BYU makes its first postseason appearance since 2024 and seeks its first win since 2021 as the Alabama A&M Bulldogs visit the Marriott Center on Thursday for the opening round of the WBIT.
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BYU Cougars || 22-11 9-9; 9th || Big 12 Conference
WHAT'S AT STAKE?
The Cougars finished Big 12 play 9-9, the best record and conference winning percentage since 2022-23, when BYU was a member of the WCC. With their win over Utah in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament, the Cougars won 22+ games for the 18th time in program history, the first time since 2021-22 and just the third time in a head coach’s first season.
With a win over the Bulldogs, Lee Cummard would pass Courtney Leishman (22-6; 1977-78) for the second-most wins by a first-year head coach in program history and trail just his mentor and former boss Jeff Judkins (24-9; 2002-03). BYU would also notch its first postseason win since the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
POSTSEASON PREVIEW
The Cougars hold a 17-26 all-time record in postseason tournaments and a 10-16 mark in the opening round. BYU is looking for its 18th all-time postseason win on Thursday when the Alabama A&M Bulldogs visit Provo.
BYU has three players on its current roster who have appeared in a combined six postseason games in their careers. Lara Rohkohl has played in the 2024 and 2025 WBIT, Hattie Ogden played in the 2024 WNIT and Heather Hamson appeared in BYU’s last postseason game in the 2024 WBIT.
PEAKING AT THE RIGHT TIME
With three games left in the regular season and on a two-game skid, it seemed like the clock may have struck midnight on BYU’s magical season. Not so fast! BYU rattled off three-straight wins to close the regular season with victories at Utah, at Arizona State and at home over Colorado on Senior Night. The Cougars then traveled to Kansas City for the Big 12 Tournament, where they knocked off Houston and Utah on back-to-back days to improve to 22-10 on the season, before falling to No. 10 and top-seed TCU in the quarterfinal.
All-Big 12 BACKCOURT
Delaney Gibb and Olivia Hamlin each received conference recognitions ahead of the Big 12 Women’s Basketball Tournament. Gibb garnered All-Big 12 First Team honors, while Hamlin was named Honorable Mention All-Big and to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team. The duo combines to average 30.1 points, 7.9 rebounds, 5.9 assists ad 3.8 steals per game for the Cougars.
70...THE COUGARS' MAGIC NUMBER
When the Cougars eclipse 70 points on offense, the Cougars are 17-3 on the season with their only losses coming to No. 17 Vanderbilt (without Delaney Gibb), at Arizona and No. 22 West Virginia. Cummard’s squad also prides itself on its ability to defend. BYU has held 24 of 33 opponents under the 70-point threshold and is 21-3 in such games, with their only losses to No. 10 TCU, No. 18 Baylor and at Oklahoma State. BYU’s only win when allowing 70+ points came at Utah (86-74). The Cougs have kept 10 of their foes under 60 points this season, and are 24-2 over the past three seasons when doing so.
Utah scored just 52 points against the Cougars in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament, the fewest points given up by BYU since holding UCF to 50 points on Dec. 20, in the opening game of Big 12 play.
YOUNG GUNS, BIG BUCKETS
BYU’s freshmen have made huge contributions to the Cougars’ offensive success. Olivia Hamlin, Sydney Benally, Bolanle Yussuf and Braeden Gunlock have combined for 38.2 percent of all points scored by BYU this season. With sophomores Delaney Gibb, Brinley Cannon and Kambree Barber added to the mix, the underclassmen account for 72.3 percent of all BYU scoring. Since Dec. 20, underclassmen have combined for 52.5 of BYU’s 66.9 points per game (78.6%). During BYU’s last six games, the underclassmen scored 350 of the 419 Cougar points. (83.5%). Against Houston, Hamlin, Benally, Yussuf, Gibb, Barber, and Cannon combined for 61 of BYU’s 76 points in the win. Against Utah, the underclassmen scored 51 of BYU’s 70.
PERPETUAL PERIMETER PRECISION
BYU’s freshmen have made huge contributions to the Cougars’ offensive success. Olivia Hamlin, Sydney Benally, Bolanle Yussuf and Braeden Gunlock have combined for 38.2 percent of all points scored by BYU this season. With sophomores Delaney Gibb, Brinley Cannon and Kambree Barber added to the mix, the underclassmen account for 72.3 percent of all BYU scoring. Since Dec. 20, underclassmen have combined for 52.5 of BYU’s 66.9 points per game (78.6%). During BYU’s last six games, the underclassmen scored 350 of the 419 Cougar points. (83.5%). Against Houston, Hamlin, Benally, Yussuf, Gibb, Barber, and Cannon combined for 61 of BYU’s 76 points in the win. Against Utah, the underclassmen scored 51 of BYU’s 70.
NAVAJO DIME DROPPER
Sydney Benally is one of the top freshmen in the country at setting up her teammates for scoring opportunities, as she assists on 27.0 percent of all made baskets while on the floor, which ranks in the 94th percentile nationally. Benally is second in the Big 12 and fifth nationally among freshmen with 134 assists. Her 4.19 dimes per game also ranks second in the conference and seventh nationally. BYU is 19-6 when Benally records at least three assists, and is 13-1 when the freshman drops at least five dimes.
