Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
PROVO — During her freshman season at Fremont High, Emma Calvert attempted one 3-pointer.
That was the last time, though.
The BYU senior celebrated her final regular-season home game Tuesday night in the Marriott Center, where the 6-foot-4 center has become a perimeter threat during her 117-game career, starting all 28 games of her senior campaign to date.
Elle Evans scored 24 points as Kansas handed BYU a third straight loss, a 71-66 result in front of 2,149 fans.
S'Mya Nichols had 14 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Jayhawks (16-12, 5-12 Big 12), who shot 58% in the first half en route to a 37-31 halftime lead before scoring 20 points in the third quarter and leading by as much as 12.
Amari Whiting had a career-high 24 points and seven rebounds on 9-of-10 shooting, including a pair of 3-pointers with five assists for BYU (13-15, 4-13 Big 12). Kemery Congdon added 11 points and three assists for the Cougars, who got 12 points, four rebounds and a block from Calvert.
Lauren Davenport added 8 points for BYU, which led for just 54 seconds but pulled within three on Whiting's reverse layup with 39 seconds to go.
But BYU could get no closer in falling to 0-4 all-time against the Jayhawks.
"They battled. They fought. They stayed right in it," BYU coach Amari Whiting said. "We took care of turnovers and offensive rebounds, but they shot it really well."
Calvert was one of five seniors honored as the Cougars' graduating class of 2025, the third senior class in Whiting's tenure. The others were:
- Kemery Congdon, G (Sandy, Utah/Cal)
- Lauren Davenport, G/F (Idaho Falls, Idaho/Boston)
- Kendra Gillespie, F/C (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma/Arkansas State)
- Kylie Krebs, G (Oahu, Hawaii/Glendale CC)
Calvert isn't just the team's second-leading scorer at 13.1 points per game — including 19 in a 68-64 upset of then-No. 20 Oklahoma State — and top rebounder at 5.6 boards. She's also a prolific shooter, canning 19 triples at a 30% rate to go along with her team-high .516 field-goal percentage.
It's not often that a post player has the green light to shoot 19-of-65 from 3-point range, and Calvert admits she hasn't been perfect from the perimeter. But her range plays a key role in associate head coach Lee Cummard's five-out offense, one that requires a unique, rangy center to flourish.
Enter Calvert, whose marksmanship she attributed to playing with UCLA post Timea Gardiner and Nebraska/Penn State basketball/volleyball athlete Maggie Mendelson en route to a pair of state championships in high school.
"The summer before my junior year, I started shooting outside a lot more," said Calvert, who also played for Colorado Premier. "I was out shooting threes in my backyard every day.
"Then I played the four my senior year, and it was hard to play against, because I had to play the four and really stretch the floor. But it helped a lot coming in (to BYU), where I had to do the same thing."
Off the court, Calvert's leadership on a team that has started three freshmen and a sophomore has been a boon, watching over leading scorer Delaney Gibb (17.1 ppg) and the younger Whiting (9.7 ppg, 5.4 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.9 steals).
Her coach called the senior a "mother hen" in the way she cares for her teammates — in a variety of ways.
"Emma is a good example of doing whatever it takes," Whiting said. "She's played behind Lauren Gustin in the post for so long, and wasn't able to play her normal position until this year. For that alone, she's always reminding the girls of different things … and even to email their professors because they'll be gone all next week.
"She's just a leader all-around."
Congdon, the former Corner Canyon star who transferred from Cal ahead of her senior year, agreed.
"She just has that maturity piece to her," Congdon said. "Like me, she's been in the game for a bit and knows when we need to sharpen up and she's vocal about it.
"But she also has a good balance to her with good relationships with everyone on the team,. She's a big jokester, too, so it's easy to talk to her. Everyone can go to her."
For Calvert, a two-time Academic All-District honoree by the College Sports Communicators who is majoring in information systems from BYU's prestigious Marriott School of Business, that's the most important legacy she hopes to leave behind.
"I personally hope that I'm remembered more for caring about my teammates and being kind to them off the court just as much as on the court," she said. "Everybody wants to be an All-American or have their jersey retired. That would be great, too. But I think in the long run, all of the basketball awards are temporary and less important than how you treat people. That lasts a lifetime, and I'd rather have that."
BYU concludes the regular season Saturday at in-state rival Utah (1:30 p.m. MST, ESPN+).
