Gibb comes up big: Delaney Gibb leads BYU past Stanford 76-61 and into the WBIT final four
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- BYU guard Delaney Gibb drives through traffic to score two of her game-high 27 points versus Stanford on Thursday. March 26, 2026
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- BYU’s Bolanle Yussuf looks to penetrate during her team’s 76-61 win over Stanford on Thursday. March 26, 2026
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- BYU guard Sydney Benally drives the lane during the Cougar’s 76-61 win over Stanford on Thursday. March 26, 2026
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- BYU’s Kambree Barber works against Stanford’s defense during the Cougar’s 76-61 win on Thursday. March 26, 2026
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- BYU’s Lara Rohkohl was a force inside all game long during the Cougar’s 76-61 win over Stanford. March 26, 2026
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- BYU’s Delaney Gibb breaks free for a relatively uncontested lay-up during the Cougar’s 76-61 win over Stanford. March 26, 2026
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- BYU center Lara Rohkohl filled up the stat sheet, scoring 10 points and pulling down 11 rebounds during a 76-61 win over Stanford. March 26, 2026
Big players rise up and play at their best during big moments.
And that’s exactly what BYU’s Delaney Gibb provided during the Cougars’ 76-61 win over Stanford in the WBIT quarterfinals on Thursday.
With the Cardinal chipping away at BYU’s lead, and then closing the lead to just 53-52 with just over nine minutes remaining, Gibb decided to take charge. The sophomore guard pulled up at the top of the arc and swished through a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 56-52. The very next possession saw her repeat almost exactly the same shot, forcing Stanford into a timeout as the Marriott Center crowd erupted as the Cougars suddenly led by a relatively comfortable seven points.
“She wants the moment,” said BYU coach Lee Cummard. “She’s definitely not afraid of it, and especially when she gets it going. She’s never going to stop being aggressive … She lives for that moment against a really high-quality program, and she just gave us that little buffer … Delaney’s a tremendous player.”
From Gibb’s own perspective, it was simply taking what the defense provided rather than making a pointed effort to take the game over.
“I don’t know if I really think about it like that. I don’t know. I just like to play basketball and I’m competitive and like to win,” she said.
Whatever it was, and by whatever means it was produced, Gibb’s consecutive 3-pointers basically sewed the game up. Olivia Hamlin added a 3-pointer of her own right after as the Cougars rolled, ultimately putting together a 15-0 run to extend the lead to 68-52 and then coast toward a third-straight win in the WBIT tournament, which advances them to the final four in Wichita where they’ll take on Kansas.
For the game, Gibb led all scorers with 27 points, but certainly had a good amount of help in taking the win.
Key contributors included Lara Rohkohl, who as a senior topped off her play at the Marriott Center in prime form by scoring 10 points, pulling down 11 rebounds and blocking four shots.
“I wanted us as a team to win and get one last win in here for the season, and like especially for us seniors,” Rohkohl said. “It feels great. And then having a double-double feels extra special.”
Hamlin started slow, but came off the bench to play over 30 minutes and score 12 points.
“She finally got it going and she made an impact defensively that led to some offensive baskets for her,” Cummard said.
A big key to all of it was Brinley Cannon, who scored 15 points, but more importantly fueled just about everything that went right for the Cougars throughout the night, much like she has all season long.
“Brinley is someone who does all of the things that are not necessarily shown on the stat sheet,’ Gibb said. “She is the person that is getting every single loose ball, and I think that our team has fed off that this season. You look at the start of the season and it’s Brinn every time. It’s Brinn on the 50-50 balls every single time.”
As mentioned, the win places BYU in the WBIT final four where it will take on Big 12 Conference rival Kansas in a matchup Cougar players and coaches relish. The last time the Cougars took on the Jayhawks it resulted in an 81-60 loss that Cannon remembers well.
“We were not playing our best basketball. That was, I would say, the rough adversity patch of our season,” she said. “So I’m just excited to see how with the momentum we have now and–and the improvement and growth we’ve made, how we can go out … and just focus on where we’re at now and what we’re doing now and continue the great run we’re going on.”
BYU will take on Kansas this coming Monday at the Charles Koch Center in Wichita, Kansas with the winner advancing to the WBIT championship to play against the winner of Columbia vs. Wisconsin.
