TULSA, Okla.—Haley Hall Steed led the BYU women’s basketball team to a 64-61 victory against Tulsa Monday night, securing the Cougars’ first win of the season on the Hurricane’s home court.

“It wasn’t a pretty win,” BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. “It was pretty sloppy. We didn’t execute and threw the ball away too many times. When people foul you at end of game, you’ve got to knock them in. But I was really happy how we executed that last play for Haley and I thought Rovetti played a great game. I’m proud of them. We could have got down and lost the game, but we came back for the win.”

Steed tied her career high of 24 points in the contest, also tying her career high of six 3-pointers. Steed was 6-for-12 from beyond the arc. Redshirt freshman Stephanie Rovetti recorded her first double-figure outing with 12 points and Kristen Riley had a career-high 12 rebounds.

BYU (1-1) shot 40.4 percent from the field with 16 assists and outrebounded Tulsa (0-2) 41-38. But the Cougars’ 24 turnovers and 26 fouls caused problems, especially in the second half.

The Cougars got into foul trouble after just seven minutes of play in the first half. Fouls put BYU behind 4-0 to start, but three Cougar 3-pointers launched an 11-0 run to go up 14-7. After three minutes without a BYU field goal, Rovetti hit a jumper from the corner to push the score to 18-13 before Tulsa closed the gap on a fast break layup.

At the 5:07 mark, Morgan Bailey put up a jump shot to increase the lead to 23-20, but Jessica McQuin’s jumper and Kadan Brady’s 3-pointer took the lead back for Tulsa 25-23.

Freshman Lexi Eaton helped the Cougars out with a three-point play after getting fouled on a layup, bringing the Cougars within one at 27-26. Kim Parker’s lay in pushed BYU into the lead once more to close out the half with a 28-26 lead.

Tulsa’s Taylor Hooker opened the second half by taking back the lead on a field goal, only to have the lead recovered for the Cougars on a Steed 3-pointer. Steed pushed BYU to an eight-point lead on two more treys at 16:33 and 15:12.

The Cougars pushed Tulsa into bonus with seven fouls after eight minutes of play.

A Riley assist led to Dani Peterson’s layup for a 49-39 lead at 8:14, BYU’s first double-figure lead of the game. Steed maintained that lead sinking another 3-pointer.

BYU got lucky when Tulsa sent Rovetti to the charity stripe twice to push the Cougars to a 12-point lead. Rovetti threw down a layup for a 59-47 lead as the clock wound down.

Tulsa’s 7-0 run cut the deficit to 57-54 until made free throws from Steed gave BYU another 5-point lead. With two minutes left on the clock, a Hurricane cut the lead to 59-57.

“We need to finish stronger than that,” Steed said. “We can’t let 10-point leads slip away. We’ve got to work on our composure. They threw a press on us there at the end and we struggled to break it.”

The Hurricane tied the game 61-61 on a basket, but Steed’s 3-pointer with 10 seconds on the clock locked in the victory

“It was way too close, but that end play, we stuck with it,” Steed said. “Really, the entire team executed that play just as Coach Judkins wanted it.”

Next up, the Cougars travel to Manhattan, Kan., to take on Kansas State Wednesday at 7 p.m. CST.

BYU vs. Tulsa – Postgame Notes

Team

BYU picks up its first victory of the season with the 64-61 win over Tulsa.

The Cougars outrebounded the Golden Hurricane 41-38 and dished out 16 assists to Tulsa’s eight.

Player

After scoring three points on a trey in the first half, Haley Steed Hall scored nine all from three-point range in the first six minutes of the second half.  She also made the winning three-pointer with 10.1 seconds left to give the Cougars their first win of the season. Steed topped the leader board in points for the team and game with a season high 24 that tie her career best in that category.  The points are her second straight double figure contest of the year and the 30th in her career.

Stephanie Rovetti came off the bench going 8-10 from the free throw line, finishing with 12 points for her first ever double digit outing of her career.

Kristen Riley led all players in the rebound category grabbing a team and game high 12 rebounds for new career highs.

Kim Parker dished out a team high five assists in the game.

With an (0-1) record after a close fought game against No. 8 Duke, BYU women’s basketball takes its first road trip of the 2011-12 campaign. The Cougars play three games in six days starting with a Monday, Nov. 14 game at Tulsa (0-1).

Then its on to Manhattan, Kansas to take on Kansas State (1-0) on Wednesday, Nov. 16 before an instate rival matchup with Weber State in Ogden on Saturday, Nov. 19.

