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PROVO — The first of a three-game homestand went about as well as could be expected for the BYU women’s basketball team.
Fighting to hold on to second place in the West Coast Conference, Cassie Broadhead Devashrayee poured in 19 points with four rebounds to lead four players in double figures and BYU cruised by visiting Pepperdine 78-43 Thursday night at the Marriott Center.
Malia Nawahine added 11 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Cougars (15-11, 10-5 WCC), Amanda Wayment scored 11, Liz Eaton scored 10 off the bench and Brenna Chase supplied eight points and a game-high seven assists for BYU.
“It’s important for the starters to start well, but everyone has those nights where they don’t,” said Wayment, who also had four rebounds, two assists and two steals. “The importance of the bench is to come and give us a lift when girls aren’t doing as well as they usually do.
“That’s what we have this year: Paisley (Johnson) comes off the bench with so much energy, and that helps us get in a better flow than we were previously.”
Yasmine Robinson-Bacote had 12 points and five rebounds to lead Pepperdine (9-16, 5-10 WCC).
The Cougars held the Waves to 3 of 21 field goals in the first quarter, cruising to a 23-7 advantage behind six points apiece from Devashrayee and Wayment.
And the rout was on.
Pepperdine shot just 21 percent from the field, compared to 43 percent for BYU while the Cougars out-rebounded the Waves 53-40—led by 12 rebounds and a block from freshman Sara Hamson.
The Cougars led by as many as 40 points, even with a reserve-heavy lineup featuring Paisley Johnson (seven points, three assists in 24 minutes) and Shalae Salmon (eight points, nine rebounds in 30 minutes) earning the bulk of time in the second half.
“That’s one of the big blessings of this year: seeing the young girls improve and get better,” Devashrayee said.
Even when starters like Devashrayee and Wayment came out of the game, BYU’s bench picked up the slack. Eaton’s 10 points—all in the second half—helped the Cougar reserves outpace their Pepperdine counterparts 27-14, including a 39-26 spurt in the second half.
“You’d like to have that production (off the bench) every time. I played them a lot of minutes, and that helps,” Judkins said. “I thought our bench played really well tonight. There’s no question they played more minutes. But even when they came in at the first of the game, they were more active and more focused.
“That’s what we need to have.”
BYU never trailed in a game that was only tied for the first 11 seconds of game time.
“We executed very well when we had to,” Judkins said. “Hopefully we can keep it up.”
BYU continues its homestand Saturday at noon when it hosts San Diego. The Cougars host Portland next Thursday in the final home game of the regular season.
“We all played a good game, but I think this is the first big lead we’ve had at home all season,” Devashrayee said. “It’s a great way to start our last few games at home and to go into the conference tournament.”
