Casssie Broadhead Devashrayee scored 21 points as BYU women's basketball fell 79-63 to Georgia on Saturday afternoon at the Marriott Center.
"Georgia's an outstanding team," BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "I was proud of us for fighting to come back. We need to not let it get out of hands in the first place though."
Brenna Chase put up 15 points and dished out four assists for the Cougars (3-2). As a team, BYU went 14-of-29 (48 percent) from the field in the second half, after shooting just 6-of-28 (21 percent) in the first half.
After scoring the game's opening basket, BYU found itself in a 9-2 hole halfway through the first quarter. The Cougars fought back with Devashrayee knocking down a jumper and two free throws in the closing minutes. Jasmine Moody's 3-pointer with less than a minute left made it just a 13-12 Georgia (5-0) advantage heading into the second quarter.
The Bulldogs hit four 3-pointers and jumped out to a 14-0 run at the beginning of the second quarter to lead 27-12. Chase ended the drought for BYU with a pair of free throws. Georgia went on another big run, but the Cougars scored the last seven points of the half. Heading into the locker room, they trailed 36-22.
Chase led BYU in scoring at halftime with eight points.
The hot shooting continued for the Bulldogs in the third quarter as they buried four-straight field goals and went on a 7-0 run. The Cougars responded with their own 7-0 run to trail 52-37 with a couple minutes left in the quarter. Sara Hamson scored seven points in the final three minutes of the period and brought BYU's deficit to 12 at 56-44 heading into the fourth.
Two minutes into the fourth quarter, Malia Nawahine’s layup cut the Bulldog lead to 60-51. It was the first time in the second half the Cougars were within 10 points. Devashrayee’s three-point play with 5:13 left gave her 15 points in the second half and made it 65-54 for Georgia.
BYU next plays at Northern Colorado on Thursday at 7 p.m. MST. That game can be streamed online, with a radio broadcast on BYU Radio (Sirius XM 143).