BYU falls to No. 18 Baylor 69-58

PROVO, Utah — BYU women's basketball fell to the No. 18 Baylor Bears on Saturday afternoon at the Marriott Center, despite winning the rebounding battle and recording 18 offensive rebounds.  

“Tough battle. Our girls fought really hard today," head coach Lee Cummard said. "They competed really hard against a well-coached, physical basketball team, and as far as our game plan, our athletes did a good job executing. We wanted to limit their offensive rebounds, limit them at the foul line, limit our turnovers, and we did pretty well at all of those things."

Delany Gibb led the Cougars with 20 points on the day, along with six boards, four assists, a steal and a block. Senior Lara Rohkohl scored seven while pulling in a game-high 10 rebounds, six of those off the offensive glass, while tallying two steals and a block.

Freshman Olivia Hamlin scored 10 points on 4-of-9 shooting with two steals. The Santa Clara, Utah native also recorded three rebounds and a block. Fellow freshman Bolanle Yussuf had seven points while adding three blocks and a steal on top of her four rebounds.

Despite winning the steals margin 10-0 and outrebounding the Bears 40-39, the Cougars never led despite cutting a 17-point deficit to three points late in the third quarter. 

First Quarter

Baylor came out quick, scoring the first two buckets of the game to go ahead 4-0 before Lara Rohkohl grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back for the Cougars first points. The Bears then opened a 4-0 scoring run that ended on a Delany Gibb jumper to close the margin with Baylor leading 8-4. 

The Bears responded with a 10-0 run to push their lead to 14 with 3:10 left in the period. The Cougars ended a four-minute scoring drought as Marya Hudgins hit a second-chance jumper, cutting into the Baylor 18-6 lead. The Cougars ended the quarter on a 5-0 run, highlighted by their first three-pointer of the night from Sydney Benally with five seconds remaining. BYU went 1-10 in the first quarter from beyond the arc.

Second Quarter

Baylor again came out hot, scoring the first seven points of the quarter to extend their lead to a game-high 17 early in the second period. BYU ended the scoring run on a fast break three-pointer from Gibb, followed by a put-back layup from Rohkohl to make the score 30-18. 

Olivia Hamlin stole a pass at the top of the key and took it coast-to-coast, initiating a 5-0 Cougar run featuring a block and steal on consecutive defensive possessions by Yussuf, allowing Gibb to score on an and-one layup.

On the next possession, Yussuf got another steal and took it the distance, scoring on a fast break layup. BYU then forced a Baylor five-second inbound violation before taking a charge to keep Baylor scoreless for more than five minutes of play. The Cougars went into the break down 37-27.

Third Quarter

The Bears came out of the half scoring on a layup before Rohkohl got a steal, setting up a Brinley Cannon fast break layup. Rohkohl then got another steal to set up a Hudgins' layup attempt, on which she was fouled. She nailed both shots from the charity stripe to keep the margin at ten, at 41-31. Both teams traded three pointers, with Gibb burying a second-chance stepback three.

Gibb followed that up by putting down another stepback three-pointer to cut the deficit to nine with Baylor leading 46-37. Moments later, Hamlin blocked a shot inside the paint, setting up a Benally three-pointer. 

Hamlin capped the 8-0 run, a nearly four-minute stint with a steal and score layup with 3:15 left in the quarter to pull within four at 46-42. BYU continued to apply defensive pressure with Cannon recording another takeaway to set up a Hamlin fast break layup before the Cougars forced a Bears traveling violation, allowing Yussuf to cut the lead to three on a driving layup with 14 seconds left in the quarter. 

Fourth Quarter

Baylor again scored the first points of the quarter before Hamlin was fouled on a layup attempt, putting away 1-of-2 to make it 53-47 with 8:01 left. Baylor then scored on back-to-back possessions before BYU opened a 5-3 run that featured Gibb scoring on back-to-back driving layups. 

Both teams struggled to score down the stretch before Hamlin found the basket on an and-one floater in the paint to make the score 62-56. The Bears immediately responded with a three-pointer to restore their nine-point advantage.

The Bears scored seven points in a row before the Cougars scored the final points of the game, ending the game 69-58.

Up Next

BYU hosts No. 17 Texas Tech in the Marriott Center on Wednesday, Jan. 21, at 7 p.m. MT with streaming available on ESPN+. Fans can also tune in to live play-by-play with Jason Shephard on BYU Radio 107.9, byuradio.org and the BYU Radio app.