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BYU's Brinley Cannon (24) fights for a rebound 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 head coach Amber Whiting instructs her players during a time out 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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Elementary school children cheer as BYU women's basketball plays against Colorado State at the Marriott Center on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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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 freshman Delaney Gibb (11) drives to the basket 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's Lauren Davenport (30) drives 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's Amari Whiting plays defense 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 women's basketball coach Amber Whiting yells instructions to her team 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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A truism of basketball is that when your shot isn’t falling, you have to find another way to win.

That’s exactly what the BYU women’s basketball team did against Colorado State on Wednesday afternoon.

The Cougars didn’t clank enough shots off the rim to drown out the thousands of elementary schools students that invaded the Marriott Center for the annual “Kids Day,” but very nearly did, especially in the first half. But the BYU defense was terrific, holding down the Rams top two scorers and riding a big second half in a convincing 69-55 victory.

“I would say they have a lot of fight,” Cougar coach Amber Whiting said about her group, which includes nine newcomers. “That’s one thing that I love about them. They’re going to fight tooth and nail.”

Delaney Gibb, the reigning Big 12 Freshman of the Week, shook off a slow start and scored 15 of her game-high 19 points in the second half. Senior Emma Calvert helped the Cougars shake loose from an offensive funk with a strong post game, scoring 17 points on 7 of 11 from the field.

But it was on the other end of the court where BYU broke the Rams.

Colorado State’s Emma Ronsiek, a Creighton grad transfer named co-Mountain West Conference preseason Player of the Year and her sister, Hannah, came into Wednesday’s game averaging 40.5 points per game between them. The Cougars held them to 19 points on 6 of 19 shooting.

The defense was collaborative effort but BYU coach Amber Whiting credited junior Marya Hudgins and senior Lauren Davenport for their effort on Emma Ronsiek, who came in averaging 22 points and finished with just ten.

“I honestly thought we had good defense the whole game,” Davenport said. “I think that’s what held us together in the first half. We just continued that the second half. At halftime, all of us were like, ‘Keep on 21 (Emma Ronsiek), don’t let her get her shots.’ That was the main goal and I thought we did a good job.”

Davenport essentially demanded the job of holding down the Rams top scorer.

“So, funny thing, coming out of timeouts, I could hear her (Davenport), when Josh (assistant coach Josh Edwards) was doing matchups, she’d say “I got 21,” Coach Whiting said.

Davenport broke in: “They tried rotating me off her.””

That’s one thing I love about Dav is she’ll stick her nose in and do whatever it takes for the team.,” Coach Whiting concluded.

Davenport was just 1 of 1 from the field, but said, “I don’t care, because we won.”

First half shooting was a dismal for BYU, which missed 15 of the 17 3-pointers it took, mostly open looks. The Cougars led briefly (9-7) after five points from Amari Whiting, including a 3-point play, midway through the first quarter. CSU led 19-13 after one and the two teams combined to shoot 6 of 31 (19%) from the field in the second quarter. BYU was the worst offender, missing 10 of the 11 triples it attempted. The Rams weren’t much better, but still led 28-22 at the half.

The Cougars got off to a 7-0 start in the third quarter, including Gibb’s first 3-pointer, for a 29-28 lead. Gibb added two more triples, Davenport had one and 3-point plays from freshmen Brinley Cannon and Kambree Barber were all part of a 26-12 third quarter advantage. It was the second straight game BYU has errupted for a big third quarter.

“Last year, we had a reputation for us to have really bad third quarters,” Davenport said. “We have totally flipped that around. I just love how we come out in our third quarter and it adds so much energy towards the end of the game.”

BYU led 48-40 entering the fourth quarter. CSU managed to trim the deficit to three, 50-47, with 7:22 to play. But Calvert scored four points and a Gibb steal led to a transition layup for Amari Whiting to get the lead back to nine, 56-47, at the 6:16 mark, and the Cougars controlled things from there.

“In the locker room at halftime, there’s a lot of accountability going on,” Coach Whiting said. “It’s not pointing fingers. It’s like, ‘That was my bad. That was you and me.’ And so they talk to each other about ‘Hey, this is open’ and ‘That’s my fault.’ I can hear it and I like that. They’re actually coming together in the tough moments, instead of going their separate ways.”

Kloe Froebe led Colorado State (2-1) with 14 points. The Cougars held the Rams to 35% (20 of 58) from the field and 20% (4 of 20) from the 3-point line.

Amari Whiting added nine points, eight rebounds and four assists for BYU (3-0), which takes its first road trip of the season on Saturday at Idaho State.