WICHITA, Kan. — No. 1 seed BYU prepares to face No. 4 Columbia in the WBIT championship game on Wednesday night.
Tipoff will be at 5 p.m. MDT on ESPNU.
This will be the Cougars' first-ever appearance in a postseason championship game. A win would be the first postseason tournament win in program history.
The Cougars have been on an impressive run. After losing at home against Cincinnati on Feb. 17, they have flipped the switch on their season. They have won nine out of their last 10 games, including two games in the Big 12 tournament and their four-game streak in the WBIT thus far.
“Really proud of the resilience and grit of the group. We came together and turned inward and doubled down as a group. From there we have played really good basketball,” said coach Lee Cummard.
With this win streak, Cummard has surpassed Jeff Judkins for the most wins (26) in one season as a first year head coach.
What has been the difference for this team to make such a deep run into the post season? A strong part of it has been sophomore Delaney Gibbs’ approach to the game.
She has averaged 19.75 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 4.75 assists in the WBIT. Although Kansas held Gibb to only 12 points total in its matchup, she still was controlling the floor for the Cougars with her six assists.
The Cougars overall have fought for better ball control in the second half of this season. Early on, they were averaging more than 20 turnovers a game. Over the last ten games, they have averaged 14.5 which has led them to greater success.
“As the season has gone on, the chemistry and continuity has built,” said Cummard. “And I think that’s starting to show, at least in this tournament.”
The underclassmen have been the fuel behind this team. Especially after freshmen Olivia Hamlin and Sydney Benally carried the Cougars into a win over Kansas Monday in the semifinals.
“They have amazing games where they are like an upperclassmen, standing on the line just shooting it and they know it’s going to go in,” said senior Lara Rohkohl of the two freshmen.
The rookies account for 38% of BYU’s points this season. With sophomore starters Gibb, Brinely Cannon, and Kambree Barber added to the mix, these youngsters account for 72.4% of the team's total points.
In the finals, BYU will face Columbia, which has built up quite the resume going into the championship as well.
The Lions are led by Ivy League Player of the Year, Riley Weiss, who averages 20.1 points per game. She is followed by forward Perri Page who averages 14.7 points along with 6.3 rebounds a game who was also named as Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year.
The Lions finished with a 24-8 record overall and 11-3 in the Ivy League. They and came up short when they faced Harvard for a chance at a four-peat as the Ivy League champions. But, their run in the WBIT has been nothing short of remarkable.
Columbia has defeated over three of the four teams in the tournament so far with a double-digit deficit. It had its semifinal win over Wisconsin (67-50) to secure its spot in the championship game.
BYU hopes to see a big performance from this young group to carry it to a WBIT championship against Columbia.