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BYU's Amari Whiting drives to the basket against UCF in the first round of the Big 12 Women's Basketball Tournament at T-Mobile Arena in Kansas City, Mo., on Wednesday, March 5, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU women's basketball coach Amber Whiting (left) gives instructions to her team against UCF in the first round of he Big 12 Women's Basketball Tournament at T-Mobile Arena in Kansas City, Mo., on Wednesday, March 5, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's Kendra Gillispie takes a shot against UCF in the first round of the Big 12 Women's Basketball Tournament at T-Mobile Arena in Kansas City, Mo., on Wednesday, March 5, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's Delaney Gibb drives to the basket against UCF in the first round of the Big 12 Women's Basketball Tournament at T-Mobile Arena in Kansas City, Mo., on Wednesday, March 5, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's Delaney Gibb (11) drives to the basket against UCF in the first round of the Big 12 Women's Basketball Tournament at T-Mobile Arena in Kansas City, Mo., on Wednesday, March 5, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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Some teams get better over the course of the season.

In Wednesday’s first round Big 12 Tournament matchup between BYU and UCF, that team was clearly the Golden Knights.

The Cougars won the regular season meeting in Provo but UCF was the dominant team in Kansas City, getting 35 points from Kaitlin Peterson and pulling away for a 81-69 victory to advance to the second round.

Peterson, who scored 19 points but was held to 5 of 24 shooting in the first meeting, was the catalyst for an athletic UCF team that forced 18 BYU turnovers on Tuesday, resulting in a 27-18 advantage in points off turnovers. The Knights also beat the Cougars consistently inside the paint, outrebounding BYU 40-30 overall and 14-8 on offensive rebounds, resulting in a 42-22 advantage in the paint and a 19-8 lead in second-change points.

“UCF is a really good team,” BYU coach Amber Whiting said. “They really brought it today. A couple of keys to the game were transition points (the Knights led that category 15-3) and offensive rebounds. We needed to make sure we took care of that and I think we did not.”

Big 12 Freshman of the Year Delaney Gibb led BYU with 15 points but was just 5 of 17 (36%) from the field and 2 of 8 (25%) from the 3-point line. Amari Whiting added 14 points, five rebounds and two assists, Kemery Congdon made a trio of 3-point shots and scored 11 and Kendra Gillispie came off the bench to contributed a season-high 10 points.

The Cougars shot well enough to win, including a 10 of 21 (48%) performance from beyond the arc, but couldn’t stay in front of Peterson or any of her quick and agile teammates on defense.

“We couldn’t string stops together,” BYU assistant coach John Wardenburg said on BYU Radio. “We could get one or two stops but we could get the third or fourth, and when you’re down eight or nine points you need consecutive stops in a row. We couldn’t get those today.”

Peterson was 12 of 21 from the field, 2 of 3 from the 3-point line and 9 of 12 on free throws for her 35 points. Emely Rodriguez had 15 points and eight rebounds for UCF (12-17), which will play No. 4 seed Kansas State in Wednesday’s quarterfinals. The Knights began the Big 12 season 0-9 but have gone 5-5 in their past ten games.

BYU took a 22-20 lead after one quarter but struggled to score in the second as turnovers became a problem. The score was tied at 29-all with under a minute to play but UCF converted a pair of offensive rebounds into baskets and took a 33-29 lead at the break.

The Knights led by seven, 49-42, with 5:10 to play in the third on a Peterson layup but BYU fought back to take a 54-53 lead at the 1:44 mark on a Gibb layup. Whiting made one of two free throws with 13 seconds to go and the Cougars trailed just 58-57 entering the fourth quarter.

Peterson, who scored 25 of her 35 points in the second half, tallied 13 points in the fourth on 5 of 6 from the field to help UCF pull away.

The Cougars got down by seven on a Peterson 3-pointer and could never get any closer.

While there is an outside chance to Cougars (13-17) could get invited to a post-season tournament, it’s more likely the season is over after they lost their final five games and seven of their final eight.

“We lost a heartbreaker to Utah a couple of days ago,” Coach Whiting said. “We’ve lost eight games this season by ten points or less. We’ve been right there in a bunch of them. I see the good that we have. I see that we need to clean up some things like turnovers and offensive rebounds. Those have plagued us all season, so that needs to be addressed. We need to have some growth in that in the offseason for next year.”