BYU Women's Basketball: Coach Jeff Judkins and Cougars Poised for a Big Season

BYU Head Coach Jeff Judkins

BYU women’s head basketball coach Jeff Judkins has the kind of team to make some noise this year in the Cougars’ final season in the Mountain West Conference.

The Cougars return four of five starters and bring back a senior-laden team in 2010-11.

They also return their leading scorer, leading rebounder and the leader in assists and steals.

Last year the Cougars finished second in the MWC regular season with an 11-5 record and then advanced to the Elite Eight of the WNIT tournament, BYU’s first post-season appearance in three years.

Not bad for a team that was picked to finished sixth in the conference.

In the WNIT the Cougars played three games on the road in less than a week,  a run that helped make Judkins’ squad a battle-hardened group coming into this season.

The team also had the opportunity of playing in Europe this past May. The ladies played one game in Switzerland and three in Italy, including a game in Rome.

The experience help to further galvanize the Cougars as a team and gave them valuable practice and playing time during the offseason.

The Cougars are legitimate threats to take home the MWC title and earn a berth in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2006-07. BYU is expected to battle TCU and San Diego St. for supremacy in the league.

The Cougars balanced scoring attack is lead by senior guard Mindy Bonham who pumped in 11.1 points per game last year. Senior forward Corianne Wood-Fraughton contributed 10.1 points and 5.2 rebounds, good for second on the team in both categories.

Junior forward Kristen Riley returns as the teams leading rebounder with 5.7 boards and 8.2 points per game, while senior guard Haley Hall led the team the team in assists (4.1) and steals (2.3) last year.

Senior guard Jazmine Foresman also returns after scoring 9.7 points per game last year and being named to the conference All-Defensive team.

In all the Cougars return five seniors and three juniors this season, while mixing in some young promising talent.

BYU will get the services of two redshirt freshman, including guard Kim Parker who saw significant minutes as a true freshman last year before going down early in the season with a foot injury, and guard/forward Stephanie Vermunt, a two-time Miss Basketball in the province of Alberta, Canada.

The Cougars also add three true freshman including 6-7 center Jennifer Hamson, who is the daughter of former BYU All-American Tresa Spaulding.

Also new to the program is 6-2 forward Morgan Bailey, who is the niece of former NBA and Utah Jazz star Thurl Bailey, and guard Stephanie Rovetti from Reno who was the Northern Nevada Player of the Year and a McDonalds All-American nominee.

BYU begins its season with an exhibition game tonight (Thursday) against Ft. Lewis at 6 pm in the Marriott Center. The Cougars open the regular season at 6th-ranked Duke on November 13th.