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PROVO — BYU women's basketball continued its 2024-25 tradition of two strong quarters in the middle.
But the first and fourth of the Cougars' Big 12 opener belonged to Arizona's Breya Cunningham.
Cunningham had 21 points and eight rebounds, including the go-ahead layup with 21 seconds left, as the Wildcats opened Big 12 play Saturday afternoon with a 57-53 road win at BYU in front of 2,075 fans at the Marriott Center.
Skylar Jones added 11 points and six rebounds for the Wildcats (10-4, 1-0 Big 12), and Jada Williams supplied 11 points for the visitors.
Delaney Gibb led all scorers with 23 points, eight rebounds and three steals for BYU (9-3, 0-1 Big 12), and teammate Amari Whiting supplied 7 points with five assists.
Gibb was just 3 points off her career-high on 9-of-15 shooting including 5-of-7 from 3-point range, but the four-star freshman from Raymond, Alberta, was more concerned with the final result of the game and agreed with her head coach that it was a "learning experience."
"I feel like that was just an introduction to the Big 12," Gibb said. "They were physical and hard. For my first Big 12 game, I kind of had to snap out of it. ... I know everyone emphasizes how physical it is, but I don't think I realized what it would be like.
"Now I know what the Big 12 is going to be like."
Whiting tied the game at 53-all on a jumper from the paint with 32.3 seconds left. But when the Cougars needed a stop the most, Cunningham swooped in for a rebound and stickback to lift the Wildcats to a 55-53 lead with 21 seconds to go to hold on for the win.
In a pre-Christmas conference opener where Arizona shot 2-of-12 from 3-point range, Cunningham did her scoring on 10-of-15 shooting and added two key blocks, two steals and a jump ball in the second half to help the Wildcats "steal one on the road," head coach Adia Barnes said.
"She's super efficient, one of the top posts in the country. I think we did a good job of getting her the ball," Barnes said. "She had a lot of fadeaway shots that weren't the best, but then she stuck with the offensive rebound. And she was able to play without fouling, which is not something she could do last year. ... She made plays that she wasn't able to make before."
BYU shot just 29% from the field in the second half, including 4-of-16 in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats added 19 points off 18 turnovers, including a deadball turnover when Kemery Congdon tried to get the ball in bounds for a potential game-winner in the final seconds.
Arizona led from the start, forcing seven turnovers in the first quarter and leading by as much as 12 en route to an 18-8 lead at the quarterback. Paulina Paris scored 5 points in the quarter, and the Wildcats held BYU to 3-of-11 shooting including 0-for-4 from 3-point range.
But BYU held the North Carolina transfer scoreless in the second, and back-to-back buckets by Gibb pulled the Cougars within four with 2:54 left in the half. The Canadian sharpshooter capped a personal 8-0 run with her third triple with 2:07 to go.
That set up Whiting, who found Congdon in the corner for three that gave BYU its first lead of the game with 1:26 left in the half en route to a 30-25 halftime advantage.
Gibb, the reigning Big 12 freshman of the week, had 13 points and three rebounds at the break — most of them coming with fellow freshman Kambree Barber on the court.
"She rebounds like crazy, and she's always in the right place defensively. She just sticks her nose in on defense," BYU coach Amber Whiting said of Barber, who had 5 points, six rebounds and a block off the bench. "It doesn't reflect in any stats, but when someone drives against her, she just walls up. That's tough."
Arizona did almost everything right in the third quarter, shooting 53.3% from the field and holding the Cougars to 5-of-15 from the field. But Barber beat the quarter buzzer on an in-bound play to lift the hosts to a 42-41 edge ahead of the final frame.
Defense defined the fourth quarter. BYU used a 7-0 run midway through the period to lead by 3 with five minutes remaining. But the Wildcats held the Cougars scoreless for more than three minutes down the stretch, and Jones scored on an and-1 play to give Arizona a 53-51 advantage that held into the final minute.
"This is a learning experience type of game. We can't start soft," Whiting said. "I don't think it comes down to those last two plays ... We can't start like that. We've got to work on that."
