PROVO, Utah – After a close battle, the No. 23 BYU women’s basketball team fell to the San Francisco Dons, 71-64, Thursday night at the Marriott Center.

“As happy as I was last week, I’m as disappointed tonight," BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "You got to give them a lot of credit though tonight. I thought they shot the ball really well when the shot clock was down and they hit the 3s when they needed to. I’m proud of my team for fighting back  when we got down by 11 or so. We made a couple of big plays but then they took it away again or we gave them a big basket.”

To watch a recap of the game, click here.

The win gave the Dons (5-22, 3-11) their first win over a ranked team since 1996. The loss marked the first West Coast Conference home loss for the Cougars (22-5, 10-3).

Senior Kristen Riley scored her eighth season double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Riley’s fifth rebound of the game gave her a career 674 rebounds to move her to seventh in the record books, passing her sister Lauren Riley Varley. Riley finished the night with 680 career rebounds. Riley also went 4-for-4 from the foul line.

Two other Cougars scored in double figures, with senior guard Haley Steed with 15 and true freshman guard Lexi Eaton with 12. Steed led the team in assists with six and went 5-for-5 from the line.

The Dons shot 37.9 percent from the field to best the Cougars, who shot 31.6 percent. San Francisco also won from behind the arc, shooting 38.1 from 3-point while holding BYU to 10 percent. Despite falling behind in shooting, BYU outrebounded San Francisco, 51-39.

BYU jumped out to a quick 12-5 lead following a field goal by Kim Parker to kick off the contest.

Freshman Jennifer Hamson came off the bench strong for the Cougars, knocking down two shots from the line and grabbing a steal in her initial seconds in the game.  After six missed BYU baskets, Hamson put two in from under the rim. 

San Francisco brought the score within two before Riley hit a fast break shot and a fade away jumper to put the Cougars back up by six.

Hamson ended the game’s scoring drought, hitting a basket after eleven missed shots from both teams.

Thanks to balanced scoring, the Dons remained close and were able to tie the game, 28-28, before taking their first lead of the game, 33-30, with two minutes remaining in the half. After a bucket by each team, BYU entered halftime trailing, 35-32.

Back-and-forth baskets spotted the beginning of the second half. The Cougars took a 39-37 lead as Parker drove to the basket and knocked down a free throw. The Dons answered with a trey to come back on top.

San Francisco went on a 17-7 run to find themselves up 52-39 on BYU, the largest lead of the night. Eaton stopped the drive with a bucket and free throw for BYU that sparked an 11-3 Cougar run.

Shots by Parker and Steed during the run brought the San Francisco lead to single digits with nine minutes left in the game. Steed knocked down the first BYU trey of the game for a 55-49 score.

San Francisco hit a shot from the arc to extend the lead back to 10. Free throws from Steed and Riley carried BYU within five. After grabbing the rebound, Riley dished the ball out to sophomore Stephanie Vermunt, who found the basket to close the gap to three with 1:14 on the clock.

“We had a good look at that 3 at the end of the game," Judkins said. "Stephanie (Vermunt) took it right and it’s a shot she can usually hit, but we just need to play with that type of intensity throughout the whole game.”

After a San Francisco field goal, Steed drove to the basket and drew a three-point play with 30 seconds left to bring the score to 63-61. The Dons hit two shots from the line to extend the lead to four.

With 22 seconds remaining, Steed brought the crowd to its feet as she knocked down a shot from beyond the arc to close the gap to one. Steed had BYU’s last six points in the game.

San Francisco hit its last four free throws to bring the final score to 71-64.  

"We came back with energy at the end, but it was unfortunate we didn’t have it earlier," Eaton said. "We’re disappointed, but will be back with a good practice tomorrow and be ready for Saturday. We got relaxed on defense and allowed a lot of open shots for them, and that gave them the momentum they needed. When we slip up on defense, our offense slips too. We just didn’t seem to have the energy tonight.”

With the loss, BYU drops to second place in conference standings tied with San Diego.

The Cougars will face San Diego Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Marriott Center. The game will be broadcast live worldwide on BYUtv. 

Postgame Notes

Player Notes
With her rebound at 7:15 in the first half, Kristen Riley tied her sister Lauren Riley Varley in career rebounds. Riley is now in seventh place in BYU history for rebounds. She also had her eighth double-double of the season and 12th of her career with 16 points to lead BYU and 11 rebounds to lead the game.

Haley Steed posted six assists against USF, giving her 513 career assists and putting her one assist away from tying for second place in BYU history. She also had two 3-pointers to put her at No. 5 in BYU history with 172 total, passing Thais Kidd’s career record. Steed had 15 points, the second highest of the Cougars, seven rebounds and two steals.

Dani Peterson set a career high of five assists. (Her former career high was two.) She also contributed six rebounds.

True freshman Lexi Eaton had 12 points and four rebounds.

Team Notes
BYU began the contest with a 9-2 run. BYU’s 7-0 run to start the second half put the Cougars on top before USF took the lead back.

