- BYU's Delany Gibb scored a career-high 37 points in an 86-74 win.
- Gibb's fourth-quarter surge sealed BYU's first sweep over Utah since 2011.
- Utah struggled with 33% shooting despite Grace Foster's effort and eight 3-pointers.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah guard Grace Foster hit a corner 3-pointer to help the Utes erase a one-time 21-point deficit on their home floor to rival BYU and cut the lead to 10 early in the fourth quarter.
It was a signal Utah was finally fighting back and trying to make it a game — and the Huntsman Center crowd helped bring the energy to build on the momentum.
But BYU's Delany Gibb had other plans Saturday afternoon.
The sophomore guard exploded on offense in the fourth quarter for 18 points behind four of her five made 3-pointers on the night in the final frame. The Canadian native finished with a game and career-high 37 points, five rebounds and five assists to lift the Cougars to a sweep of the Utes with an 86-74 win.
It's the first sweep in a season over Utah since the 2011 season for BYU.
Gibb had been efficient all game, but took it to another level in the fourth quarter to help make up for a previous career-high of 36 points that came at Utah in a loss. She said the memory of the loss last season helped lift her to another level against a rival.
"Ultimately, I just wanted to win," Gibb said. "It's tough, because last year I had my career high here and we lost. And so that was my main goal, was just, like, I wanted to get a win."
BYU head coach Lee Cummard said he's seen that type of shooting from Gibb at all levels of her career, back when he started recruiting Gibb to Provo.
"When she gets that ball going, the basket gets enormous, and that's what happened today," Cummard said. "I mean, she even banked one in today. ... I don't know what it is about when she sees red, but she has been pretty good the last two times up here, so it was fun to watch. She was due for a game like this, and I'm glad it came against this team, but she's got that capability, and when that ball gets going, the basket gets enormous."
Gibb said she actually loves the color — it was her high school color — and it helps unlock something within her when she's surrounded by red.
"I think I just was put in positions to be successful. ... We were joking that when I see the stands and it's all red, I love it," Gibb said. "But it's just a high-energy game and I think that I just kind of feed off that; I'm super competitive. And then props to my teammates, they did a great job of finding me early and giving me easy opportunities in the first half, which kind of got me rolling."
Though Gibb's standout performance capped off an otherwise strong performance from BYU on the road, it was a Cougars 15-1 run to start the third quarter that ultimately made it difficult for Utah to remain competitive with BYU.
BYU jumped out to a quick 7-0 run after the halftime break, forcing Utah head coach Gavin Petersen to call a quick timeout and sub out his lineup. But the Cougars continued the assault until Utah finally got into a rhythm after facing a 21-point deficit.
"I think we did a really great job of executing in the third quarter on defense, and that really led to easy transition buckets on offense," Gibb said. "I think that was kind of a difference-maker — just really making them take tough shots, getting a quick outlet and just pushing the ball."
Petersen said it was simply a reoccurring trend of the season to start the third quarter flat. Against BYU, it was a team stacking mistakes upon missed shots upon more mistakes and a porous defense.
"We just had, again, a bad start to our third quarter, and we continue to talk about it, we addressed it at halftime. We even changed up some things that we wanted to do, and it just didn't happen," Petersen said. "They had one player who had a night, and Delany Gibb is one of the best players in the conference, and we didn't do a good enough job breaking her out of her rhythm, and that's a credit to her.
"We can't compound those mistakes," he added. "Like, if they're scoring, we turn the ball over, we miss a shot. We've just got to be able to kind of stop the bleeding a lot sooner, especially when you're starting the third quarter at already a deficit."
Utah couldn't stop the bleeding until it was too late, and Gibb had full control of the game.
Lani White led the Utes with 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting, but the team shot just 33% from the floor. The only saving grace for the team was eight made 3-pointers and going 28-of-32 from the free-throw line to keep the game closer than it could have been with the poor shooting.
Maty Wilke added 13 points on three made 3-pointers for the Utes, while Foster supplied an additional 10 points in the loss.
Beyond Gibb, BYU had three other players finish in double figures, with Sydney Benally adding 13 points, and Lara Rohkohl and Olivia Hamlin each supplying 11 points apiece in the win.
BYU finished the game shooting 54% from the floor while outscoring Utah 30-16 in the post. Additionally, the Cougars had 10 fastbreak points to add to the Utes' struggles on the night.
