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BYU's Delaney Gibb penetrates toward the basket to score two of her 11 points in BYU's 72-47 win over Alabama A&M on Thursday. March 19, 2026

Harold Mitchell, Special to the Daily Herald

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BYU basketball head coach Lee Cummard gives instructions in a time out against Kansas in the semifinals of the Women's Basketball Invitational Tournament at Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kan. on Monday, March 30, 2026.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's Kailey Woolston (10) defends Iowa State's Arianna Jackson during a Big 12 women's basketball game at the Marriott Center on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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The BYU women’s basketball team had won nine of its past 10 games heading into the finals of the Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament on Wednesday, but the pressure and emotion of playing in the championship game may have proved to be a bit overwhelming.

At least, that’s how head coach Lee Cummard saw it after his team’s 81-64 loss to Columbia at Koch Arena in Wichita, Kan.

The Cougars trailed 19-10 after one quarter and shot just 9 of 39 (23%) from the field in the first half, which ended with the Lions on top 42-24.

“I could feel it from them a little bit in the pregame, and I think early on just the moment for the first time,” Cummard said. “Really, you could see there was a little of angst in it, and it’s something that I think they’ll really take away from this experience. It felt different preparing for this game compared to preparing for the last four in this tournament. You could just tell there was a difference. I felt it. I know they felt it. It just took us a little bit longer than normal to just kind of settle into a game.”

The Lions started two seniors, two juniors and a sophomore on a team that made the NCAA Tournament in 2024 and 2025. The Cougars top six players include one senior, three sophomores and two freshmen without any post-season experience until the WBIT run aside from Lara Rohkohl’s four games in the WNIT in two seasons at College of Charleston.

“They (Columbia) are experienced,” Cummard said. “They’ve been deep in this tournament or they’ve won some games in the postseason before, and I think that showed clearly. Some of it was the way they were guarding. We only had eight assists. That’s uncharacteristic of us, but some of it was how they were playing us. They weren’t letting us get those kick-out threes. They were just saying, hey, we’re going to play one-on-one and try to stop you. But I think early on, just the game kind of got to us a little bit, and I think that’s one huge thing that they can take away from this, those that are going to continue playing.”

Trailing by 27 points with just over seven minutes to go, BYU mounted a rally that trimmed the deficit to nine points with under a minute to play.

Sophomore Delaney Gibb led the Cougars with 24 points.

“I think it’s just a credit to our team as a whole and the girls that we have in this program,” Gibb said. “I know that every single girl out there has my back, and at the same time, I want to have theirs. We just talked about leaving everything on the court, and I feel like that’s what we did in that fourth quarter. Forget about everything that’s going on and just every single play, play the best that we can and play the hardest that we can.”

The season that was

BYU posted 26 wins in Cummard’s first season, the most by a first-year head coach in school history.

The Cougars began the season 12-1, with their only loss to eventual NCAA Sweet 16 participant Vanderbilt. Gibb missed more than a month with an injury leading into a challenging Big 12 schedule. After dropping four of five in mid-February, BYU won five games in a row including its first two Big 12 Tournament victories before losing to TCU 63-46 in the quarterfinals. The Horned Frogs would go on to advance to the Elite 8 in the NCAA Tournament.

The Cougars won three home games in the WBIT against Alabama A&M, Missouri and Stanford before holding off Kansas 70-67 in the semifinals to advance to the championship game.

“it’s never easy to lose, especially when a championship is on the line,” Gibb said. “For me, I’m feeling a lot of gratitude, especially towards this team. I think our last 10 games are a representation of just the people and the group of people that this team is and how genuine the relationships are, how much we love and care about each other on and off the court. I’m just so grateful to be part of such a culture and such a group of girls that truly just love each other and connect and get along. It’s really fun to play basketball with a group of people that you just really enjoy being around.”

Looking ahead

Nothing is ever certain in college basketball because of the transfer portal and NIL, but BYU appears to be in good shape heading into the offseason.

Rohkohl (8.2 points, 6.9 rebounds, 1.6 blocks per game) and reserves Heather Hamson and Hattie Ogden were recognized on Senior Night and are expected to move on. This week, redshirt junior Marya Hudgins announced on social media that she was entering the transfer portal. Hudgins averaged 9.1 points and shot 36.7% from the 3-point line, starting 27 games before going down with an injury.

The team’s top two scorers, Gibb (18.3 points per game) and freshman Oliva Hamlin (12.9) are expected to return. Sophomores Kambree Barber and Brinley Cannon, along with freshmen Sydney Benally and Bolanle Yussuf, played a lot of minutes and gained valuable experience this season.

“We’ve got a special locker room,” Cummard said. “If you spent time with these athletes, these players, you’ll know why some of the results happened the way they did. They’re high-character young women that carry themselves (well), and there’s many instances in what we put on them as far as expectations where they’ve risen to the occasion. That’s not just on the basketball court. They’re just a great group. They’re special.

“I don’t know what the future is going to come with this new landscape. I think we have a pretty good group, and most all of them — we want you all back, right? I don’t know what’s going to happen. The portal opens on Monday, and I see things every day that just kind of make me scratch my head. We love our group. We were all in. I was really pleased with the growth of them as people and really pleased with how we hit some adversity and the group just got closer.”

As for additions, Kailey Woolston returned from her church mission just before the season started and redshirted. The 5-foot-11 guard from Highland was No. 2 in the country in 3-point shooting percentage (46.6) and averaged 13.3 points per game as a freshman in 2023-24. The freshman class of 2026 includes Woolston’s sister, Kennedy, and three Australians in 6-0 guard Prasayus Notoa, 6-2 wing Stella Sakalas (from Illinois) and 5-10 guard Vahayliah Seumanutafa.