Provo • The BYU women’s basketball team suffered its second loss of the season when it fell 69-60 to Montana State on Saturday.
Nani Falatea led the way for BYU with 17 points, and Lauren Gustin had 12 points and 12 rebounds. Kaylee Smiler and Rose Bubakar added 12 points each off the bench.
“We’re young,” first-year coach Amber Whiting said. “We we don’t have the experience that we need. We’re learning. We’re learning to change things on the fly, which is really, really good.”
Here are three takeaways from BYU’s loss.
1. Turnovers
With less than four minutes left to play, after Montana State took a trip to the free-throw line, the Cougars gave away an inbound pass. It’s quite possibly the worst kind of turnover that exists in basketball.
That’s the kind of afternoon it was for BYU, which gave the ball away 17 times. The Bobcats scored 11 points off of those giveaways.
Falatea had nine turnovers by herself, and some turnovers came from passes into the post that sailed out of bounds.
“Honestly, we just have to be patient with ourselves,” Whiting said. “We let ourselves get sped up a little bit and we just need to be patient and those will cut itself.”
2. Kaylee Smiler returns
Smiler, a fifth-year junior and one of the veteran presences on the team, returned to the lineup after missing the game against Colorado State with an injury. She came off the bench and played 25 minutes and made all three of her 3-point attempts.
“I felt good,” Smiler said. “A little slow at the start, but I’m just happy to be back, to be with my team, to be a voice on the court and off the court.”
Smiler likely will not come off the bench for long. The Cougars need her leadership, experienced and shooting if they are going to win games this season.
Smiler praised the younger players on the roster, who will rely on her throughout the year.
“I’m happy that they listen to me, that they trust me enough so that when I say something, they do it,” Smiler said. “They always give me energy. I’m just grateful that they listen.”
3. Lack of production from two starters
Amanda Barcello and Emma Calvert combined to play 39 minutes. BYU got no points, seven rebounds and three turnovers from those minutes.
Barcello did not play last season due to an injury, and Calvert has an increased role this season. There is bound to be some growing pains.
In one moment, Whiting subbed out Calvert and gave her a pep talk on the sideline before she sat on the bench with her teammates. As for Barcello, Whiting said she just needed to take the open shots she gets.
“She passes up a lot of shots, so we just keep getting after her to shoot when she’s open and to just shoot confident,” Whiting said.
