2-2 0 2 2 1 2 0 0 0 0 5
44 SWISHER AMY......... 7-10 0-1 0-1 3 0 3 0 14 2 4 0 0 22
51 CLINE KATE.......... 2-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 1 4 0 1 0 0 12
TEAM................ 1 2 3
Totals.............. 29-60 5-14 5-9 9 22 31 25 68 16 16 2 5 225
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-26 .577 2nd Half: 11-27 .407 Game: .483 DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-6 .500 2nd Half: 2-6 .333 Game: .357 REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-4 .750 2nd Half: 1-2 .500 Game: .556 3
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HOME TEAM: BYU 5-2
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
31 OSGUTHORPE, Lisa.... f 0-1 0-0 3-4 1 4 5 2 3 2 2 0 1 31
50 CHEESMAN, Heather... f 6-14 0-1 0-0 1 6 7 0 12 4 1 0 0 31
44 BEUS, Caroline...... c 6-13 0-0 3-4 6 1 7 3 15 1 2 1 1 37
11 THORN, Erin......... g 5-12 2-5 8-9 2 6 8 1 20 0 2 0 6 39
22 JENSEN, Stacy....... g 1-6 0-3 6-6 0 0 0 4 8 6 6 0 2 36
04 SHIPPEN, Kaly G..... 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 1 1 1 3 0 2 0 1 10
14 WHETTEN, Julie...... 0-1 0-1 1-2 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 9
15 COX, Jorja.......... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 9
20 LARSON, Brittany.... 1-2 0-1 0-0 1 0 1 1 2 0 1 0 0 5
23 ROSE, Chanell....... 2-3 0-0 1-2 0 3 3 1 5 1 2 0 0 18
TEAM................ 3 1 4
Totals.............. 22-54 3-12 22-27 15 23 38 15 69 14 19 1 12 225
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 7-27 .259 2nd Half: 14-23 .609 Game: .407 DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-6 .167 2nd Half: 2-4 .500 Game: .250 REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half: 9-12 .750 2nd Half: 7-9 .778 Game: .815 0
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Officials: THOMAS DUKAS, MIKE PETTY, CAROLEE STREEPER
Technical fouls: PANTHERS-None. BYU-None.
Attendance: 311
Score by Periods 1st 2nd OT Total
PANTHERS...................... 36 25 7 - 68
BYU........................... 24 37 8 - 69
After a grueling four-game road stretch where BYU's women's basketball team compiled a 3-1 record, the team returns home to host Northern Iowa and Montana this Thursday and Saturday at the Marriott Center. Tip off for Thursday's game is 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. for Saturday's game.
BYU Probable Starters - 2000 stats
l 31 Lisa Osguthorpe - 6-0 Jr, F (5.8 ppg, 6.3 rpg)
l 44 Caroline Beus - 6-1 Sr, C/F (8.2 ppg, 7.3 rpg)
l 50 Heather Cheesman - 6-1 Fr, F(10.3 ppg, 5.2 rpg)
l 11 Erin Thorn - 5-10 So, G (21.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg)
l 22 Stacy Jensen - 5-6 Jr, G (9.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg)
BYU Players Off The Bench - 2000 stats
l 04 Kaly G. Shippen - 5-6 Sr, G (6.3 ppg)
l 14 Julie Whetten - 5-8 Fr, G (4.0 ppg)
l 15 Jorja Cox - 5-11 Sr, F (3.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg)
l 20 Brittany Larson - 6-0 So, F (2.8 ppg, 1.3 rpg)
l 23 Chanell Rose - 6-0 So, F (5.3 ppg, 4.2 rpg)
Cougars Injury Report
Jennifer Lietner will be out for about eight weeks with torn ligaments to her left foot injured during conditioning
Quickie BYU Stats - 2000 Season
l Shooting from the field - .427 (188-440)
l Shooting from the free-throw line - .710 (98-138)
l Shooting from the three-point arc - .444 (63-142)
l Averaged 80.0 points per game
Last Game Recap
The Cougars wrapped up their four-game road trip with a split, a 17-point win over Gonzaga and a 20-point loss to Arkansas. It was the first time meeting for the Cougars and Razorbacks in Fayetteville. Erin Thorn led the BYU team with 24 points including six three-pointers, but even with her impressive performance and that of teammates Kaly G. Shippen(15 points) and Stay Jensen (11 points), the Cougars could not overcome a large a 17-point deficit in the second half of the game. At Gonzaga, Thorn once again top the scoring list with 16, followed by Heather Cheesman's 16 and Jensen's 11 led the BYU effort in the 74-57 victory. In that game, the Cougars had their second lowest turnovers, just 10 in the contest.
Scouting University of Northern Iowa
Northern Iowa comes to the Marriott Center with a 5-1 record that includes a close four-point victory over no. 24 Illinois on Sat. Dec. 2. The Panthers lone loss to date was over St. Mary's at their Thanksgiving Classic in California. Senior guard Kary Dawson tops the list in scoring for UNI. She's averaging 14.5 ppg and 2.5 rpg. Three teammates can also score in double digits. Amy Swisher contributes 11.8 points, Nikki Spettel tallies 10.8 and Katie Miller is getting 10.3 points a game. Spettel is the team's leading rebounder with 6.2 boards a game. Northern Iowa is averaging 72.0 points a game to opponents 64.5 They are shooting 44 percent from the field and 75 percent from the free-throw line.
Northern Iowa Probable Starters
#42 Katie Miller - 5-10 F, So (10.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg)
#41 Nikki Spettel - 6-0 F, Sr (10.8 ppg, 6.2 rpg)
# 2 Abbi Schutte - 6-4 C, Jr (7.8 ppg, 5.2 rpg)
# 3 Kary Dawson - 5-8 Sr, G (14.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg)
#10 Kara Opp - 5-9 G, So(2.0 ppg, 2.2 rpg)
Series Record: 1-0 favoring the visiting Panthers
Last Meeting: In their one and only contest, UNI defeated BYU in Cedar Falls last year by a 25-point margin, 70-45. The Cougars were on the end of a grueling five -game road trip prior to meeting the Panthers.
Scouting Montana
Montana will be making a two-game trip to Utah this week, playing at the Huntsman Center on Thursday, prior to Saturday's game in the Marriott Center. The Lady Griz has a 4-1 to date with their lone loss to Idaho on Nov. 30. Lauren Cooper is Montana's leading scorer averaging 13.4 point and 5.8 rebounds per game. As with Northern Iowa, three other Lady Griz players are contributing in double digit points. Linda Cummings is getting 11.2 points a game and she's the team's leading rebounder with 8.2 per game. Simmaron Schildt follows with 11.0 points and 5.8 rebounds a game. Montana is averaging 71.4 points to opponents 64.2. They are shooting 46 percent from the field and 56 percent at the free-throw line.
Montana Probable Starters
#23 Brooklynn Lorenzen - G 5-5, Fr (3.0 ppg, 2.6 rpg)
#12 Cheryl Keller - G 5-8, Jr (10.0 ppg, 3.2 rpg)
#10 Lauren Cooper - G 6-0, Sr (13.4 ppg, 5.8 rpg)
#22 Linda Cummings - F 6-0, Sr (13.2 ppg, 7.6 rpg)
#33 Lauren Valley - C 6-3, Sr (9.4 ppg, 5.2 rpg)
Series Record: 3-7 favoring the visiting Lady Griz. The two teams met during last year's season, where BYU took a 61-51 victory at Montana.
