BYU Cougars || 23-11 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.
A win on Monday would be momentous for BYU as it would mark the first time with two or more postseason wins in the same season since advancing to the Sweet 16 in 2014. A win would also tie head coach Lee Cummard with Jeff Judkins (24-9; 2002-03) for the most wins by a first-year head coach in program history.
POSTSEASON RUNDOWN
The Cougars hold an 18-26 all-time record in postseason tournaments and a 5-5 mark in the second round. BYU is looking for its 19th postseason win on Monday when the Tigers visit Provo. The Cougars are 2-2 all-time in the postseason against SEC teams, knocking off Florida (2002) and Auburn (2019) and falling to Tennessee (2002) and Missouri (2016), with all games coming in the NCAA Tournament.
BYU has three players on its current roster who have appeared in a combined six postseason games in their careers, before this postseason. Lara Rohkohl 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. BYU has now won six of its last seven games and is getting contributions from all over the lineup.
70...THE COUGARS' MAGIC NUMBER
When the Cougars eclipse 70 points on offense, the Cougars are 18-3 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 25 of 34 opponents under the 70-point threshold and is 22-3 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 11 of their foes under 60 points this season, and are 25-2 over the past three seasons when doing so.
Alabama A&M scored just 46 points against the Cougars in the WBIT First Round, the fewest points given up by BYU since holding UCF to 50 points on Dec. 20, in the opening game of Big 12 play.
CHASING COUGAR HISTORY
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 25 of the 26 games she has appeared in, leading her team to a 23-11 record. Gibb is just 22 points away from becoming the 34th member of BYU Women’s Hoops' 1,000-point club, and would be the third-fastest Cougar to eclipse 1,000 career points.
Over her last seven games, the sophomore has averaged 21.3 points, 6.1 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.0 blocks per game, helping BYU to a 6-1 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 seven-game stretch, Gibb has moved into 7th on the all-time BYU scoring list at 17.46 points per game, passing 11-year WNBA veteran Erin Thorn (16.23). She also moved into 2nd for 3-PT field goals per game (2.39), 5th for career assists per game (4.32), 7th in minutes per game (33:06), 12th for 3-PT field goals made (134) and 14th for 3-PT FG% (.355). With her lone triple against Alabama A&M, Gibb passed Coriann Wood Fraughton (2007-11) for 12th on the all-time 3-point list.
BATTLING ON THE BOARDS
Over the last five games, the Cougars have six players averaging at least 4.4 rebounds per game, with Delaney Gibb leading the way with 6.2 per game. Lara Rohkohl (5.4), Olivia Hamlin (5.2), Brinley Cannon (4.6), Bolanle Yussuf (4.6) and Kambree Barer (4.4) are the other five.
In the win over Alabama A&M, the Cougars posted a +17 mark on the boards. BYU pulled in 49 rebounds, including 15 on the offensive glass, while the Bulldogs secured just 32 boards.
LUCKY NUMBER 7
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 freshman record book as she sits 4th in made FG (159), 5th in total points (415) and steals (61), 6th in stl/gm, (1.79), 7th in made 3FG (47), 3-PT FG/gm (1.38) and minutes played (974:54), 9th in PTS/gm (12.21) and minutes per game (28:40).
Hamlin leads the Cougars’ transition attack as the freshman scores 4.3 points per game, and 35.2 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 eight of her last 10 games, and has made at least one 3-point field goal in nine of 10 contests. She 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 61 and steals per game with 1.79. Her 61 steals and her 1.79 steals per game are the 5th and 6th highest marks in BYU freshman history. With her next steal, Hamlin will pass 13-year WNBA veteran Erin Thorn for solo-fifth on the all-time freshman steals list.
CARRIED BY UNDERCLASSMEN
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
In the win over Alabama A&M, Sydney Benally set the BYU freshman assist record with 139 assists, passing two-time WCC Player of the Year Shaylee Gonzales (134). Benally also assists on 26.6 percent of all made baskets while she is on the floor, which ranks in the 93rd percentile nationally, with BYU going 20-6 when she dishes three or more assists.
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 20-6 when Benally records at least three assists, and is 13-1 when the freshman drops at least five dimes.
Along with passing Gonzales on the all-time freshman assists list, Benally has started the most games by a freshman in BYU history (34), is second in assists per game (4.09), fourth in 3-point attempts (176), fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.43:1) and minutes played (995:51), seventh in made 3-pointers (47) and 3-point field goals per game (1.38), eighth in minutes per game (29:17), ninth in steals (48) and 12th in steals per game (1.41).
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.
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 14-0 when the native of Hanover, Germany, scores 10+ points and 15-3 when she leads the team in blocks. Rohkohl averages 10.1 points on 71.5 percent shooting, 7.0 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and 1.0 steals per contest in BYU wins.
Rohkohl’s season field goal percentage sits at 63.9 percent, which is the fourth-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.
COSMO'S COMEBACK KIDS
The Cougars have trailed in 15 games this season, including 12 against Big 12 opponents. BYU is 6-9 on the season when trailing at halftime, completing second-half comebacks in two of its last four opportunities.
BYU erased a 10-point halftime lead against Utah, shooting 55.6 percent after halftime to outscore the Utes 52-30 and win 77-65. On Feb. 25 in Tempe, the Cougs trailed ASU by one after the first and by 13 at halftime before flipping the script in the second half. The Cougars bested the Sun Devils 28-11 in the third quarter to take a six-point lead into the fourth. BYU then held on for a 66-61 win with a 20-19 fourth quarter.
In the second round in Kansas City, BYU trailed by nine at halftime before holding Utah to just 16 second-half points. The Cougs outscored the Utes 43-16 to secure an 18-point win to complete the 3-0 sweep of their arch-rival.
