BYU women’s basketball star explains religious reason why team didn’t practice before tourney win

The BYU Cougars women’s basketball team was on the outside looking into the NCAA Tournament this season despite going 26-12 under head coach Lee Cummard.

The Cougars played well enough to earn an invitation to the Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament, where the team was able to knock out the Kansas Jayhawks last week before losing to the Columbia Lions on Wednesday.

BYU drew attention for an interesting and faith-based, decision ahead of their 70-67 win over Kansas. The team didn’t practice because it was a Sunday.

Delaney Gibb, who led the team in scoring, explained it was for religious reasons that the team doesn’t practice on Sundays.

“When you look at it from a perspective of our team and our culture we’ve built and the faith that we have it’s a day that we get to have a different perspective on life,” Gibb said, via the school’s website. “There’s things that are bigger than basketball and Jesus Christ and having faith in Him is something that’s bigger than basketball.”

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Gibb scored 12 points in the three-point victory. Sydney Benally added 15.

The sophomore’s remarks went viral during the week.

Unfortunately, for the Cougars, BYU lost to the Lions in their next game.

Gibb is likely to return for her junior season. She was named to the All-Big 12 Conference First Team after being named the 2025 Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Year.

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During the 2025-26 season, Gibb averaged a team-leading 18.3 points per game. She also averaged 5.1 rebounds.

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