BYU women's basketball falls to top-ranked UConn in Sweet 16


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LINCOLN, Neb. — When the Connecticut women’s basketball team gets down, it often turns to Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis to pull it back up. The junior forward, who missed part of the season with mononucleosis, did it again Saturday in the Sweet 16 against No. 12-seed BYU.

Mosqueda-Lewis had a team-high 19 points, including four straight to begin to take control late in the first half, and the Huskies advanced to the Elite Eight with a 70-51 win over the Cougars.

Mosqueda-Lewis also added 13 rebounds and four assists, while Breanna Stewart supplied 16 points, seven rebounds, four blocks and three steals.

But it was BYU senior Kim Beeston who stole the spotlight early.

The Wasatch High product scored 13 of her team-high 16 points in the first half to help BYU (28-7) build up a lead it was hard-pressed to relinquish. Beeston drained a 3-pointer to give BYU a brief 22-17 lead, which was the most undefeated UConn (37-0) had trailed all season. Right after the downtown bomb, her name began trending nationally on Twitter as television audiences and a 2014 women’s record 9,585 fans at Pinnacle Bank Arena took notice.


I thought this game would be hard because BYU is not an easy matchup for anybody. But when the second half came, it made me forget the first half.

–Geno Auriemma


But Beeston wasn’t alone in providing firsts against one of the most storied franchises in women’s college basketball. Lexi Eaton scored the first four points of the second half to put BYU up 35-34 with 17:20 remaining, marking the first time UConn had trailed in the second half all year. Eaton finished with eight points and two rebounds in a game that saw her hampered by four fouls — two of them coming in the opening six minutes of the contest.

Indeed, foul trouble seemed to be a common characteristic of the BYU women’s basketball team, which gave up a 9-2 run to end the first half as UConn snuck a 30-29 lead at the break. Eaton, Beeston, Jennifer Hamson and Morgan Bailey all finished the game with four fouls, which severely limited their ability to attack the basket and set up a strong defensive effort.

“I thought this game would be hard because BYU is not an easy matchup for anybody,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma told ESPN after the game. “But when the second half came, it made me forget the first half.”

Hamson finished the hoops end of her prolific BYU career with nine points, 13 rebounds and six blocks in her final game. The senior could return for one more season with the women’s volleyball team in the fall, though her performance has seen her WNBA draft stock rise exponentially.

Bailey had 14 points and seven rebounds for BYU with eight of those points coming in the first half.

UConn finally closed the door on a comeback with a 16-2 run with 4:29 remaining. Bria Hartley had 12 points, four rebounds, five assists and two steals for the Huskies, and teammate Moriah Jefferson added 11 points and four rebounds.

Stefanie Dolson kept UConn within striking distance in the first half when she scored eight of her nine points and pulled down eight of her 13 rebounds. She also added six blocks before being limited late with four fouls. Sean is a recent journalism graduate of Syracuse University, and long-time soccer guy who adds a few stories to KSL.com, when he has a spare minute. Follow him on Twitter @ReporterSean.

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