PROVO — The BYU Cougars finished off 2009 in the right way, handing the Portland Pilots their fourth loss of the season with a 69-57 victory. And they did it with defense and execution.
The Cougars forced 19 turnovers in the game, while only giving away six on their part.
"I don't think we've ever had only six turnovers in a game," said BYU coach Jeff Judkins, who noted that he thought the ball handling was able to compensate from the poor field goal shooting, rebounding and lack of getting to the free-throw line.
Though they were outrebounded 46-37 and only shot 40.5 percent in the game, the Cougars led most of the way and scored 20 of their buckets on assists. Dual point guards Jazmine Foreman and Haley Hall each had five assists in the first half and six in the ball game.
"I think it's been good running two point guards. Haley and Jazmine are both athletic, and with Mindy's (Nielson-Bonham) ability to run, it's been very positive," said Judkins, who is a little concerned going with the two point guards against taller teams because of rebounding potential. But he's had little to worry about in that regard as Hall seems to have a knack for finding the ball and picked up a career-high five boards against the Pilots.
"I'm more of a driver, and Haley likes to spot up and shoot. We bring different things, but other teams don't know who to guard at the point guard spot because we can both bring it up. Assists are really easy to get, I think," said Foreman, who also finished with nine points in the game.
But the scoring force of the first half came off the bench as Coriann Wood finished with a career-high 17 points in the game with 15 by halftime.
"I always try to come off with energy. Sometimes shots fall and sometimes they don't, and tonight they fell," said Wood, whose scoring gave the Cougars a first-half edge that they held onto for the victory.
"We moved the ball well, and we got a lot of good passes and open looks. But I didn't think we were as good inside as we usually are," said Judkins, who also gave credit to Portland's collapsing defense.
That defense only gave up five free throws to BYU — which hit 3-5 from the line — while Portland racked up the freebies, making 16-18 from the stripe.
Hall finished with 10 points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals for the Cougars in an all-around effort. Nielson-Bonham continued her double-figures scoring streak with 13 points, and Dani Peterson came on strong at the end of the game, scoring eight quick points in only 12 minutes of action.
The guard combo held Portland's star scoring threat to only 16 points, with many of those coming late in the game and six from the free throw line.
The Cougars improved to 8-3 with the victory and will play next against Nevada at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Marriott Center.
e-mail: jolsen@desnews.com