This was a make-or-break season for the current slate of BYU women's basketball players.

Either they were going to thrive, thanks to maturity and experience, or past issues were going to drive a stake through another season.

Picked to finish sixth in a preseason poll, the Cougars wound up as the No. 2 seed heading to this week's Mountain West Conference tournament in Las Vegas.

"Girls have a tendency to hold on to frustrations," said junior point guard Jazmine Foreman, herself used to having only three brothers around while growing up. "We've learned to let it go."

BYU started the season with just one senior, Jaime Judkins, and a slew of juniors (seven) that made up the majority of the program. It had been a rough previous two years.

Foreman pointed to attitudes and inconsistencies at practice. Head coach Jeff Judkins, who arguably should have won MWC coach of the year Monday (instead, it went to Jeff Mittie of first-place TCU), pointed to a variety of issues as well.

Everything from the team not grasping an intricate motion offense, to practice issues, to the simple need for maturity and "players realizing they didn't come to BYU to not be chasing championships."

It's been such growth, on and off the floor, that Foreman called the season "bittersweet."

Happy to be as high as second, considering it wasn't long ago that fifth place was within reach, but also upset not to be the champs.

"Three or five points, and we could have been," she said, pointing out tough losses at San Diego State and at home to New Mexico.

At least BYU heads to Vegas with a reasonable shot at a tournament crown and a postseason bid.

The way the tournament schedule shapes up on the women's side is configured differently than the men's. As a top-two seed, the Cougars are protected from playing until Friday's semifinals -- 3:30 p.m. MT against either No. 3-seeded San Diego State or its opponent Wednesday, either No. 8 Wyoming or No. 7 UNLV, at Thomas & Mack Center.

There were some heart-wrenching losses early in the season, and again in conference play, that could have steered the boat another direction, Foreman concedes.

"I think we've really grown to love each other for who we are, rather than who we want them to be," she said.

Judkins credits his staff for veering against a respectable playbook that has created a lot of winning. Instead they've made some decisions to do some unorthodox things that were "best for this team." The Cougars pressed more than in the past, often using two point guards (Foreman and gratefully healthy Haley Hall).

"Sometimes it's hard to get over the hump. Winning is tough," Judkins said. "But these guys worked hard in the season. They were motivated. We changed a lot of things. You've got to motivate kids differently."

It's a chicken-egg question.

BYU had to feel friendly among itself with all of the winning (19-8 overall, 9-5 MWC), but it had to be cohesive long before games took place, then survive the turbulent times.

"Teams that are winning, the ball seems to bounce different," Judkins said. "It's luck, but it isn't. It's getting yourself in the right situations. I think they're really believing in each other right now."

• Jason Franchuk can be reached at jfranchuk@heraldextra.com.