Cannon's career game powers BYU women to comeback win over Utes

PROVO — It's not a stretch to say that Utah women's basketball had all the momentum in a rivalry series the Utes have controlled 70-43 all-time entering Saturday afternoon, coming off a 71-64 win over No. 22 West Virginia ahead of a sometimes-lopsided four-game rivalry win streak.

But Brinley Cannon was not about to make it five.

Cannon scored a career-high 21 points with four rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocked shots as the Cougars rallied to beat the Utes 77-65 in front of an announced crowd of 4,622 fans at the Marriott Center.

Olivia Hamlin added 16 points, four rebounds, an assist and a steal for BYU, which halted a two-game slide to improve to 16-6 and 5-5 Big 12 play with just 11 turnovers and a 20-15 rebounding advantage in the second half.

That and Cannon, the sophomore who shot 6-of-9 from 3-point range and 3-of-4 from the free-throw line to top her previous career high

"Every game is different, every day is different, and I think I just try to stay consistent," said Cannon, who has been arguably BYU's most consistent player through 22 games, all starts. "I'm just grateful to be at a place that has a lot of confidence in me, even when shots aren't going in.

"But this one feels good," she added, "and I'm just grateful to be here."

Lani White had 20 points for Utah (15-7, 6-4 Big 12), and teammate Maty Wilke added 18 for a Utah team that got 13 rebounds from Reese Ross to power a 42-31 advantage on the boards.

But after taking a 10-point lead at halftime, the Utes' old nemesis — the third quarter — reared its ugly head.

Utah scored 11 points off five turnovers en route to an 18-14 first-quarter lead, and Wilke had 13 points at the break to take a 35-25 lead into the locker room.

The Utes held BYU star Delaney Gibb to 8 points and scoreless on eight 3-point attempts. But the reigning Big 12 freshman of the year had seven assists, a career high-tying eight rebounds and four steals to help pace the ninth-most second-half points in program history.

"The ball's in her hands a lot, right?" Utah coach Gavin Peterson said of Gibb. "We limited her from a scoring perspective, but she's an impact player and she forces your hand to have to pick and choose. Tonight we chose wrong.

"She's just a special player," he added. "Credit to her; she doesn't have to always score in the 20s to make an impact. She's probably one of the best, I'd say, five players in our league."

But BYU made several halftime adjustments, both offensively and defensively, to make the visitors pay after the break.

Cannon and Marya Hudgins each scored 5 points in the third quarter to pull the Cougars back in the game, as close as 50-48 on Gibb's layup in the final minute.

Cannon opened the fourth quarter with back-to-back treys to give BYU its first lead of the game 54-52.

Peterson called timeout, and LA Sneed hit her first 3-pointer of the day in response to retake the lead. That should've stopped the bleeding, right?

Instead, BYU kept its foot on the gas, outscoring the Utes 29-13 in the final quarter and ending the game on a 9-0 run over the final 1:02 for the Cougars' first win in the rivalry series since Dec. 4, 2021.

"Coach told us (at halftime) that we have to compete; if we wanted to win this game, we had to compete," said BYU freshman Braeden Gunlock. "I think that kind of just turned a switch going into the second half, and we really brought our effort, started pressuring the ball and forcing turnovers.

"It all started on the defensive end."

Utah's road trip continues with a cross-country flight to play at UCF on Wednesday before returning home next Saturday to host Iowa State.

BYU travels to Lawrence, Kansas, to begin a Sunshine State showdown Wednesday at Kansas, followed by next Saturday's road tilt at Kansas State.

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