BYU women turn over road win, hand Arizona first Big 12 victory

PROVO — BYU women's basketball played with fire, and the Arizona desert burned them Tuesday night.

Three nights after handing previously unbeaten Arizona State its first loss of the year, the Cougars handed Arizona its first win in Big 12 play.

Sumayah Sugapong scored a season-high 18 points, and Arizona scored 22 points off 27 turnovers to secure the Wildcats' first Big 12 victory 75-72 in front of 6,504 fans at the McKale Center in Tucson, Arizona.

Nora Francois had 21 points and five assists to lead Arizona (10-5, 1-3 Big 12), and Tanyuel Welch added 13 points and 14 rebounds as the Wildcats overcame a 41-28 rebounding deficit and shot just 3-of-14 from the 3-point line.

"That's the hardest I've seen our team play all year, and I think we play hard on the regular," Arizona first-year coach Becky Burke told ESPN+ after the former Buffalo coach's first Big 12 victory. "I'm so proud of our players."

But Sugapong drained her only triple of the game as the Wildcats overturned a 57-51 deficit to open the fourth quarter with a 24-15 advantage in the final period.

Delaney Gibb tied the game high with 21 points and eight assists to lead BYU, which shot 43.6% from the field with nine 3-pointers, but finished just 15-of-25 free throws.

Marya Hudgins added 17 points and six rebounds for the Cougars (13-3, 2-2 Big 12), and Lara Rohkohl had 8 points and seven rebounds before fouling out in the final minutes.

Arizona shot eight more free throws, but converted 30 to overcome a 39.6% shooting night.

"At some level, we're going to figure out how to not turn it over to the other team," BYU coach Lee Cummard told BYU Radio. "I've got to do a better job of preparing them; it was just too hard to overcome.

"The biggest thing is just growing from this," he added. "We're a young team ... and that was my message to them. We've got to evaluate this, adjust to how the refs are calling the game, and grow from it."

Brinley Cannon capped a 10-0 run to end the third quarter as BYU ended the third quarter with a 57-51 lead. The Cougars held Arizona to 5-of-15 shooting, out-rebounded the Wildcats 10-7, and grabbed nine offensive rebounds to flip a 5-point deficit into a 6-point advantage in the quarter.

But the Cats weren't done.

Gibb drained her third 3-pointer of the game as the Cougars led by as much as 71-68 with 2:04 remaining. But the Wildcats ended the game on a 7-1 run, including Sugapong's game-tying 3-pointer with 1:06 remaining to highlight her best game since the former All-Big West selection transferred from UC San Diego and help Arizona to its first win since Dec. 18.

"We were tired of losing," Sugapong admitted.

BYU continues Big 12 play Saturday at Houston (12 p.m. MST, ESPN+).

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