SAN FRANCISCO—Despite a strong second half and 19 points from Haley Steed, the BYU women’s basketball team fell to San Francisco 65-56 Saturday night.

The loss was the Cougars’ second in West Coast Conference play, putting BYU’s record at 13-6 overall and 4-2 in league play. San Francisco improved to 9-11 and 2-5 in WCC play.

"We didn't come out ready to play," BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "We weren't focused. We didn't execute and make shots where we needed to. We came back, but in the end we still didn't finish what we needed to."

Steed scored her 19 points with the help of five 3-pointers, also grabbing seven rebounds, three assists and five steals. Kim Parker Beeston had 15 points for the Cougars and Ashley Garfield led on the boards with eight.

BYU shot 35 percent on the game, while the Dons shot 43 percent.

The Dons took the early lead, jumping ahead 14-5 on a 9-2 run. A Steed trey with 8:52 left in the half cut the lead to 20-15. San Francisco recovered quickly, throwing down a pair of layups and a jumper to push ahead 27-17.

BYU allowed six more Don points before the end of the half and couldn’t answer with any of its own, heading to the locker room down 33-17.

The Cougars shot 24 percent from the field in the half while San Francisco shot 42 percent. Steed led the Cougars in the first half with six points from two 3-pointers and five rebounds.

Beeston launched the second half with a 3-pointer. Stephanie Vermunt Seaborn followed it up with another 3-pointer, part of a 10-2 BYU scoring run that cut the score to 35-27. Beeston scored seven of BYU’s 10 points during the run.

Stuck behind by at least eight points for the first eight minutes of the second half, Steed sliced down the deficit to 43-47 on a 3-pointer, her third of the game.

The Cougars cut the lead to four, but with three minutes left in the game, found themselves down by 10 once more on a jumper by San Francisco’s Zhane Dikes. Steed responded with another 3-pointer and cut the lead to five with the help of Keilani Unga’s layup.

Just as things looked promising for BYU, fouls started causing trouble for the Cougars. With San Francisco in bonus in the final minute, five made free throws gave the Dons the 65-56 win.

Thursday the Cougars return to the Marriott Center for their first meeting with Saint Mary’s this season. The teams tip off at 7 p.m. MST., and can be seen live on BYUtv.

Postgame Notes

Team

The Cougars outrebounded the Dons 40-38.

For the game, BYU was able to score 15 points off of USF miscues while the Dons picked up 34 points in the paint compared with 16 for the Cougars.

Player

Haley Steed had five rebounds in the first half to lead the Cougars in that category. She finished the game with seven boards, a game-high five steals and 19 points. The points tied for a game high and marked the seventh time this year she’s had double figures in points. All but four points were scored from 3-point range.

Kim Beeston picked up her 13th double-digit game in points with 15.

Ashley Garfield came off the bench to grab four rebounds and two assists in the first half. For the game, she tied for most assists with three while grabbing a team-best eight rebounds.

With a 12-5 overall record, including a 3-1 mark in WCC play, the Cougar women’s basketball team continues league action with a Thursday game at home and a road game on Saturday.

BYU, who is in third place in this week’s conference standings, hosts LMU Thursday at 7 p.m., MST. The game can be seen live on BYUtv. They are at San Francisco on Saturday, Jan. 26 at 2 p.m., PST. Fans can follow the action vs. the Dons live on BYU Radio.

LMU GAME PROMOTIONS (Student Night) All students (high school and college) get in FREE with student ID

• FREE pizza after the game
• 2nd Annual Postgame Dance on the Marriott Center court with the team, after the game. Must have college ID
• Unlimited Powerade

BYU Capsule
BYU looks to stay undefeated at home where it is 8-0 to date. The team has outrebounded its opponents in 11 of the games played. In all but three contests (at Gonzaga, at Boston College and at Washington State) the Cougars dished out more assists than their opponents. BYU has enjoyed a halftime lead in all but three games to date (at Gonzaga, vs. Seattle and at Washington State). The BYU bench has outscored the opponent’s bench 351-218. When comparing points in the paint, the Cougars have scored 456 points to 384 from opponents.

In the team’s league victory over Pepperdine, four players scored in double figures marking the third time that BYU has had four players scoring in double digits this season.

