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Emma Calvert goes up to score two of her career-high 27 points in an 81-68 victory at UTEP on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024.

Courtesy BYU Athletics

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BYU's Emma Calvert (25) goes up for a shot against Colorado State in a women's college basketball game at the Marriott Center on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU senior Emma Calvert scored a career-high 27 points in last week’s 81-68 victory at UTEP, making 13 of 18 field goals on a variety of strong post moves.

“I told her after the game, ‘You’d better go around shake hands with all the guards for giving you the ball, because there were a lot of passes that went in,'” Cougar coach Amber Whiting said.

BYU had 21 assists in that game, led by Amari Whiting with seven and Kemery Congdon and Delaney Gibb with four each. In fact, six different Cougars had a least one assist and many of them were entry passes into Calvert in the post.

“I thought they (UTEP) were really long on film,” Coach Whiting said. “They looked really athletic, which they were. You don’t really know until you get in the gym and you get live with them. I didn’t think it would come out as much as it did with Emma and how they played her. Sometimes I was like ‘Don’t throw that, because there’s backside help.’ But she had some really good hands that game, and they put it right where it needed to be.”

Calvert started 41 games in her first three seasons with BYU but has dramatically improved her production as a senior. She’s nearly doubled her scoring average over last year (from 7.4 to 14.7), has increased her shooting percentages (field goals 54% from 45%, 3-pointers 36% from 27% and free throws 64% to 84%), is the team’s second-leading rebounder (5.1 per game) and tops the team in blocks with nine.

Through nine games, the 6-foot-4 former Fremont High School standout is definitely the best interior player for the Cougars.

Last season, senior Lauren Gustin led the country in rebounds (16.7 per game) and averaged 15.3 points playing inside. Her graduation has cleared up space for Calvert to move from the four to the five and the change clearly suits her.

“I feel like this is more her natural role than where she has been playing,” Coach Whiting said. “Her percentages inside are crazy. Statistically, that’s a big mismatch for us. When she stays out of foul trouble for us — knock on wood — it’s really, really nice.”

Senior Lauren Davenport said the team’s guards realized at halftime of the UTEP game that Calvert, who had scored 15 points, was their big advantage against the Miners.

“We took the initiative with getting her the ball and letting it be her game,” Davenport said. “It was all of our guards. I think it was all of our effort, you know, but Emma executed, so that’s good. As long as she’s making them, I have literally zero issue (with getting it inside).”

After Tuesday’s matchup with Utah Valley, BYU takes on Washington State in Pullman on Friday. The Cougars Big 12 opener is Dec. 21 at home against Arizona.

“I want to finish out these last two games only thinking about these two games, because they’re big games for us,” Coach Whiting said. “They’re two games and that we should win and we need to win in order to go in to the Big 12 with some confidence. But I don’t even want to think about next week or Arizona until this week’s over. I do feel like the girls have gotten better every time, losing key pieces here and there. It’s been up and down, but I feel like they’ve stayed the course and they’ve stayed together in it.”

Scouting Report

BYU has dominating Utah Valley, winning all 11 meetings by an average of 18.2 points per game. The two teams last played in 2023, a 59-44 Cougar victory in the Marriott Center.

The Wolverines are 6-3 this season under former BYU assistant Dan Nielson, now in his sixth year in Orem. They are coming off two straight losses to Omaha (53-48) and Air Force (76-58).

Two former Cougars are on the roster in Amanda Barcello (8.6 points per game, 41% on 3-pointers) and Tahlia White (7.8 ppg).

UVU struggled on offense last season but has increased its scoring average by almost 10 points per game (59.8 to 69.7). Nielson’s teams are always solid defensively and are causing 25 turnovers a game.

“They turn people over a lot, so we’ve got to make sure we’re taking care of the ball,” Coach Whiting said. “They like to play that 1-3-1 defense, so we’ve worked against that the last couple days. We have to still stay aggressive on defense. We have to stay true to our principles and stay sound in what we do.”

Gibb leads the Cougars in scoring in her freshman season at 16.1 points per game. She’ll face off against her sister, Saige, who is a junior guard for the Wolverines.

“I think she (Delaney) has met the expectations that I’ve had for her,” Coach Whiting said. “That’s how I recruited her to be able to lay out what she could do when she got here. And she’s done exactly that.”

WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Utah Valley (6-3) at BYU (7-2)

Tuesday, 7 p.m. MT

Marriott Center, Provo

TV/Streaming: ESPN+

Radio: BYU Radio

Live stats: byucougars.com

The Word: BYU is 11-0 all-time against Utah Valley, winning by an average of 18.8 points per game. … Wolverines head coach Dan Nielson was an assistant for 16 years for the Cougars. … UVU is coming off of two straight losses to Omaha and Air Force. … BYU traveled to El Paso last week and earned an 81-68 victory against UTEP, getting a career-high 27 points from senior Emma Calvert.