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When layups are falling as readily as halfcourt shots and the shooting from the 3-point arch might as well be shooting from the Golden Arches at the Mickey D's down the street, you'd better play good enough defense to save your bacon.
Down by three points with 26 seconds left in the game, Air Force had two chances to tie the game, but Lauren Varley blocked the first and Mallary Carling swatted the second, preserving the BYU women's lead and enabling the Cougars to walk off their home court with a 62-57 victory Wednesday night at the Marriott Center.
The five-point win is the smallest margin of victory ever been the two teams, with BYU narrowly avoiding their first loss ever to the Falcons.
BYU (10-8, 4-2) suffered from extended scoring droughts in both halves that kept Air Force in contention. In the first half, Air Force went on a 9-0 run over the course of 5 • minutes to go up 17-8.
"It's like the measles," BYU coach Jeff Judkins said of the droughts. "One of them gets it and then it spreads. You just can't stop it sometimes."
Carling, the lone Cougar to shoot over 50 percent from the field, hit a step-back trey to give the Cougars their biggest lead of the game, and some room to breathe, at 50-45 with 1:10 in the game. Carling went 10-for-16 and finished with 24 points and four steals while playing the entire 40 minutes of the game.
"I'm proud of Mal," Judkins said. "I thought she played a heck of a game. She was the only one that really wanted to take a shot and was confident."
BYU's Varley grabbed a career-high 15 points, including seven offensive rebounds, to go with nine points, five blocks, four assists and two steals.
While the Cougars' usual twosome led the way, BYU's bench was almost no help. Six subs combined for just one field goal on 1-of-11 shooting and had three turnovers.
"Our bench did not come through us tonight like normally," Judkins said. "But this team figured out how to win tonight. I'm happy that we won, but we've got to get better offensively, that's for sure."
In her fourth start of the season, senior forward Ashley Cheesman shutdown AFA's best player, Alecia Steele. Steele shot 1-for-8 from the field with just three total points. Raimee Beck, who was recruited by Judkins, led Air Force (7-11, 1-5) with 13 points.
BYU will next play 16th-ranked Wyoming at 4 p.m. at the Marriott Center on Saturday. |