• Head coach: Jeff Judkins (Utah, ‘78), enters his 12th season
• Team’s leading scorer: #5 Jennifer Hamson, 11.8 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #5 Hamson, 8.0 rpg
• Team’s assist leader: #33 Haley Steed, 7.7 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #33 Steed, 1.9 spg

BYU’S PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP
#33 Haley Steed– (5-4 guard, GS.) 9.1 ppg; 3.9 rpg; 7.7 apg
#4 Kim Parker Beeston– (5-11 guard, Jr.) 10.1 ppg; 3.6 rpg; 2.1 apg
#11 Xojian Harry– (5-10 guard, So.) 4.1 ppg; 1.5 rpg; 0.6 apg
#45 Keilani Unga– (6-2 forward, Sr.) 5.8 ppg; 4.1 rpg; 0.9 apg
#5 Jennifer Hamson– (6-7 center, Jr.) 11.8 ppg; 8.0 rpg; 0.4 apg

LMU Capsule
In fifth place in the latest WCC standings with a 2-4 mark, LMU opens the week on the road at BYU. The Lions have picked up league victories over Pepperdine and San Francisco and have an 8-11 overall record. LMU returns 10 letterwinners including three starters. When playing on the road, the Lions are 0-2 to date.

• Head coach: Charity Elliott is in her first season at LMU
• Team’s leading scorer: #3 Alex Cowling, 15.9 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #3 Cowling, 7.6 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #4 Hazel Ramirez, 5.4 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #4 Ramirez, 2.3 spg

Series History
BYU leads the series 4-0

Last Meeting
In last season’s WCC race, the Cougars swept the series with the Lions getting the 80-47 win in Provo on Jan. 5. Senior forward Kristen Riley led the Cougars with 16 points and three rebounds and was aided by Haley Steed, who added eight points and eight assists. Lexi Eaton added 14 points, 12 in the second half. At halftime BYU took a 48-22 lead into the locker room. The team shot 52 percent from the field and 83 percent from the free throw line while going 9-of-19 from behind the arc. 

In the second matchup played in Los Angeles on Jan. 19, BYU defeated LMU 72-48 led by Riley’s season-high 22 points. She recorded a double-double with a game-best 10 boards. Eaton contributed 16 points and three rebounds. Steed had five points and a game-best nine assists. The Cougars finished the game outrebounding the Lions 38-28 while shooting 51 percent from the field and 73 percent from the charity stripe.

San Francisco Capsule
San Francisco enters this week of WCC action in last place with a 1-5 mark. USF is 8-11 on the year. Saturday’s home game vs. BYU is the team’s lone game of the week where they are 6-3.  The Dons beat Portland in Los Angeles for their first victory in league play on Jan. 12.

• Head coach: Jennifer Azzi is in her second year with USF
• Team’s leading scorer: #45 Mel Khlok, 15.6 ppg
• Team’s leading rebounder: #25 Alicia Scafidi, 7.3 rpg
• Team’s assists leader: #45 Khlok, 3.3 apg
• Team’s steals leader: #45 Khlok, 2.3 spg

Series History
BYU leads the series 8-1

Last Meeting
The Cougars and Dons already met once this season with BYU picking up the 80-58 win on Jan. 5 in Provo.  The Cougars took the first 10 points of the game, keeping San Francisco scoreless until the 15:28 mark. Going into halftime, BYU kept the Dons scoreless from beyond the arc, holding them to 25 percent shooting from the field while enjoying a 12-point, 34-22 advantage, at the break. The Cougars went on a 12-2 run at the beginning of the second half to lead 50-25 and would have their largest lead, up by 31, 76-45 with just over four minutes remaining in the contest. Morgan Bailey and Ashley Garfield picked up double-doubles in the game. Bailey finished with 14 points and a career-high 13 rebounds while Garfield picked up a career-high 14 points to go along with 10 rebounds. In last year’s WCC race, each team won on the road.

Up Next
Next week BYU continues league play with a home game vs. Saint Mary’s on Thursday, Jan. 31 at 7 p.m. MST. The team then travels to northern California to take on Santa Clara on Saturday, Feb. 2 at 2 p.m. PST.