BYU women’s basketball can’t finish the deal in 57-53 loss to Arizona
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- BYU’s Delaney Gibb (right) drives past Arizona’s Skylar Jones in a Big 12 women’s basketball game at the Marriott Center on Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024.
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- Players on the BYU bench react during a Big 12 women’s basketball game against Arizona at the Marriott Center on Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024.
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- BYU freshman Delaney Gibb (left) drives to the basket against Arizona in a Big 12 women’s basketball game at the Marriott Center on Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024.
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- BYU’s Kambree Barber (right) and Emma Calvert defend Arizona’s Jada Williams in a Big 12 women’s basketball game at the Marriott Center on Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024.
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- BYU’s Kambree Barber (14) goes up for a shot against Arizona in a Big 12 women’s basketball game at the Marriott Center on Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024.
Through a quirk in the Big 12 women’s basketball schedule, the first weekend of games will be followed by a ten-day holiday break until Game 2.
Instead of fully enjoying family, friends and gifts, BYU will have ten days to stew over missed opportunities.
The Cougars grabbed a halftime lead against Arizona at the Marriott Center and had plenty of chances to take the game home, instead going as dry as the desert on offense in the final five minutes in a 57-53 loss on Saturday.
“I think the physicality got to us to start out the game,” BYU coach Amber Whiting said. “I think that we weren’t getting to our spots quick enough. So when you only have 10, 11 or 12 seconds to get a play off or do what we want to do, that’s not where we are going to operate. That’s what we’re trying to do to teams defensively. So to let them come in here and do that to us is frustrating, but we’ll fix it.”
A basket by freshman Delaney Gibb, a 3-pointer from Kambree Barber and two free throws by Amari Whiting gave BYU a 51-48 lead with 5:08 to play. But the Cougars would only score one more field goal the rest of the game, missing 9 of their final ten shots.
Beya Cunningham, who led Arizona (10-4 overall, 1-0 Big 12) with 21 points on 10 of 15 from the field, reached over a Cougar for a rebound and scored on a putback with 21.1 seconds to play for a 55-53 lead. The Wildcats survived three final BYU chances to come away with a huge Big 12 road win.
“This was a really important game for us for a lot of reasons,” Arizona coach Aida Barnes said. “The way you start right before Christmas, right before finals, it’s always a really hard game. Everybody is focused on going home and that’s for both teams. So it was really important for us to get a win because we have a long break after and it gives us momentum going into conference.”
Gibb was spectacular for the Cougars, scoring a game-high 23 points while making 9 of 15 from the field and 5 of 7 from the 3-point line. But the talented freshman got little help offensively from her teammates, who were a combined 11 of 44 (25%) from the field and 3 of 17 (18%) from the 3-point line. No other BYU player was in double figures and the other four starters (Amari Whiting, Emma Calvert, Kemery Congdon and Lauren Davenport) were a frigid 5 of 31 (16%) shooting.
“I feel like that was just kind of an introduction to the Big 12,” Gibb said. “This was my first Big 12 game and kind of had to snap out of it. It started off really physical and now I know what the Big 12 is going to be like. So I’m excited moving forward now that I kind of got that one under my belt.”
The Cougars trailed 18-8 after one, their lowest scoring quarter all season. The second quarter belonged to Gibb, who poured in all 13 of her first-half points over the next ten minutes. BYU trailed 25-16 at the 3:26 mark but exploded on a 14-0 run to finish the period. Gibb scored eight straight points with two 3-pointers and steal that led to a layup. The Cougars went 4 of 4 from distance in that stretch, with Cannon’s baseline triple giving the home team a 30-25 halftime lead. BYU outscored Arizona 22-7 in the second quarter.
“Honestly, I wish we didn’t have halftime,” Coach Whiting said after the game, “because we were on a roll.”
The Cougars led by seven (32-25) when Gibb opened the third quarter with a backdoor layup off a feed from Davenport but the Wildcats reeled the home team back in to take a 42-41 lead into the fourth.
After BYU took its 51-48 lead, Arizona got right back on top with a drive from Jada Williams and a 3-point play from Skylar Jones. The Cougars had a couple of open looks that didn’t fall but Amari Whiting’s short jumper tied things up at 53 with 32.3 seconds to go.
Cunningham gave the Wildcats a 55-53 lead with her big offensive rebound and BYU had three chances to tie or take the lead. Congdon missed a wide-open baseline 3-pointer but the Cougars forced a jump ball with 12.6 seconds remaining. Gibb couldn’t convert on a drive and Arizona went to the foul line with 2.9 second to play. Williams missed both and BYU used a time out to advance the ball to midcourt with 1.9 seconds remaining. Congdon couldn’t get the ball in-bounds and tried to throw it off a defender but instead turned the ball over to end the Cougars chances.
“I would say for us, this is a learning experience type of game,” Coach Whiting said. “We can’t start soft. We know that and we had a good talk about it in the locker room. I don’t think the game comes down to those last two plays or the last couple out of bounds. I think it comes down to the whole game. We can’t start like that. That’s our given.”
BYU (9-3 overall, 0-1 Big 12) is off for the holiday break until 2025, when it will play Cincinnati (Jan. 1) and West Virginia (Jan. 4) in a pair of Big 12 road games.
