BYU Cougars || 22-10, 9-9; 9th || Big 12 Conference
WHAT'S AT STAKE?
BYU 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 the win over Utah, the Cougars have 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 against TCU, 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).
ALL-BIG 12 BACKCOURT DUO
Delaney Gibb and Olivia Hamlin each received conference recognitions on Wednesday. Gibb was named to the All-Big 12 First Team, while Hamlin was named Honorable Mention All-Big and to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team. Gibb led the way in Thursday's win over Utah with 19 points, eight assists, five rebounds, four steals and four made triples.
DON'T BURST OUR BUBBLE YET...
With three games left in the regular season and on a two-game skid, the Cougars’ NCAA Tournament at-large hopes were dwindling. Not so fast! BYU finished the regular season with three-straight wins against bubble teams to put them squarely in the mix for an at-large bid, before knocking off Houston and Utah on back-to-back days in the Big 12 Tournament.
BYU’s case? The Cougars have the most quad two wins in the country with nine. They have also played five of the 12 teams ranked immediately ahead of them in the latest ESPN Bracketology. What’s their record? BYU holds an 8-1 head-to-head record against Utah (3-0), Arizona St. (2-0), Iowa St. (1-0), Virginia Tech (1-0; w/out Delaney Gibb) and Colorado (1-1). The Cougars also knocked off No. 19 Texas Tech, just the Lady Raiders’ second loss of the season. BYU is on a current 5-game winning streak, with wins at Utah, at Arizona St., against Colorado and vs. Houston and Utah in the Big 12 Tournament.
CUMMARD VS THE HORNED FROGS
Coach Cummard holds an 8-0 career record against TCU as a player. The head coach of the Cougars averaged 12.9 points on 63.9 percent shooting, going 10-of-21 from deep against the Horned Frogs. During his senior season, Cummard recorded two 22+ point performances. On Jan. 13, Cummard poured in 22 points on 10-of-15 from the floor. He also grabbed seven boards and recorded three assists and a steal. On Feb. 14, 2009, the now-head coach went for 24 points on 6-of-10 from the floor, 2-for-2 from deep and 10-for-10 from the charity stripe. He also grabbed five boards, two assists, two steals and two blocks in a 79-63 road win over TCU.
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 rank 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). 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.
70...IT'S THE 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 23 of 32 opponents under the 70-point threshold and is 21-2 in such games, with their only losses to 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 on Thursday, the fewest points given up by BYU since holding UCF to 50 points on Dec. 20, in the opening game of Big 12 play.
CONFERENCE-TOURNAMENT COMEBACK KIDS
The Cougars trailed at the half in 10 Big 12 games with a 3-7 record. However, BYU has overcome four halftime deficits since the beginning of Big 12 play, all coming against Arizona State and Utah. The Cougars climbed out of a six-point hole against Arizona State on Jan. 3, outscoring ASU 17-8 in the third quarter, followed by a 26-20 fourth quarter to hand the Sun Devils their first loss of the season.
BYU then erased a 10-point halftime lead against Utah, shooting 55.6 percent after halftime to outscore the Utes 52-30 and win 77-65. Last week, BYU trailed at 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.
Yesterday, BYU trailed by nine at halftime before holding the Utes to just 16 second-half points. The Cougars outscored Utah 43-16 en route to their 18-point win to complete the 3-0 series sweep of their arch-rival.
IT'S DELANEY'S WORLD, AND WE'RE JUST LIVING IN IT
Delaney Gibb has scored 20 or more points in four of her last six games, leading to All-Big 12 First Team honors and a spot on the USBWA Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard of the Year Midseason Top-10 list. During the Cougars five game winning streak, Gibb is averaging 24.2 points, 5.8 assists, 5.6 rebounds, 2.0 steals, 1.2 blocks and 3.2 made triples per game in 37.7 minutes of play. It also includes her 37-point outing at Utah in which she knocked down 5-of-8 attempts from deep in the 86-74 win over the Utes. The sophomore also contributed five assists, five rebounds, two steals, two blocks and scored 18 fourth-quarter points in the career day in Salt Lake City.
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, seven rebounds, six assists, two blocks and two 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, seven assists, six boards, a steal, a block and 19 fourth-quarter points in the comeback win over Colorado.
With her current five-game stretch, Gibb has moved into 7th on the all-time BYU scoring list at 17.59 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 (4.33), 6th in minutes per game (33:11), 14th for 3-PT FG% (.359) and 13th in 3-PT field goals made (131). With four made threes against Utah, Gibb passed current graduate assistant Kaylee Smiler and former WNBA draft pick Ambrosia Anderson for 13th on the all-time 3-point makes list.
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 38.1 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 71.9 percent of all BYU scoring. Since Dec. 20, underclassmen have combined for 53.1 of BYU’s 67.9 points per game (78.2%).
During BYU’s 5-game winning streak, the underclassmen scored 308 of the 373 Cougar points. (82.6%). Against Houston, Hamlin, Benally, Yussuf, Gibb, Barber, and Cannon combined for 61 of BYU’s 76 points in the win. Yesterday against Utah, the underclassmen scored 51 of BYU’s 70.
GERMAN ENGINEERED EXCELLENCE
Lara 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 shoots 64.5 percent from the floor, which is the fourth-highest single-season percentage in BYU history (p. 35) and ranks in the 99th percentile nationally for the 2025-26 season. In the last two games, Rohkohl has scored 27 points on 9-of-13 from the floor (.692), a team-high 16 rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a steal. BYU is 13-0 when she scores 10+ points and 14-3 when she leads BYU in blocks.
BATTLING ON THE BOARDS
BYU ranks third in the Big 12 with 40.1 rebounds per game and 13.2 offensive boards per outing. However, in conference play, the Cougars only averaged 37.6 boards per contest and just 12.7 offensive rebounds. On Jan. 3, the Cougars grabbed 26 offensive boards in their win over Arizona State, the fifth-most in a game in BYU history and scored 20 second-chance points.
The Cougars have six players averaging at least 4.5 rebounds per game, with Rohkohl leading the way with 6.6. Kambree Barer (5.6), Bolanle Yussuf (5.1), Brinley Cannon (4.9), Marya Hudgins (4.6) and Delaney Gibb (4.5).
LIV'N IN FAST FORWARD
Hamlin is one of the top players in the country at playing in transition. The freshman scores 4.5 points per game, and 35.5 percent of her points come from transition buckets, which both rank in the 99th percentile nationally. The freshman has scored 11 or more points and made at least one 3-point field goal in seven of her last eight games, including 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 57 and steals per game with 1.78. Her 57 steals and her 1.78 steals per game are each the 6th-highest mark in BYU freshman history, sitting just behind 13-year WNBA veteran Erin Thorn, two-time conference Player of the Year Shaylee Gonzales and current Oklahoma State guard Amari Whiting.
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 (152), 6th in steals (57) and stl/gm, (1.78), 7th in total points (400), made 3FG (46) and 3-PT FG/gm (1.44), 8th in minutes played (911:48) ninth in PTS/gm (12.50) and minutes per game (28:30).
PERPETUAL PERIMETER PRECISION
BYU holds the second-longest active and the third-longest all-time streak of games with a made 3-point field goal in NCAA women’s basketball. With a make against Utah, BYU will have made at least one triple in 827-straight games. The streak began on March 2, 2000, in an 86-69 win over Air Force. Chattanooga holds the longest active streak of 835 consecutive games with a triple.