BYU had 34 points in the paint compared to the Dons’ 20 and had 20 second chance points to the Dons’ one. The teams were equal in turnovers and points off turnovers with 13 and 15 apiece, respectively.

The Cougars out blocked the Dons 7-1 and had 17 assists to USF’s 13.

BYU outrebounded USF 51-39.

Three Cougars scored in double figures, compared to four Dons scoring in double figures.

After a decisive win over Gonzaga last week, the No. 23 Cougar women’s basketball team (22-4, 10-2) looks to keep its perfect home league record with two more WCC games this week. No. 23 BYU hosts San Francisco (4-22, 2-11) Thurs., Feb. 16 in a 7 p.m. tip off. On Sat. Feb. 18, San Diego (18-6, 9-3) makes an appearance in the Marriott Center in a 1 p.m. tip off.
Both games air live worldwide on BYUtv and are simulcast on BYU Radio.

GAME PROMOTIONS
San Francisco- Orem City Days. The Cougarettes will perform at halftime.
San Diego- Pink Game for breast cancer awareness. Everyone wearing pink gets in for $1. Dance Day Celebration with performances from local studios. At halftime it’s “So You Think You Can Dance.”

2011-12 Team Summary
- Shooting from field: (.448, 692-1545)
- Shooting from three-point line: (.351, 177-504)
- Shooting from free-throw line: (.727, 315-433)
- Average points per game: 72.2
- Average rebounds per game: 40.0
- Average assists per game: 19.3
- Average steals per game: 9.8
- Average blocks per game: 6.0
- Average turnovers per game: 16.1

2011-12 Player Summary
-Leading scorer: Senior Kristen Riley - averages 11.4 points
-Leading rebounder: Riley - averages 7.5 boards per game
-Assist & Steals leader: Senior co-captain Haley Steed - 185 and 55 respectively.
-Top blocker: Jennifer Hamson - 66 total
-Best field goal percentage: Jennifer Hamson - (.583, 81-139)
-Best free throw percentage: Kim Parker - (.836, 46-55)
-Best 3-pt field goal percentage: Stephanie Vermunt - (.507, 37-73)

Record Breaking Players
- Haley Steed has recorded 507 assists as of 02/13/12, which places her in third place all-time. She needs seven to tie for second place with Kathy Denton who dished out a career-record 514.
- Steed has 203 steals to date and needs 26 to tie for seventh place with Karina Zapata’s career high 229.
- Steed has made 170 3-pointers as of 02/13/12 putting her in sixth place overall. She needs one to tie for fifth place with Thais Kidd's career best 171.
- Kristen Riley has 75 blocks as of 02/13/12 and needs four to tie for fifth place all-time with Cathy Nixon’s 79.
- Riley has grabbed 669 rebounds as of 02/13/12, putting her in eighth place overall. She needs four to tie for seventh with her sister Lauren Varley (Riley) who ended her career with a total of 673 rebounds.
- Riley has a total of 964 points scored as of 02/13/12, and needs 36 to become BYU's 22nd player to reach 1,000 points in her career.
- Riley has played in a total of 122 games as of 2/13/12, which ranks her tied for 10th place all-time with current assistant coach Melinda Bendall formerly Johnsen. One more game would put her in a three-way tie for eighth place all-time with former teammate Coriann Fraughton, and Danielle Cheesman.
- As of 02/13/12, 6-7 sophomore center Jennifer Hamson has tallied 111 blocks and needs 14 to tie for fourth place all-time with the 125 recorded by Jill Adams.

Cougs Break Into Top 25
On Feb. 13, the Cougar team returned to the AP Top 25 at No. 23 after its 70-40 upset victory over Gonzaga on 2/9/12.
Entering the week of Feb. 6, BYU fell out of the top-25 AP Poll after the loss at Pepperdine on 2/2/12. However, they did receive (28) votes.
The week of Jan. 23 and with an 18-3, 7-1 mark the team broke into the AP Poll with a No. 23 ranking. They received votes (1) the week of 1/16/12 as well as the week of 12/26/11 when the Cougars were 11-2. 

The week of 12/26/11 they also received one vote in the USA Today ESPN Coaches Poll. On Jan. 24 they got (5) votes in the USA Today ESPN Coaches Poll. In the poll for the week of Jan. 31 the team got (8) votes. In the poll released on Feb. 7 they got (4) votes and on Feb. 14 they had (18) votes.

Last Time in the Polls
The last time that BYU was ranked in the polls was during the 2006-07 season.
On Monday, Nov. 13, 2006, the Cougars were ranked No.24
On Friday, Nov. 17, 2006, the Cougars were ranked No. 18
On Wednesday, Nov. 27. 2006, the Cougars were ranked No. 23
On Saturday, Dec. 2, 2006, the Cougars were ranked No. 22

Win Streak
BYU went on a nine-game win streak, before losing on the road at Pepperdine on 2/2/12.  Prior to the loss Thursday night, they had won eight straight league games. Earlier this season the Cougars won 10 games in a row, which was the longest current winning streak in the West Coast Conference before losing its debut game competing in the WCC, a 48-54 decision at Saint Mary’s.
Last season BYU went on a 12-game win streak during the 2011 Mountain West Conference race.
The longest win streak in the program’s history is 15 games played from 12/31/92 to 2/26/93.

