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PROVO — If the BYU women's basketball team had an emotional hangover after Thursday night's come-from-behind win over Gonzaga, nobody would've blamed them.
But after a slow start, the Cougars found their rhythm.
Lexi Eaton Rydalch had 23 points, eight rebounds and six assists, and BYU used a 15-0 run midway through the second quarter to cruise by visiting Portland, 78-66 at the Marriott Center on Saturday afternoon.
"It's hard to come back, ready to go after such a high-energy game," Rydalch admitted after the game. "We started to find our rhythm after we played together, and things starts flowing.
"You just have to ride those out and ride them out for as long as you can."
Kalani Purcell added 14 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists and a career-high six steals for BYU — her eighth double-double of the season and third in the past four games. Makenzi Morrison Pulsipher added 17 points, including a team-high seven points in the opening quarter to help the Cougars (14-4, 6-1 WCC) hold a 21-17 edge after the first period.
"Kalani had a great week," BYU coach Jeff Judkins said. "I think what she did this week proves what kind of player she is not only for our team, but for this league. She's a tough matchup for everybody."
BYU out-rebounded the Pilots (2-16, 0-7 WCC), including a 19-10 lead on the offensive glass. The Cougars also forced 24 turnovers, with a game-high six steals from Purcell and two each from Rydalch and Pulsipher.
But it was the second quarter when BYU came to life. The Pilots went scoreless for nearly four minutes, starting with Kristine Nielson's 3-pointer off a feed from Kylie Maeda with 7:30 on the clock, and ending when Portland's Darian Slaga canned a triple with 4:01 remaining in the half.
BYU used a 14-0 run in the middle of the second quarter to pull away, 38-20 on back-to-back layups from Jasmine Moody with 4:46 remaining in the half.
Nielson added one of two free throws to push the run to 15-0, before Slaga ended the Pilots' scoring drought with a trey.
"A lot of times, it's easy to do what they do, and our style is different than the rest of our teams in the conference," said Pulsipher, who canned three 3-pointers. "We had moments where we went away from what we normally do. But in those moments we did what we do, we had greatness and good shots. That is the offense that Juddie has for us: moving the ball and screening. It's when we are at our best."
That started an 8-0 run for the Pilots. But Pulsipher drained back-to-back 3-pointers from both elbow with 42 seconds left in the half, and BYU ended the second quarter on a 9-2 run to take a 48-30 lead into the break.
Neilson finished with eight points, two rebounds, a block and one of BYU's 13 steals. Slaga and Ashley Gray each scored 16 points to lead the Pilots, and teammate Ellie Woerner added 12.
"We really rely on our defense to get us going, and in that stretch, we did a good job on defense and not giving them anything easy," Judkins said. "We gave them a lot of easy looks tonight. They shot the ball well, and made great plays. But some of it was us not guarding like we should."
Pulsipher finished with a game-high 13 points in the first half, thanks to her 3-of-5 effort from beyond arc. Rydalch added 12 points, five rebounds and three assists for a balanced BYU team in the opening 20 minutes.
Rydalch pushed the lead to 20 points on a pair of free throws with 8:20 left in the third quarter as the Cougars took a 55-35 advantage.
From there, the highlight of the quarter may have been Rydalch's behind-the-back feed that found Pulsipher for an easy layup to end a fast break that put BYU up 61-43 with 1:17 left in the third quarter.
"I probably have to give credit to my husband; he's the king of trick passes, and we practice those all the time," Rydalch said. "I saw the fast break, Kenzi was coming on the right side, and I knew they'd guard me hard and she would be open. I threw it, and she went. I was glad she scored it."
Added Pulsipher: "I'm just glad it went in — it just kind of rolled right on."
Portland cut the lead to 10 on a pair of free throws from Ashley Gray to pull within 73-63 with 1:20 remaining, but could get no closer.
Maeda came down hard and twisted her ankle late in the fourth quarter, when Judkins said his starting point guard suffered a sprain.
"Hopefully she can get some treatment and be back for us," Judkins said. "She's a tough kid. I was nervous for her knee, after she tore her ACL. But now that it's an ankle, I feel a lot better."
BYU returns to the Marriott Center against Loyola Marymount at 6 p.m. MST on Jan. 21.
