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PROVO — BYU women’s basketball coach Jeff Judkins walked into the postgame press area, breathed a sigh of relief, and looked at his starting point guard Brenna Chase.
After a bit of a preamble, he stated matter-of-factly: "It's nice to see her shoot it."
Without missing a beat, Chase simply responded: "It's about time."
Chase had 17 points with five 3-pointers and a career-high 10 assists, and Shaylee Gonzales (16), Shalae Salmon (14) and Paisley Johnson (10) all scored in double figures to help the BYU women’s basketball team outshoot Eastern Washington 80-65 at home Saturday afternoon before beginning a six-game trip away from the Marriott Center.
"Brenna's fought through a lot, and it’s good to see her come out and get her rhythm back," Judkins said. "I think we saw signs of young kids who have a lot of potential."
The 5-foot-9 junior from Colorado added a team-high five steals for the Cougars, who got four steals from Gonzales and scored 24 points off 27 turnovers.
"Our pressure really fouled them up," Chase said. "I don’t think they knew what to do.
"Playing in between those passing lanes in the zone and being active, it’s really hard to score on us."
Grace Kirscher led Eastern Washington (1-2) with 21 points, including three 3-pointers, and four rebounds for the Eagles, who got 16 points from Violet Morrow.
Chase and Salmon scored eight points apiece, and the Cougars drained six 3-pointers en route to a 40-26 halftime lead. With the Cougars holding a 20-12 first-quarter edge, Johnson drained a three and freshman Gonzales scored on the break less than 20 seconds later to help the Cougars begin to pull away.
The Eagles cut the deficit to single digits on a high-arching 3-pointer by Kirscher with 4:16 left in the third, capping an 11-2 run as BYU went cold from the field.
Jasmine Moody broke a nearly six-minute scoring drought from the field for the Cougars, but the Eagles looked to fluster the Cougars with a full-court press.
That opened up freshman Babalu Ugwu inside for a pair of scores before Gonzales swished a triple just before the quarter buzzer to put BYU back in front, 58-43.
Chase had just eight points through three quarters, including a scoreless third. But once she drained her 11th shot on a triple with 3:10 left, the junior added a flurry of scoring, pushed her to team-high numbers.
"We weren’t moving the ball as well (in the third quarter)," Chase said. "We weren’t letting the ball move or swinging it. Once we finally got some inside-out looks, everything just opened up for us."
Sara Hamson made her return to the court after missing the first two games of the season. The 6-foot-7 center from Pleasant Grove suffered a season-ending ACL injury during the women’s volleyball season, costing her the chance to compete with the No. 1-ranked team in the country.
Hamson finished with three rebounds and two assists in seven minutes.
"It makes life a lot simpler when you’ve got a 6-7 kid in the post," Judkins said. "She probably had 3-4 blocks tonight that she normally would’ve gotten. She’ll get there.
"It was good to see her out there, and good to see her make some plays and get some confidence. When she comes back, we’re really deep with our size."
Next up
BYU opens a six-game road trip Tuesday at Utah State. The Cougars will also face TCU and Cal Baptist in San Diego before returning to Utah with games at Southern Utah, Utah Valley and Utah.
