Nawahine's hot shooting leads BYU to a 75-54 win over Utah Valley

BYU vs. UVU Box Score

PROVO, Utah – Malia Nawahine knocked down five 3-pointers as BYU women's basketball beat Utah Valley 75-54 in the UCCU Crosstown Clash on Tuesday afternoon in the Marriott Center.

"I’m pretty proud of our team," BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "I thought we shot the ball very well today. I kind of thought we would because of the zone. This is probably the first time in a long, long time that I’ve got three really good perimeter shooters that are really confident and can shoot the three. We started off great in their two-three zone, but then we got trapped and couldn’t handle it very well. I thought we did a good job of adjusting at the half."

Nawahine wound up with 21 points for her best scoring total as a Cougar. Brenna Chase hit four 3s and had 16 points. Cassie Broadhead Devashrayee recorded her first career double-double with 11 points and 12 assists.

As a team, BYU (3-1) shot 59.2 percent from the field and held the Wolverines (0-4) to 28.1 percent.

BYU jumped out to a 14-5 lead thanks to a pair of 3-pointers from Chase and a 3 from both Nawahine and Devashrayee. Nawahine knocked down another triple with four minutes left in the first quarter to put the Cougars up 21-8.

Utah Valley cut into its deficit with a couple last baskets, but BYU led 21-14 heading into the second quarter.

Both teams got off to a slow start in the second quarter, but the Cougars scored on consecutive possessions to lead 29-18 with 2:34 left in the half. Devashrayee made a 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer to put BYU up 32-19 as teams headed into the locker room.

At the half, Nawahine and Chase led the Cougars with eight points apiece.

Halfway though the third quarter, BYU extended its lead to 42-26 after a Nawahine 3 and a layup from Amanda Wayment. Nawahine then hit 3s on back-to-back possessions and Devashrayee drained one less than a minute later to put the Cougars up 53-32 with under two minutes in the quarter. The horn sounded with a 55-39 BYU advantage.

A few minutes into the fourth quarter, the Wolverines had cut their deficit to 13 points when Paisley Johnson hit a 3-pointer from the wing to put the Cougars up 62-46. Utah Valley shrunk the lead to 13 again when Chase came up with a steal and made a tough lay-in while being fouled. She hit a 3 on the next possession to make it 69-51 for BYU.

Johnson made a mid-range jumper to give the Cougars its first 20-point lead with under two minutes to play. 

BYU hosts Georgia on Saturday at 2 p.m. MST. The game will be televised on BYUtv, with a radio simulcast broadcast on BYU Radio (Sirius XM 143) and a video stream on byutv.org.

Postgame Notes vs. UVU

Team
In front of a crowd of 3,448 at the annual Kids Game, BYU women’s basketball recorded the 21-point 75-54 victory. As a team, the Cougars shot 59.2 percent from the field for their best field goal percentage of the 2017-18 season.

Four players scored in double figures for the Cougars for the second time this year: Nawahine (21), Chase (16), Devashrayee (11), Salmon (10).

BYU made five 3-point field goals in the first quarter. The Cougars finished the game with a season-high 13 3s.

The Cougars led the Wolverines 20 to 13 in rebounds in the first half. BYU finished with 38, while UVU totaled 32.

BYU had 26 assists to UVU’s 11. The Cougars 26 assists are a season-high.

Player 
Malia Nawahine led the Cougars in scoring with 21 points. Nawahine finished the game shooting 61.5 percent from the field and 55.6 from the 3-point line. The senior’s 21 points make a for a career-high at BYU.

Brenna Chase scored six of the Cougars first eight points, going 2 of 2 from behind the arc. Chase finished the game with 16 points, one-point shy of her career-high 17 at Eastern Washington last week.

Cassie Broadhead Devashrayee recorded a season-high seven assists in the first half. Devashrayee finished the game with a career- and game-high 12 assists. The New York native also added 11 points and six rebounds to her stat line and claimed her first-career double-double. Devashrayee also had two blocks and one steal.

Shalae Salmon chipped in 10 points. Salmon also had a game-best eight rebounds along with two assists, two blocks and one steal.

Sara Hanson recorded a career- and game-high five blocks and six rebounds.

Amanda Wayment dished out four assists.