First Quarter
The Knights got on the board on their first possession before a triple from Brinley Cannon gave the Cougars an early 3-2 lead. UCF countered with a three of their own to retake the lead at 5-3 with 8:23 to go in the first.
BYU and UCF traded baskets before Gibb hit her first three of the day from the left wing to jump BYU in front 11-9. Out of the media timeout, UCF hit a baseline jumper to knot the game at 11 before Gibb hit a jumper of her own to again go up by two. After a Knight’s miss, Whiting followed with back-to-back layups to stretch the lead to six.
The Knights scored immediately after their 30-second timeout, but Gillispie countered with her first points of the day to maintain the six-point advantage for BYU. After four consecutive UCF points, Lauren Davenport entered the scoring column with a three from straight away. A three-point play by UCF to end the quarter cut the BYU lead to two at 22-20, the first time the Cougars have led after the opening frame since Jan. 25 against Utah.
Second Quarter
The Knights scored four quick points to open the second and retake a two-point advantage but Whiting found a cutting Cannon on an inbounds play for an immediate score to knot it at 24. Emma Calvert then scored off a Kemery Congdon assist to jump ahead by two.
Following the media timeout, Congdon pushed the BYU lead to four with a midrange jumper at the end of the shot clock before UCF rattled off a 9-1 run to close the quarter and take a 33-29 lead into the half.
Third Quarter
The third quarter opened with a flurry of scores with the lead changing hands six times in the first 2:21 of the frame. Whiting opened the half with a floater off the window to pull BYU within two at 33-31 before a Congdon three retook the lead for the Cougs. UCF countered with an old-fashioned three-point play to retake a one-point edge.
Gibb followed with her second three of the game to put BYU up one, but the Knights immediately flipped the lead in their favor with a score off the glass. Congdon’s second three of the contest put BYU up two at 40-38 before a six-point run by UCF to go up five.
Congdon found Gillispie in the post on the next Cougar possession for a score to cut the deficit to three at 45-42, but four straight points by the Knights stretched the lead to seven for the 13-seed.
After the third quarter media timeout, the Cougars scored five consecutive points with a 2-for-2 trip at the line by Gibb and a right-corner triple by Congdon off a baseline inbounds play to pull within two at 49-47.
Gillispie earned herself two trips to the line, making 3-of-4 to trim the deficit to one with 2:52 to go. After Gillispie scored another bucket at the rim and took a charge, Gibb got a wild reverse layup to drop to give BYU the lead at 54-53 with 1:44 remaining in the third.
The Cougars and Knights traded scores in the waning seconds of the quarter, with UCF leading 58-57 heading to the fourth quarter.
Fourth Quarter
The Knights held BYU scoreless through the first two minutes of the fourth during which time they scored eight unanswered points to stretch their lead to a game-high nine at 66-57.
Following a UCF timeout, Hamson snapped the Knight’s 8-0 run with a score off the glass to trim the lead to seven before two UCF scores, including a three-point play that pushed the advantage to 11 with 6:21 to go. On the ensuing BYU possession, Gibb found Calvert in the post for a score off the window.
A 10-7 UCF spurt to end the game gave the Knights an 81-69 win over the Cougars, ending the Cougars' season in the first round of the Big 12 Championship.
