Despite 26 from Bailey, BYU falls to No. 19 Oregon State

LAIE, Hawaii – Despite a career night from Morgan Bailey, BYU women's basketball fell 71-61 to No. 19 Oregon State to conclude the Tom Weston Invitational.

"I thought we had some moments when we played really well," BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "Morgan had a great game for us today. We just need to get more production from other players. We did a good job defensively. They are a very good team. We need to make better choices and decisions when the game is on the line. "

Morgan contributed a career-high 26 points in addition to leading the team in rebounds with nine. Kylie Maeda and Lexi Eaton added a team-high four assists apiece, while Eaton also collected double-digit points, adding 19. Makenzi Morrison contributed 10 points to round out the top three scorers. 

BYU (3-3) scored just 20 points in the paint, compared to Oregon State's (5-0) 32. The Beavers additionally had 12 second-chance points to the Cougars' four.  

Oregon State jumped out to a 4-0 lead to begin the game, but a Bailey jump shot gave the Cougars a 6-4 advantage with just under 17 minutes left to play in the half. Bailey and the Beavers' Sydney Wiese followed by trading 3-pointers to tie the game back up at nine apiece.

A Morrison trey capped off a 7-0 BYU run to extend the Cougars' lead to as many points at 16-9 with 11:41 left in the first 20 minutes of action. The Beavers countered with an 8-2 rally of their own, however, to bring them within a point at 18-17. BYU answered that rally, adding another 7-0 run - helped by four points from Bailey, to stay ahead 25-17 with under eight minutes to play before halftime.

A pair of Oregon State free throws tied the game back up at 27-all, which was followed by four addtional points to end a 14-2 run and put the Beavers back up 31-27. Oregon State went into the locker room at the break up by five, 34-29.

Eaton hit a 3-pointer to start the Cougar offense in the second half, with her team trailing 38-31. Bailey scored BYU's next seven points, including another bucket from beyond-the-arc, to bring her team back within five at 43-38 with 16 minutes left to play.

The Beavers slowly started to build a lead, going up by 11 after a layup from Oregon State's Samantha Siegner with 13:18 remaining. The two teams traded points from there, including a fast-break layup from Morrison that brought the Cougars back within seven at 58-51 with eight minutes to play in the game. The Beavers then scored the next nine points of the game to get their largest lead to that point at 16, 67-51. 

Oregon State retained at least a 10-point lead for the rest of the game, eventually winning 71-61.

The Cougars return to Provo next Thursday to face off against UNLV at the Smith Fieldhouse at 7 p.m. MST. The game will be broadcast live on BYUtv and BYU Radio. LInks to live stats and a video feed can be found on the BYU women's basketball schedule page.

Postgame Notes

Team

The 10-point loss to No. 19 Oregon State is the first defeat by BYU in the history of the invitational played on the BYU-Hawaii campus.

The Cougars had dished out 11 assists in the first half of action and finished the game with 17, one more than the Beavers.

BYU shot 42 percent from the field and 80 percent from the free-throw line.

Player

Morgan Bailey led all scorers at the break with 17 points while pulling down a team-best eight rebounds. She ended the game with a career-high 26 points off of 12-21 shooting from the field and 2 of 4 from 3-point range. Bailey also had team bests in rebounds with nine along with three assists.

Lexi Eaton recorded her fourth-straight double digit outing in points with 19 and was perfect at the charity stripe, making all four attempts. She tied for team bests in assists with four and pulled down a season-best eight rebounds.

Makenzi Morrison was the third Cougar player to score in double figures with 10 points along with three assists, one steal and two defensive rebounds. The double-digit outing is her fourth-straight contest putting up double digits in points.

Kylie Maeda tied for team bests in assists with four along with three points and one rebound.