WICHITA, Kan. — BYU defeated the Kansas Jayhawks for the first time in program history with a back-and-forth battle for a spot in the WBIT championship game on Wednesday.
The Cougars won 70-67.
It was close for much of the game, featuring a lot of lead changes for both teams. But, a fourth-quarter takeover from the Cougars freshmen secured the win.
Freshman Olivia Hamlin led the Cougars with 23 points. Freshman Sydney Benally (15) and sophomore Delaney Gibb (12) also scored in double figures to complete the trifecta.
“We came out ready to win and I think that’s what helped me,” said Hamlin.
Senior Lara Rohkohl was the heart of BYU’s defense. She had 14 rebounds and six blocks to hold Big 12 Freshman of the Year Jaliya Davis to only eight points in the second half.
The first quarter was filled with ups and downs from each team. Kansas’ Davis had the first points of the game. This pushed Kansas to an 8-0 run.
Gibb ended the run with a layup of her own. The two teams exchanged turnovers in a battle of defense that led to a pull up jumper from Kansas’ Laia Conesa.
Freshman Bolanle Yussuf took matters into her own hands and gave BYU two back-to-back layups to push it to a 9-0 run for the Cougars. This left the score tied at halftime, 15-15.
Kansas dominated the second and third quarters, although the Cougars didn’t make it easy. It outscored BYU by five points going into the last 10 minutes.
A key to Kansas’ success was its defensive strategy on Delaney Gibb.
“We knew that Gibb is a very good player for BYU so one way to stop their team chemistry is to stop Gibb,” said Jayhawks senior Sania Copeland. The Jayhawks held her to 4 of 13 from the field.
Although the Jayhawks were not making it easy for the sophomore to score, she was the general behind the fourth quarter magic for the Cougars.
“A lot of it was from Delaney, she was finding me in transition and I could hear from the sidelines ‘just spot up’,” said Benally. “I was constantly encouraged to just keep to shooting.”
Benally and Hamlin took it upon themselves to send BYU on a breakaway in the fourth quarter. It went on a 9-0 run with six points from Benally and three points from Hamlin.
“We had a lot of momentum going in. I think when we have a lot of momentum and energy on our side it makes us have a lot of confidence in ourselves and start making shots,” said Hamlin.
But woah, not so fast. The Cougars were sitting comfortably with a nine-point lead with 57 seconds to go, but the Jayhawks still had some fight left.
Out of the Kansas timeout, Davis scored a layup for the Jayhawks. BYU’s Brinley Cannon was fouled and sank two at the free throw line, but then Kansas’ Brittany Harshaw countered with a 3-pointer.
In the intensity of the game, BYU turned the ball over for its fourteenth time that led to another layup from Davis. This kept the game in reach for the Jayhawks, trailing only by four points.
“You saw what happened in the men’s tournament yesterday,” said BYU coach Lee Cummard. “We just tried not to be like that.”
Kansas saw its season come to an end with the ball ending in BYU’s hands as the time expired.
This makes the first time the Cougars have won four postseason games in the same season. It also gives them the opportunity to win their first ever postseason tournament championship on Wednesday when they face the Columbia Lions at 5 p.m. MDT on ESPN2.