The Cougars shot 43.8 percent from the field, 37.5 percent from behind the arc and went 6-for-eight from the free throw line. The Utes offense was too potent, however as Utah made 17 three-pointers en route to the 19-point win.

Lauren Gustin and Kailey Woolston each finished with 17 points to lead the Cougars in scoring, shooting a combined 15-of-24 from the field. Gustin notched her nation-leading sixth double-double of the year, the 62nd of her career, with 13 rebounds, while also dishing three assists and registering a block and a steal. Woolston finished 7-of-10 from the floor, going 1-for-2 from deep and a perfect 2-for-2 from the line.

Emma Calvert was the third Cougar to finish in double figures as she scored 12 points on 6-of-13 shooting with four rebounds, an assist, a block and a steal.

BYU won the battle of the boards 34-32, registering 10 offensive rebounds to Utah’s four. They also led in points in the paint 40-26, bench points 18-11, second-chance points 9-6 and shot a higher free throw percentage at 75-73 percent.

The Utes led by as many as 22 points but a Cougar push in the third quarter got the deficit down to 12. Utah answered with two straight treys to regain the initiative.

The Cougars will return to the Marriott Center on Tuesday, Dec. 5 for a date with the Utah State Aggies at 3 p.m. MT. The game will be streamed live on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ with Spencer Linton and Kristen Kozlowski on the call. BYU Radio will also carry the game on 102.9 FM, byuradio.org and the BYU Radio App with play-by-play from Jason Shepherd.

BYU indoor track starts season at Boston meet

BYU men’s and women’s track and field took part at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener at Boston University on Saturday.

Seven of the Cougar women participating posted BYU all-time top 10 marks.

Meghan Hunter started the meet off strong for the Cougars, winning the 800-meters by over three seconds. A First Team All-American at last season’s outdoor championsips, Hunter crossed the line at 2:03.54 to move to No. 5 all-time on the BYU indoor top-10 record books.

“I wanted to finish strong, so I focused on staying relaxed until the final 200-meters,” Hunter said. “I had a lot of fun racing today and I am super excited for the season.”

In a stacked 5,000-meter field that included collegiate record-setter Parker Valby (Florida), five BYU women finished in the top 30. Jenna Hutchins led the charge for the Cougars, finishing in 15:37.97 for No. 4 all-time at BYU. Aubrey Frentheway followed closely behind, finishing in 15:39.92 while maintaining her No. 3 all-time mark of 15:32.82 last season. Lexy Halladay-Lowry moved to No. 5 all-time at 15:42.01. Junior Carmen Alder and senior Sadie Sargent ran 15:51.98 and 15:55.66 to move to No. 8 and No. 9 all-time for the Cougars.

Riley Chamberlain paced the BYU women in the 3000m, placing 10th overall in the event with a time of 9:00.17. The sophomore from Loomis, California moves up to No. 4 all-time for the Cougars. North Carolina transfer Carlee Hansen finished at 17th after running a solid 9:04.83 to cement her name at No. 9 on the Cougars’ record board.

On the men’s side, the highlight was sophomore James Corrigan earning top-10 all-time program finish in the 5,000-meters.

Corrigan finished 32nd overall in the men’s 5000-meters, with a finishing time of 13:34.24. Corrigan’s performance put him at No. 7 all-time in BYU indoor history and marked a personal best in the event. He approached the line just two weeks after placing 32nd overall for All-American honors at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

Cougar freshman Joe Lighthall was fourth in the 800-meters and junior Lucas Bons placed 12th in the 3,000-meters, both finishes coming in personal-best times. Junior Joey Nokes was 29th in the 5,000 meters.

BYU track and field will host the December Invitiational next week, running Dec. 8-9 at the Smith Fieldhouse and Indoor Practice Facility. Meet information can be found here.

BYU’s Brad Prolo earns spot at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials

BYU’s Brad Prolo punched his ticket to the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials with a 2:00.43 finish in the men’s 200 fly final at the Toyota U.S. Open at Greensboro Aquatic Center on Saturday night.

Prolo began the day shaving 1.27 seconds off his entry time to go 2:00.98 and take 16th in the 200-meter fly and advance to the Saturday evening final. With a trip to the Olympic Trials on the line, Prolo one-upped his morning performance, cutting 0.55 seconds to exceed the minimum qualifying time of 2:00.49.

“I am very excited and proud of this accomplishment,” Prolo said. “The race hurt so bad but I knew I had to push through that pain to get the cut. I am so thankful to my coaches and teammates for the faith and support they have given me to get to this point.”

Prolo will now vie for a spot in Paris at the 2024 U.S. Swimming Olympic Trials June 15-23 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The senior from San Clemente, California overcame swimmers from Louisville, Texas A&M and Utah for a 13th-place, qualifying finish. Each of Prolo’s 200 fly times on the day are good for BYU men’s swimming long course meters records. Prolo is just two weeks removed from a school-record 1:41.18 in the 200 fly short course yards at the Mizzou Invitational on Nov. 17.

“The whole team is excited for Brad,” said BYU head swimming coach Shari Skabelund. “He works so hard. Olympic Trial cuts were so fast this time around and he did it.”

Prolo currently ranks eighth in NCAA Division I for the 200 fly. While coming up short of the 100 breast final, Prolo also raced in that event and finished 43rd at 1:03.47.

Jordan Tiffany, Tony Puertas, Emerson Edwards and Bryce Broadhead also represented BYU at the U.S. Open. Tiffany and Puertas swam 54.92 and 55.48, respectively, in the 100 fly prelims on Friday. Edwards clocked 1:05.23 in the 100 breast prelims while Broadhead recorded finishes of 58.32 and 2:10.46 in the 100 and 200 back, respectively.

BYU swimming has four weeks off before it resumes competition at the FIU Sprint Invite in Miami, Florida on Jan. 3.