The games at Tulsa and at Kansas State can be heard live on BYU Radio. (Sirius XM 143, or byuradio.org)

2010-11 Stats Summary
--Shooting from field: (.427, 888-2081)
--Shooting from three-point line: (.331, 238-718)
--Shooting from free-throw line: (.681, 341-501)
--Average points per game: 69.3
--Average rebounds per game: 39.1
--Average assists per game: 19.1
--Average steals per game: 8.4
--Average blocks per game: 4.1
--Average turnovers per game: 14.1

About BYU
--The Cougars return two of the team's scorers in Kristen Riley and Haley Hall Steed. Riley enters the 2011-12 campaign with an 8.9 points average while Steed puts up 8.5 points per contest.

--In the rebounding category, Riley tops the list grabbing 5.4 boards a game with sophomore center Jennifer Hamson averaging 5.1 rebounds.  

--Steed returns as the team’s assists and steals leader with 168 and 62 respectively.

--Hamson tops the leader board in the field goal percentage category (.559, 90-161). She also has the most blocks on the team with 45.

Team Captains Selected
Seniors Haley Steed (Hall) and Kristen Riley were chosen by their teammates as co-captians for the 2011-12 season. It marks Steed’s fourth straight co-captain selection.

Coaching Milestone
BYU head coach Jeff Judkins picked up his 200th career victory in the 64-55 road win at Colorado State on 2/23/11. The win marked the fifth 20-plus win season for coach Judkins, and the second straight.

This Week’s Opponents
Tulsa
The Tulsa Golden Hurricanes are coming off a close 48-52 loss at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock after picking up two exhibition game victories. Tulsa returns nine letterwinners including four starters from last year’s squad that compiled a 5-20 overall record. The four starters back are headline by junior guard Taleya Mayberry who led the team in points with a 15.0 average while grabbing 3.4 boards per game. Senior Chanice Scott, a 5-10 guard, followed contributing 7.8 points and 5.0 rebounds a contest. The two other returning starters are sophomore forward Loren McDaniel who chipped in 7.3 points and team high 6.2 boards and senior forward Denise Lewis putting in 6.7 points and 5.2 boards per game. Head coach Matilda Mossman is in her first season with the Tulsa women’s basketball program.

Series Breakdown
Overall Series Record: BYU leads 5-0
BYU Record in Provo: 2-0
BYU Record in Tulsa: 2-0
BYU Record in Neutral Sites: 1-0
BYU Record under coach Judkins: n/a

KANSAS STATE
Kansas State opened the season with an easy 54-20 home victory over Dartmouth after capturing two wins in exhibition games. The Wildcats return eight letterwinners from last year’s team that compiled an impressive 21-11 overall record tying for third place in the Big 12 Conference with a 10-6 mark. Kansas State also played in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Four of those letterwinners started in at least 28 games last season. Brittany Chambers, a 5-8 junior guard, topped the leaderboard in scoring with 16.1 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. Senior forward Jalana Childs followed contributing 12.8 points while grabbing 4.2 boards a contest. The two other starters back are Branshea Brown, a 6-2 senior forward who tallied 5.4 points and 5.9 rebounds a game and teammate Mariah White, a 5-7 junior guard, tallying 4.8 points and 4.1 boards per contest. Head coach Deb Patterson is her 16th season at the helm of the women’s basketball program at Kansas State.

Series Breakdown
Overall Series Record: Kansas State leads 20
BYU Record in Provo: 0-1
BYU Record in Manhattan: n/a
BYU Record in Neutral Sites: 0-1
BYU Record under coach Judkins: 0-1

Team’s Travel Plans
Flight: Delta #4662 departs Salt Lake City on Sun. Nov. 13 at 1:45 p.m., arriving in Tulsa at 5:03 p.m.
Flight: Delta #4560 departs Kansas City on Thurs. Nov. 17 at 2:10 p.m., arriving in Salt Lake City at 4:01 p.m.
Hotel in Tulsa: Courtyard Marriott, 415 South Boston Ave., 918-508-7400, 918-508-7425, fax
Hotel in Manhattan: Courtyard Marriott, 310 Hammons Dr., Junction City, 785-210-1500, 785-762-5023, fax

What’s Next
The women’s basketball team rounds out its three-game road swing in Ogden where they will battle instate rival Weber State on Sat. Nov. 19 at 7 p.m.