Benally is also a mainstay in the BYU freshman record book as she is tied for the most assists by a freshman in BYU history with Shaylee Gonzales (134). With her next assist, Benally will become the all-time freshman leader in assists.
She is also second in assists per game (4.19), third in games started (32), fifth in 3-point attempts (171) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.44:1), seventh in minutes played (936:22), eighth in made 3-pointers (42), 3-point field goals per game (1.31) and minutes per game (29:16) and 11th in steals (46) and steals per game (1.44).
At Arizona State, the Navajo hero had more than 500 people waiting outside the arena to welcome her to Desert Financial Arena. Despite a rough shooting night, the freshman scored three points, all from the line, dropped four dimes and recorded four timely steals in the win. She then spent nearly 45 minutes taking pictures and signing autographs for every native youth waiting by the bus, again, a crowd of hundreds of fans.
An unforgettable moment🫶 pic.twitter.com/aZ6T5K3jMx
— BYU Women's Hoops (@byuwbb) February 26, 2026
DEUTSCHLANDS' LAST DANCE
Lara Rohkohl, one of BYU's three seniors, has been a huge part of the Cougars’ success this season as they are 13-0 when the native of Hanover, Germany, scores 10+ points and 14-3 when she leads the team in blocks. Rohkohl averages 10 points on 71.3 percent shooting, 7.1 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and 1.1 steals per contest in BYU wins.
Rohkohl’s season field goal percentage sits at 63.4 percent, which is the fifth-highest single-season percentage in BYU history (p. 35) and ranks in the 98th percentile nationally. In BYU’s two conference tournament wins, Rohkohl scored 27 points on 9-of-13 from the floor (.692), grabbed a team-high 16 rebounds, dished four assists, recorded two blocks and a steal.
IT'S DELANEY'S WORLD AND WE'RE JUST LIVING IN IT
Delaney Gibb earned All-Big 12 First Team honors and a spot on the USBWA Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard of the Year Midseason Top-10 list after leading the Cougars in scoring, assists and steals per game this season. BYU’s floor general has scored in double figures in 24 of 25 games this season, leading her team to a 22-11 record. Gibb is just 37 points away from becoming the 34th Cougar to join the BYU Women’s Hoops 1,000-point club.
Over her last six games, the sophomore has averaged 23 points, 5.8 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.0 blocks per game, helping BYU to a 5-1 record with the only defeat coming to No. 10 TCU. During that stretch, Gibb scored a career-high 37 points in the 86-74 win over the Utes that included going 5-of-8 from deep, five assists, five rebounds, two steals, two blocks and 18 fourth-quarter points.
Her 37-point performance, along with four-straight 20+ point games, earned Gibb a Big 12 Starting Five nod in back-to-back weeks (Feb. 23 & March 2). She also became just the third Cougar to score 35+ points in a game in the last decade, joining WCC Players of the Year Shaylee Gonzales and Cassie Broadhead Devashrayee. She followed that up with 24 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks and 2 steals, along with a 13-for-14 clip from the charity stripe in the win over ASU. Then on senior day, Gibb poured in 26 points, 7 assists, 6 boards, a steal, a block and 19 fourth-quarter points in the comeback win over Colorado.
With her current six-game stretch, Gibb has moved into 7th on the all-time BYU scoring list at 17.58 points per game, passing 11-year WNBA veteran Erin Thorn (16.23). She also moved into 2nd for 3-PT field goals per game (2.43), 5th for career assists per game (4.35), 6th in minutes per game (33:14), 13th for 3-PT field goals made (133) and 14th for 3-PT FG% (.355). With a pair of triples against TCU, Gibb tied Coriann Wood Fraughton (2007-11) for 13th on the all-time 3-point list.
LUCKY NUMBER 7
Hamlin is one of the top players in the country at playing in transition. The freshman scores 4.5 points per game, and 34.6 percent of her points come from transition buckets, which both rank in the 99th percentile nationally. The freshman has scored 11 or more points in six of her last eight games, and has made at least one 3-point field goal in nine-consecutive contests. She also went for a career-high 23 points in the win over Iowa State. Hamlin went 9-for-18 from the field and knocked down three offerings from beyond the arc to go along with three rebounds and a steal in the 14-point win.
The Santa Clara, Utah, product leads all Big 12 freshmen in total steals with 59 and steals per game with 1.79. Her 59 steals and her 1.79 steals per game are each the 6th-highest mark in BYU freshman history. Hamlin sits just three steals from passing 13-year WNBA veteran Erin Thorn for fifth on the all-time freshman steals list.
Olivia Hamlin was named All-Big 12 Honorable Mention, a member of the Big 12 All-Freshman Team and a two-time Big 12 Freshman of the Week (Dec. 15 & Feb. 25). Hamlin put her imprint on the BYU freshman record book as she sits 5th in made FG (154), 6th in steals (59) and stl/gm, (1.79), 7th in total points (405), made 3FG (47) and 3-PT FG/gm (1.42), 8th in minutes played (940:50) ninth in PTS/gm (12.27) and minutes per game (28:31).