Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PROVO — BYU wing Malia Nawahine drove to the baseline, skipped down the middle of it, and swished in a bucket for a reverse layup in the first quarter of the BYU women’s basketball game against Pacific.
Moments later, she did the same thing.
Over … and over … and over.
Nawahine’s assertiveness led to a career-high 25 points, along with nine rebounds and three assists, and Brenna Chase added 14 points to help the Cougars to a 77-65 win over visiting Pacific in a Saturday matinee in the Marriott Center.
“I came out aggressive last time, and he asked me to do it again,” said Nawahine, who tied her previous career high Thursday in a 70-66 win over San Francisco. “It’s a team effort to beat them in the first half, and that’s what we did.”
Cassie Broadhead Devashrayee supplied 11 points and seven assists for BYU (8-7, 3-1 WCC), which got a career-high nine blocks and 13 rebounds from Sara Hamson.
“When I go to a buffet, I eat as much as I want for as long as I want; I don’t just eat a little. That’s what I told her,” BYU coach Jeff Judkins said of the 6-foot-7 freshman from Pleasant Grove. “She had a great game, but she could’ve had an awesome game. I thought she did a great job.”
Like Nawahine, Hamson credited her standout post presence to her teammates.
“Our team did a really good job of funneling their defense into the help, and it made my job really easy,” said Hamson, whose nine stops tied a career best. “I just stopped drives or stopped posts, and they made my job so easy with hustle and defense.”
GeAnna Luaulu-Summers led Pacific with 16 points and seven rebounds, and former Springville High standout Savannah Sumsion added 10 points, 10 rebounds and four assists off the bench for the Tigers (6-9, 0-4 WCC).
Brooklyn McDavid chipped in 14 points and 10 rebounds for Pacific, which was held to just 4-of-17 shooting and 1-of-8 from 3-point range in the first quarter.
That's when Nawahine connected on her first five shots from the field — including two drives across baseline for a reverse layup — for 11 points as BYU led 21-11 after the opening frame.
Chase’s second 3-pointer capped an 11-4 run to end the first quarter.
“I thought we played a really good first half; defensively, it was probably as sharp as we’ve been in a long time,” Judkins said. “The second half intensity wasn’t as good. We had too many turnovers. But Malia had a great week. It’s nice to see her play like that, because it takes a lot of pressure off Cassie and Brenna.
BYU made 50 percent of its shots in the first half, and Hamson, Nawahine and Amanda Wayment combined for 16 of the Cougars’ 29-19 rebounding differential to keep the Tigers off the glass.
Judkins rotated heavily in the second quarter, when Liz Eaton made a pair of close-range jumpers a minute apart to give the Cougars a 41-24 advantage with 2:36 left in the half.
After a crazy fast break, Nawahine ties her career high in points with this layup. #BYUWBB#BYUpic.twitter.com/GdqKahsiwT
— BYUtv Sports (@byutvsports) January 6, 2018
Eaton scored six of BYU’s 15 points off the bench, and Paisley Johnson added seven points and three assists as a sub.
“Liz can score; I’ve never questioned that,” Judkins said while praising the subs. “Her biggest thing is defense, but I thought she did a really good job tonight.”
Devashrayee opened the second half with a 3-pointer just 30 seconds after the break, and by the time Pacific’s Sumsion hit a 3-point play with 6:34 left in the third, the Tigers trailed by 20 points.
Pacific opened the fourth quarter on an 8-0 spurt, including a 3-pointer by Sumsion that pulled the Tigers within 63-50 with 9:20 remaining.
But BYU countered with a 10-2 run of its own, including an uncontested fast-break by Nawahine with 5:08 left after a hustle play by Johnson to go up 69-54 that helped put the game away for good.
Nawahine finished the week with 48 points, 16 rebounds, five assists and four steals in a pair of home wins of San Francisco and Pacific.
“I think the biggest thing is my teammates just finding me when I’m open,” Nawahine said. “Sara’s been playing well, we have Cassie, and a lot of pressure is taken off me when they are such a threat. I’ve had a lot of open looks.”
BYU plays next Thursday at 7 p.m. PDT at Pepperdine before returning home Saturday for a 2 p.m. MST tipoff against Santa Clara.
