A little over a month ago, the BYU women’s basketball team’s record sat at 17-10 after the Cougars dropped a home game against Cincinnati on Feb. 17.
At the time, BYU had been successful under first-year coach Lee Cummard, though it appeared any deep March runs might not be possible for the youthful Cougars.
Fast forward to Monday, however, and Cummard hit a milestone with his team at the Marriott Center.
BYU beat Missouri 93-75 in the second round of the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament, and with it, Cummard tied Jeff Judkins for the program record for wins from a first-year head coach.
The victory improved the Cougars’ record to 24-11 overall. Up next, BYU will host Stanford in the WBIT quarterfinals Thursday (7 p.m. MDT, ESPN+).
“I just found that out. It’s awesome,” Cummard said postgame, of tying his mentor’s record. “He is women’s basketball at BYU. Jeff Judkins is synonymous … with BYU women’s basketball.”
Judkins, the Cougars’ all-time winningest basketball coach who had an all-time record of 456-204, went 24-9 in his first season as BYU’s head coach in the 2001-02 season to set the mark that Cummard tied.
That year, the Cougars made the NCAA Tournament after winning the Mountain West Conference tournament and earning the league’s automatic NCAA bid.
BYU then advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history — beating Florida in the first round and Iowa State in the second round — behind a squad that included All-American Erin Thorn, Jennifer Leitner and Stacy Jensen.
Cummard served as an assistant under Judkins from 2019-22 before Judkins retired as BYU’s coach following the 2021-22 season.
Over the past month-plus, Cummard’s team has won seven of its past eight games en route to earning its 24th win of the season. The Cougars scored their second-highest point total of the season in beating Missouri.
It was a momentous night for BYU’s All-Big 12 sophomore guard, Delaney Gibb, as well. Late in the third quarter, she passed the 1,000-point career mark, becoming the third-fastest in program history to do so.
“To be compared or in any conversation with Coach Judkins is a tremendous honor because he is women’s basketball at BYU.”
— BYU coach Lee Cummard
On Thursday, Cummard and his team will have a chance to set the mark for wins by a Cougar first-year coach.
Stanford is coming off a second-round WBIT win over Quinnipiac and the Cardinal, an almost yearly NCAA Tournament contender under Hall of Fame head coach Tara VanDerveer, are 21-13 under second-year coach Kate Paye.
Cummard credited his team for sticking together through the highs and lows of the season.
“I’ll deflect; we’ve got a great group. They’ve been completely all-in from the beginning and their hard work’s paying off and being rewarded,” Cummard said. “And I’m in a really lucky position. It’s not just the players, it’s everybody collectively is all-in for the group and playing for nothing but trying to win the next game.
“To be compared or in any conversation with Coach Judkins is a tremendous honor because he is women’s basketball at BYU.”
