From Rebuild to Ruthless: Inside BYU’s Stunning 2025–26 Breakout
The 2025–26 BYU women’s basketball team hasn’t just started hot; they’ve come out looking like a program that’s tired of rebuilding and ready to contend. Under first-year head coach Lee Cummard, the Cougars have opened the season 4–0, blitzing opponents by an average score of 82–49.5 and turning the Marriott Center into a blowout factory. They’ve piled up double-digit wins over Coastal Carolina, San José State, Omaha, and Fresno State, combining volume scoring with a defense that swallows possessions before they ever get comfortable. It’s early, but the numbers and the eye test both say the same thing: this version of BYU looks nothing like last year’s.
To understand how dramatic the leap has been, you must go back to 2024–25, when BYU finished 13–17 overall and 4–14 in Big 12 play, struggling to find consistency on either end of the floor. That group scored 67.9 points per game while allowing 68.6, living in the margins and often losing close games late; a contrast to this season’s +32.5 scoring margin and top-25 level defense by points allowed. The coaching change from Amber Whiting to Cummard has brought a noticeable identity shift: more tempo, more ball movement, and a renewed emphasis on length and physicality on defense. Where last year’s Cougars were scrappy, this year’s group looks structured, confident, and built for the grind of Big 12 play.
On the floor, sophomore guard Delaney Gibb has emerged as the offensive engine, leading the team to roughly 16 points per game and setting the tone with her shot-making and composure in the backcourt. Senior forward Lara Rohkohl anchors the interior, nearly averaging a double-double with close to 10 rebounds and more than three blocks per outing, giving BYU a true rim protector and paint presence they lacked a season ago. Freshman guard Sydney Benally has been the table-setter, dishing out around seven assists per game while also leading the team in steals, a reflection of BYU’s disruptive, pressure-heavy perimeter defense. Together, that trio has turned BYU into a balanced, analytics-approved machine with strong offensive and defensive efficiency metrics.
Then there’s RS-junior guard Arielle Mackey-Williams, the veteran star who gives this team its personality and national-market appeal. A versatile two-way guard from New Zealand, she spaces the floor, defends multiple positions, and serves as a vocal leader in huddles and timeouts. Off the court, Mackey-Williams has become one of the faces of BYU’s NIL era, with an active Opendorse profile and a growing social-media footprint that positions her as a brand-friendly ambassador for the program. As BYU heads into a key stretch that includes a neutral-site showcase against Virginia Tech and a potential matchup with Oregon State or Vanderbilt in St. Thomas, the Lady Cougars have a chance to prove their undefeated start is no fluke, and to plant themselves firmly in the national Top 25 conversation. If they keep defending like this and their core stays healthy, what’s next could be BYU’s most compelling women’s basketball season in years.
