RENO — The BYU women's basketball team closed a 10-point deficit in the last two minutes of play but it wasn't enough to capture the victory as the Nevada Wolfpack took the 57-53 win on their home court on Saturday.
"We came back and fought hard today," said BYU head coach Jeff Judkins. "We just made a few too many mistakes in the beginning. Jennifer Hamson played a great game and gave us the boost we needed off the bench. Haley Hall also played a great game today."
Freshman Jennifer Hamson led the BYU squad with a career-high 13 points on the road and also added seven rebounds. Teammates Coriann Fraughton and Kristen Riley added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
The lead in the first half changed hands three times with both teams playing hard and Nevada taking the 28-25 advantage heading into the locker room.
The second half started with Nevada taking a further lead but the Cougars fought back and tied the game again at 30 where it would stay for over three minutes of action.
The Wolfpack, led by senior Shavon Moore who finished with 16 points, took the lead and would keep it till the end of the game. They led by as much as 10 points in the last four minutes of the second half.
As the game came to a close, the Cougars fought back to bring the score within three after a 3-pointer from senior Mindy Bonham. Freshman Jennifer Hamson found the hoop to bring BYU just one point behind the Wolfpack.
The Cougars will return home to the Marriott Center for their next game on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
MONTANA STATE 79, UTAH VALLEY 70: At Orem, the Wolverines fell to 1-13 despite two big games from Jenna Johnson and Sammie Jensen.
UVU lost despite a season-high 21 points from junior Johnson and another double-double from sophomore Jensen (13 points and a career-high 17 rebounds). In all the Wolverines had four players reach double figures as freshman Kim Bell chipped in 17 and junior Abbie Beutler added 11.
"I felt like we did what we needed to do to win the game," UVU head coach Cathy Nixon said. "But we missed too many layups and free throws to win it."
The double-double was Jensen's sixth of the season. Freshman Kali Roche too had a number of rebounds as she tallied a career-high 14. Beutler also handed out a game-high seven assists for UVU.
Chelsea Banis, who scored a game-high 28 points, led the Bobcats. Three other MSU players reached double figures in the scoring column, while Sarah Balian chipped in a double-double of 16 points and 13 boards.
The Wolverines will now open conference play next week at Chicago State on Saturday at 1 p.m.
"Our season has been divided into portions and now we'll look forward to conference play," Nixon added. "Hopefully that will turn into some wins. There are a number of good opponents in the Great West so it won't get any easier from here on out. We're not in this to come in second, we're in this to win."