Poor shooting dooms Redhawks in loss to BYU

The Seattle University women's basketball team gave their best effort in a 69-55 loss to Brigham Young University last Wednesday.

"It was an interesting game because we knew BYU was good and they did a good job ... but I don't think we played with the same intensity and confidence in our previous games," said head coach Joan Bonvicini. "I think a lot of it was mental. BYU is good but I think our players questioned themselves. It wasn't until the last five minutes that we finally played with the same aggressiveness and confidence [as we usually do]."

The Cougars shot 50 percent (27-of-54) for the night and held the Redhawks to 28.6 percent (18-of-63). The last five minutes of the game saw aggression at the basket lead by sophomore forward Kacie Sowell and sophomore guard Sylvia Shephard. Shephard attributed the change in momentum to the adjustments made after the halftime locker room discussion.

"We talked about everything that we did wrong and we knew we had to correct that and we came out with more intensity and [we were] ready to win. ... We knew we could have won that game but [BYU was] still good."

Sophomore forward Ashley Ward described the change that caused things to pick up in the second half.

"I think we just realized we needed to play our own game. In the first half, we weren't running our offense. ... The second half we got our offense going and our confidence was up," said Ward.

The Redhawks needed to play their own game and not focus on the fact that the Cougars are number 22 in national rankings and hold the best record in the West Coast Conference.

"Sometimes we focus more on the other team and what their best players do. ... We need to work on ourselves so we know our chemistry is working to win the game," said Shephard.

Bonvicini attributed the team's initial hesitation in the first half to BYU's size. She called 6'7'' Cougar center Jennifer Hamson "a tremendous athlete." Hamson ended the game with six of her team's eight blocks.

Despite the Cougar defense, Ward still managed to score 18 points while Sowell earned 15 points and 16 rebounds for another double-double. But Bonvicini still looked at the big picture and said that "collectively [the team] didn't play as well."

One positive that the team plans to take away from the game is the ability to play well against successful NCAA programs like BYU.

"I think it's always good to measure yourself against quality opponents. We've played a good schedule at home and on the road. BYU was a good test for us. I knew when that game was on our schedule it was going to be a challenge, they're consistently one of the best," Bonvicini said.

The Redhawks travel to Milwaukee to play University of Wisconsin on Wednesday, Feb. 1 and Bonvicini knows what to expect on the road.

"[Wisconsin is] a solid team. They have some good shooters and some very balanced scoring. There's no one particular player that they look to, it's similar to us. I think it's critical that we're unselfish, that we get to the free throw line and we've really got to do a good job defending."

The women's basketball team plays their next home game when they return to play in Connolly Center on Saturday, Feb. 18 against Utah Valley.

Rosalie may be reached at rcabison@su-spectator.com