BYU BBall Teams Go 9-3 With Conf. Openers

I'm doing the BYU basketball posts differently now due to it taking longer than desired to do it the other way. I won't have the lists of stats from the games. I will just have at the end summaries of the scores and who I think the top 2 players for each game are in my opinion.

During the past three weeks, both men's and women's BYU basketball teams combined for an 9-3 record in their first 12 conference games.

Men's Team
The men's team had a record of 3-2 with losses to Gonzaga and Pepperdine. Two of their wins...Santa Clara and San Francisco...were huge wins. The Santa Clara game showcased skills of many players as no one player went over twenty points. Many players contributed from 1 to 4 points to as high as 14. The San Francisco game showcased a whoppin' 15 three-pointers. Chase Fischer, who broke a record in three-pointers in a single game earlier in the season, shot the most during this game with 6 of 9 made. The Cougars scored 99 points that game with Haws, Fischer, Collinsworth, Winder, and Toolson all contributing in a big way points-wise. Plus, Collinsworth had his 3rd triple-double...1 more will tie with the most in a season in the NCAA. The third win was against Portland where Haws, Fischer, Collinsworth, Winder, and Halford all contributed a lot to a 97-point game for BYU. The last win...tonight's game...was against Loyola Marymount. BYU had 13 three-pointers with Chase Fischer tallying up 5 of them.

The two losses came to a tough and very talented 1-loss #6-ranked Gonzaga team and a winning-record non-ranked team, Pepperdine. In the Gonzaga game, BYU had a tough time making there shots with a very talented team defending them, but two players, Haws and Winder were able to help keep them in the game with 9 and 7 free throw points, respectively. And Halford helped with 3 three-pointers out of 4 attempts. Kyle Collinsworth also had a triple-double in that game (his second one of the season). The Pepperdine game was tough. Pepperdine gained a good lead in the first half, and BYU couldn't ever fully recover. They kept it close but couldn't pull out the win. One highlight from the game though is that with Tyler Haws' 26 points, he is now #3 on BYU's all-time scoring list. Pepperdine made great plays and were able to steal the win. BYU lost to Gonzaga by 7 and Pepperdine by 6. As of now BYU has lost by 24 total combined points in all 5 losses this season.

Women's Team
The women's team finished these first three weeks of conference play with a record of 5-1 with their only loss coming against a Gonzaga team which at the time had the same record as BYU (8-4). It was a tough loss for BYU where Gonzaga was a defensive powerhouse when it needed to be in keeping BYU, who worked hard, from pulling the win. BYU lost 62-78.

Their other 5 wins brought on redemption after the loss to Gonzaga. There were some close games and others that were not so close. The Portland win was basically decided on who made the most free throws (BYU). The Santa Clara win was by 29 points (almost 30). BYU dominated in field goal percentage (BYU: 54.5%; Santa Clara: 26.0%) and also had more free throws than Santa Clara. The San Francisco win was also a close one where free throws made made the difference. For that game the lead changed 8 times and the score was tied 6 times. BYU beat Loyola Marymount due to dominating again in free throws (which seems to be common in their close wins). Finally with Pepperdine, BYU pulled out the win with nine three-pointers compared to Pepperdine's 2. Plus BYU had 23 free throws compared to Pepperdine's 10. The top players during these games were Lexi Eaton, Morgan Bailey, Kylie Maeda, Ashley Garfield, and Makenzi Morrison. Morrison during the Pepperdine game set a new record with 7 makes of 7 attempts on three-pointers.

Top 2 Players (TPlay)
Men's Team
vs. Gonzaga on Saturday, December 27, 2014 (Lost 80-87)
[TPlay: Tyler Haws (17 points, 100% on free throws, 4 defensive rebounds); Kyle Collinsworth (13 points, 10 rebounds (8 defensive), 10 assists, 1 steal)]

vs. Portland on Monday, December 29, 2014 (Won 97-88)
[TPlay: Tyler Haws (24 points, 5 rebounds (4 defensive), 6 assists, 2 steals); Kyle Collinsworth (21 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks)]

@ Santa Clara on Thursday, January 1, 2015 (Won 81-46)
[TPlay: Tyler Haws (14 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal); Kyle Collinsworth (8 points, 15 rebounds (11 defensive), 6 assists, 3 steals)]

@ San Francisco on Saturday, January 3, 2015 (Won 99-68)
[TPlay: Chase Fischer (20 points, 6 three-pointers, 2 assists, 1 steal); Tyler Haws (22 points, 3 three-pointers, 7 rebounds, 1 steal); Honorable Mention: Kyle Collinsworth (12 points, 12 defensive rebounds, 10 assists, 1 steal)]

vs. Pepperdine on Thursday, January 8, 2015 (Lost 61-67)
[TPlay: Tyler Haws (26 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 steal); Anson Winder (16 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals)]

vs. Loyola Marymount on Saturday, January 10, 2015 (Won 85-72)
[TPlay: Tyler Haws (26 points, 7 of 7 on free throws, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal); Chase Fischer (19 points, 5 three-pointers, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block, 1 steal); Honorable Mention: Kyle Collinsworth (13 points, 10 rebounds, 8 asists, 4 steals)]

Women's Team
@ Gonzaga on Saturday, December 27, 2014 (Lost 62-78)
[TPlay: Morgan Bailey (13 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block); Ashley Garfield (9 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists)]

@ Portland on Monday, December 29, 2014 (Won 83-79)
[TPlay: Morgan Bailey (31 points, 11 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal); Lexi Eaton (16 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists)]

vs. Santa Clara on Thursday, January 1, 2015 (Won 84-55)
[TPlay: Lexi Eaton (22 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block): Morgan Bailey (8 points, 14 rebounds (12 defensive), 7 assists, 1 block, 1 steal)]

vs. San Francisco on Saturday, January 3, 2015 (Won 65-62)
[TPlay: Morgan Bailey (26 points, 12 rebounds); Lexi Eaton (18 points, 3 three-pointers, 3 assists)

@ Loyola Marymount on Thursday, January 8, 2015 (Won 71-63)
[TPlay: Morgan Bailey (22 points, 14 defensive rebounds, 3 assists); Lexi Eaton (20 points, 3 three-pointers, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 3 steals)]

@ Pepperdine on Saturday, January 10, 2015 (Won 84-78)
[TPlay: Lexi Eaton (29 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 14 free throws); Makenzi Morrison (25 points, 7-7 on three-pointers, 3 assists, 1 block, 3 steals, 88.9% on total field goals)]