A college basketball game lasts 40 minutes.

BYU women's basketball coach Jeff Judkins figures he got about 18 quality minutes out of his team in Friday's 70-64 win over Southern Utah and most of that came in a blistering second-half start.

Judkins' young team needs to keep adding to those quality minutes if it is to compete in the Mountain West Conference.

The Cougars trailed by four at halftime but outscored SUU 10-0, including eight points and an assist by senior Shawnee Slade, for a 41-35 advantage just four minutes into the second half. After SUU closed the lead to two, 43-41, BYU went off again, this time on a 18-2 burst. True freshman Kristen Riley contributed six points in the run and Slade and Coriann Wood had 3-pointers as BYU pushed the advantage to 18, 61-43, with 10 minutes to play.

After battling with No. 1 UConn on Tuesday, BYU was sluggish in the opening half against Southern Utah.

"We didn't come out mentally ready to play," Judkins said. "We made more mistakes in the first half then we'd made in our first four games combined. But we did a better job of being aggressive and rebounding in the second half. The first 10 minutes of the second half was the way this teams plays and practices."

Southern Utah (1-4) took control in the first half, scoring eight straight points to grab a 14-7 lead at the 12:07 mark. Later, a 3-pointer from Dani Hosking and a fast-break layup from Morgan Slade pushed the SUU lead to eight, 35-27. BYU sophomore post Megan Marks scored down low and assisted on a Mindy Nielson basket to cut the T'Bird advantage to four, 35-31, at halftime. Marks, who had scored just two points in the first four games, had a career-high eight in the first half to keep the Cougars close. BYU was outrebounded 29-13 in the first half, a hot topic -- among others -- during halftime.

"With us, we just decided it was all about pride," Slade said. "We put it all out on the floor in the second half. What it comes down to is effort and heart."

BYU (3-2) came out smoking like a burnt Thanksgiving turkey in the second half, especially Slade. She popped in eight points in a 10-0 BYU run and assisted on the other basket, a jumper by Nielson, and BYU led 41-35 with 16:32 to play.

"I just felt a spark within myself and kind of rolled with it," said Slade, who scored 13 of her season-high 18 points in the second half. "I was just taking it when it was there."

BYU's big lead of 18 didn't hold up as SUU sliced the Cougar advantage to five points twice in the closing minutes. But BYU managed to hold on at the foul line for its third win of the season.

Wood came off the bench to tie her season high with 10 points and Riley had nine points, also a season high. BYU had 14 offensive rebounds in the second half, forced 26 SUU turnovers and outscored the T-Birds 34-14 in the paint.

Former Lone Peak standout Caitlyn Sears led SUU with 13 points and another Lone Peak product, Amanda Farish, scored all six of her points in the first half.

BYU travels to Hawaii next week for the Seasider Tournament, opening with Wright State on Friday and playing USC on Saturday.

• Daily Herald Sports Editor Darnell Dickson can be reached at 344-2555 or by e-mail at ddickson@heraldextra.com