THURSDAY WCC OPPONENT
San Francisco
The San Francisco Dons enter the week with a (4-22, 2-11) record and are in eighth place in the latest WCC standings. The team’s two conference wins have been over LMU and Saint Mary’s. For the Dons, 5-8 senior guard Rheina Ale leads the offensive presence averaging 14.2 points per game while grabbing 4.7 rebounds. Ale also has the most assists and steals on the team with 62 and 41 respectively. Whitney Daniels, a 6-2 junior forward, is at the top of the leaderboard in the rebound category grabbing 5.3 boards per contest. San Francisco is shooting 36 percent from the field, 30 percent behind the arc and 68 percent at the foul line while scoring 61.4 points per game. They are scoring 62.4 points per game. Head coach Jennifer Azzi is in her second season at the helm of the women’s basketball program at USF.

Series Breakdown
Overall Series Record: 7-0
BYU Record in Provo: 3-0
BYU Record in San Francisco: 3-0
BYU Record in Neutral Sites: 1-0
BYU Record under coach Judkins: 4-0
BYU Record in Overtime Games: n/a

Last Meeting
With a deep jumper from Haley Steed, the Cougars took a 38-32 advantage into the locker room after 20 minutes of action in the first meeting with the Dons in San Francisco on Jan. 7. Steed started the second half with the same intensity as she ended the first, draining a 3-pointer for a 41-32 BYU lead. Kristen Riley increased the lead to 11 on a layup for the Cougars’ first double-digit lead of the game. Another trey by Steed at the 16:11 mark followed by a 3-pointer from true freshman Lexi Eaton and BYU was up with a comfortable 51-38 lead. They would be up 71-46 with 4:30 left in the contest before San Francisco battled back, but the visiting team would hold on for the nine-point, 76-67 win. Riley led the BYU effort with 19 points followed by 13 from Steed and 11 from Eaton. The Cougars outrebounded the Dons 41 to 33. Both teams had a strong inside presence with BYU getting 24 points to USF’s 22 in the paint. The Dons got two more points off of BYU miscues.

SATURDAY WCC OPPONENT
San Diego
The University of San Diego has compiled a (18-6, 9-3) record and will play at LMU on Thursday before making its first ever trip to Provo and the Marriott Center on Saturday afternoon. At the beginning of the week the Toreros were in third place in the WCC standings. San Diego’s leading scorer is senior guard Dominique Conners who averages 16.0 points and grabs 5.3 rebounds. She’s followed by senior forward Morgan Woodrow who contributes 14.0 points and 5.0 boards a game. Rounding out the double digit scoring is sophomore forward Amy Kame who tallies 11.4 points and grabs the second most rebounds with a 5.5 average. Senior guard Izzy Chilcott is tops on the glass grabbing 6.6 boards a contest. To date, Conners has the most assists and steals with 63 and 55 respectively. San Diego averages 67.4 points per game while shooting 42 percent from the field, 32 percent from 3-point range and 71 percent at the free throw line. Head coach Cindy Fisher has been with the women’s basketball program for the past 12 years.

Series Breakdown
Overall Series Record: 2-0
BYU Record in Provo: n/a
BYU Record in San Diego: 1-0
BYU Record in Neutral Sites: 1-0
BYU Record under coach Judkins: 2-0
BYU Record in Overtime Games: n/a

Last Meeting
In the first game between BYU and USD on Jan. 14, the Cougars were down by six points in the early minutes of the game, before a 3-pointer from Lexi Eaton sparked a 9-0 BYU run to put some distance between them and the Toreros. With eight minutes left in the half, a Dani Peterson jumper put BYU up by nine before a 6-0 USD run put them back within three, 22-19. A 6-2 Torero run at the end of the half gave BYU a slim 30-29 lead. Eaton drained the first four points for the Cougars in the second half, launching a 12-0 scoring streak that included back-to-back treys from Kristen Riley and Kim Parker for a 42-31 lead. In the closing minutes of the game, an Amy Kame’s jumper followed by a jump shot from Felicia Wijenberg cut the lead to three for the closest score since the beginning of the second half. Riley responded with her own jumper to bump the BYU lead back to five as they passed the two-minute mark. The Cougars sealed the road win from the free throw line for the final nine-point, 62-53 victory. Eaton tied her season high with 16 points with Peterson and Parker tallying 10 points each. Peterson shot 70 percent for the game while Parker was 4-for-4 from the free throw line.  San Diego outrebounded BYU 40 to 36.
 

What’s Next
In the last week of WCC action, BYU hosts Santa Clara on Thurs., Feb 23 at 7 p.m., before heading to Spokane for a showdown with Gonzaga on Sat. Feb. 25. in a 2 p.m., start.