As the team does annually, Wednesday marked the game where thousands of elementary school children are welcomed to cheer on the Cougars, with the home team supplying a convincing 82-56 win over visiting Bethune-Cookman to the glee of just about every kid in attendance.

“I actually loved it. It was like really loud and stuff … and the screaming was just crazy, but the atmosphere with the kids was amazing,” said BYU freshman Prasayus Notoa. “I’m sure they enjoyed it and I’m sure we put on a good show for them. It’s just great to have them in the crowd.”

Notoa herself played a big impact in what appears to be an increasing role over BYU’s last two games. The Australia native saw 20 minutes of floor time and responded with nine points scored, six rebounds and three assists. Also playing well was fellow freshman Stella Sakalas, who scored six in her 15 minutes of play.

“They’ve come in and done really well. They’ve adjusted kind of to the college game,” appraised BYU coach Lee Cummard. “Both of these freshmen are high IQ players that still need to improve their IQ, but they’re building the high IQ. They have a good feel for the game, and I thought I thought Stella did a good job, and especially in the second half. I pulled her in early in the second half and she kind of helped us settle a little offensively. We’re all still we’re all still growing and adapting to the game, but these two have adjusted pretty well.”

Notoa presents a 6-foot-2 frame that can either beat an opposing defense from inside or on the perimeter, making her a potentially dangerous option as her acclimation grows with every game played. On Wednesday she flashed a good connection with BYU junior guard Delaney Gibb, doing a lot of her best work running the pick-and-roll with the Cougar’s star player.

“She makes me better every game, just reading off of her as well. And she just gets me in the right spots every time,” Notoa said.

As for Gibb, she again led the Cougars in scoring with 14 points during the win which was matched by fellow guard Olivia Hamlin. Gibb also contributed eight assists and five steals with the Cougars overall assisting on 25 of their 34 made field goals while combining for 15 steals as opposed to just six by Bethune-Cookman.

“A lot of the times it’s not even about us trying to force it,” Cummard said. ” … We’re trying to disrupt and dictate for sure, but a lot of the times it’s just (making them) inbound this pass cleanly, and get them out of rhythm a little bit. I thought we were pretty good in that for the most part this game, but it is who we are. We change things up a little bit and try to create a little bit of havoc.”

As for the game itself, BYU was rarely challenged after building a 29-18 lead after the first quarter. That lead extended slightly to 43-30 at the break before the Cougars outscored the Wildcats 39-26 to finish things off in the second half.

About the only thing you could knit-pick from the Cougar’s performance was a somewhat meager 9-35 effort from 3-point range despite them working for good and open looks on just about every occasion.

“I felt pretty good about the shots that we got first half and especially when they start playing that zone,” Cummard said. “It seemed like our shots were in rhythm and timing was good. So, we’ll watch the film, but (I’m) mostly pleased with the shots that we got.”

With the win BYU improves to 4-o on the season and will next take on New Mexico this coming Saturday at the Marriott Center.