Delaney Gibb sparks decisive 4th-quarter run as BYU runs past Stanford in WBIT quarterfinals – Deseret News

A double dose of Delaney Gibb magic came at just the right time for BYU in its Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament quarterfinal matchup Thursday night against Stanford.

With the game teetering in the balance, Gibb hit two huge 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to help get things in the Cougars’ favor.

That sequence played a critical role in the 76-61 Cougars win, as BYU used a 17-2 run to put the victory away in front of a raucous Marriott Center crowd.

With the win, BYU moves on to the WBIT semifinals next week in Wichita, Kansas, where it will face Big 12 rival Kansas at Charles Koch Arena next Monday.

“The buy-in and the urgency and the sense of just competing in front of a great crowd was the difference in the game,” BYU coach Lee Cummard said.

For much of the night, the Cougars led, but Stanford kept finding ways to fight back after BYU would build multi-possession leads in the first three quarters.

It looked like the Cougars might pull away in the third quarter, as they grew their lead to as many as eight points, but the Cardinal made it a one-point game going into the final period.

Then, 35 seconds into the fourth quarter, Stanford’s Chloe Clardy delivered an and-one right in front of the BYU student section to make it 53-52, and it looked like the back-and-forth battle would continue.

That’s when Gibb stepped up yet again for the Cougars (25-11).

On BYU’s next possession, she drilled a stepback 3 to make it 56-52, giving the Cougars some breathing room.

After a missed shot by Stanford, Gibb nailed another stepback 3, forcing the Cardinal to call a timeout and sending the BYU crowd, which included AJ Dybantsa and several of the Cougar men’s basketball players, into a frenzied pitch.

“The first one I don’t really remember but I think Brinley (Cannon) actually cut or something and I got wide open so I shot it and it happened to go in,” Gibb said.

“And I think after that, the momentum of the crowd was really what helped me with my next one and I had a mismatch on me and just wanted to take advantage of that.”

That was the start of the game-clinching 17-2 run over a six-minute stretch, which also included an Olivia Hamlin 3 that gave BYU its first double-digit lead and five more points — including another 3-pointer — from Gibb.

With 3:08 to play, the Cougars led 70-54 and the final few minutes were a mere formality.

Gibb, the All-Big 12 first team guard, led all scorers with 27 points, as she shot 9 of 21 from the field and 4 of 9 from 3-point range to go along with a perfect 5 of 5 from the free-throw line.

Gibb made 5 of 12 field goals in the second half and scored 17 points over the final two periods.

She also added seven rebounds, four assists, a block and a steal as BYU won for the eight time in its last nine games.

“She’s never going to stop being aggressive. That’s who she is, and she lives for that moment against a really high-quality program in here,” Cummard said of Gibb.

“Game’s tight, and she just gives (us) that little buffer, and truthfully, I think we had a nice little run defensively in that as well where we strung some stops together and it led to offensive opportunities.”

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BYU forward Lara Rohkohl drives to the basket during the Cougars’ matchup with the Stanford Cardinal in the quarterfinal of the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah, on Thursday, March 26, 2026. | Brandon Judd, Deseret News

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BYU coach Lee Cummard instructs his team during the Cougars’ matchup with the Stanford Cardinal in the quarterfinal of the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah, on Thursday, March 26, 2026. | Brandon Judd, Deseret News

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BYU men’s basketball players, from left, Dominique Diomande, AJ Dybantsa and Xavier Staton attend the BYU women’s basketball team’s matchup with the Stanford Cardinal in the quarterfinal of the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah, on Thursday, March 26, 2026. | Brandon Judd, Deseret News

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BYU guard Brinley Cannon (24) drives to the basket during the Cougars’ matchup with the Stanford Cardinal in the quarterfinal of the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah, on Thursday, March 26, 2026. | Brandon Judd, Deseret News

The victory Thursday also etched Cummard’s name into the record books, as it gave him the most wins by a first-year head coach in program history.

He passed Jeff Judkins, the school’s all-time winningest basketball coach.

“We as players respect him and and his understanding of the game, and he’s he does a great job motivating us and knows how to encourage us the right way,” Cannon said.

“… I’m super grateful to have a coach like that and who believes in us, and it’s just been a really fun season.”

In addition to Gibb and the leadership of Cummard, there were several heroes for BYU on this night.

Cannon added 15 points on 6 of 10 shooting, with two 3s, and also had four rebounds.

Lara Rohkohl posted a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds with four blocks as well, and Hamlin scored 12 points off the bench.

The Cougars dominated rebounding by a 53-36 margin, and they also owned a 38-26 edge in points in the paint.

BYU did give up 15 turnovers, though, which Stanford turned into 17 points. That helped the Cardinal stick around despite only leading for 1:34 of game time.

Stanford had three players in double-figures, led by Courtney Ogden’s 26 points, five rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal.

In the end, though, it was BYU’s timely fourth-quarter run that closed the door on any hopes Stanford had of making a comeback.

With the first three rounds of the WBIT at campus sites and with BYU a No. 1 seed in the tournament, the Cougars were afforded three more home games in the postseason.

Rohkohl, as the only senior in the press conference afterward, opened up about what it meant to play at the Marriott Center one last time.

“It was so special. I wanted us as a team to win and get one last win in here for the season, and especially for us seniors, it feels great, and then having a double-double feels extra special,” Rohkohl said.

“It was exciting, (all) the people showed out for us today and it was just amazing how the crowd just was rooting for us and was loud, especially on defense, just being the sixth person on the (court).”

Now, the Cougars move on to the WBIT semifinals.

Kansas and BYU met only once during the regular season, with the Jayhawks beating the Cougars by 21 in Lawrence in early February.

“I would say that Kansas trip where we played Kansas, Kansas State and we lost both games, we were not playing our best basketball,” Cannon said.

“That was, I would say, the rough adversity patch of our season.”

The Cougars are playing their best ball of the season now, though, and will present a more confident group when they face Kansas next Monday, with a spot in the WBIT championship game on the line.

“I think that we’re just becoming more and more motivated after every game because we want to win this tournament,” Gibb said.

“And I think it shows that not only can we compete with great teams but we can hold our own with anyone in the country in my opinion, and I think it shows that right now we are playing some of our best basketball.”

BYU guard Delaney Gibb (11) tries to drive to the hoop with Stanford’s Nunu Agara on defense during the Cougars’ matchup with the Cardinal in the quarterfinal of the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah, on Thursday, March 26, 2026. | Brandon Judd, Deseret News