Delaney Gibb's 10 freshman of the week awards yields unanimous Big 12 honor

PROVO — For Delaney Gibb, good things come in threes — and great things come in 10s.

The BYU freshman from Raymond, Alberta, picked up her 10th Big 12 freshman of the week award Monday after notching a career-high 36 points that included 5-of-7 shooting from the arc and her second career double-double in the Cougars' heart-stopping 76-73 road loss to in-state rival Utah to close out the regular season.

With nine weekly honors in the past 11 weeks, Gibb is one of just two players in league history to be named Big 12 freshman of the week at least 10 times, joining Kansas State's Ayoka Lee, who won the award 12 times in 2019-20. The 5-foot-10 freshman was named the unanimous Big 12 freshman of the year Tuesday, as voted on by the league's coaches.

Gibb is the third freshman named conference player of the year in BYU history, joining Debbie Dimond Freeland (WAC, 1991) and Erin Thorn (MWC, 2000). She also earned Big 12 all-freshman and second-team honors.

Gibb's 36 points scored at the Huntsman Center are the most by a BYU freshman in a single game since Cassie Broadhead Devashrayee scored 36 against Utah on Dec. 9, 2017. It's also tied for the third-most points by a Big 12 freshman in a single game since 1999-00.

She's the second BYU basketball player to earn back-to-back weekly awards this season, after Richie Saunders was named Big 12 player of the week in men's basketball Monday.

Saunders is just the fourth player in the conference to win the award multiple times after averaging 19.5 points per game to help BYU move up to No. 23 in the Associated Press Top 25 by adding two victories to their six-game winning streak over Arizona State and West Virginia.

On the women's side, BYU has won freshman of the week for 10 of the last 11 weeks, including Kambree Barber's nod Feb. 3 after her first career double-double against Arizona State.

In a conference that includes phenomenal fifth- and sixth-year players like Iowa State's Emily Ryan, TCU's Hailey Van Lith and West Virginia's JJ Quinerly, BYU coach Amber Whiting played her freshmen — often starting two first-year and a sophomore in Amari Whiting — and Gibb showed out.

"Delaney has had an all-time season," Whiting said. "From the very first game, she has shown why she is one of the best freshmen in the country and a massive addition to our BYU women's basketball family. She is the type of player who brings it night in and night out both in the way she approaches the game and strives to make those around her better.

"Delaney is the ultimate competitor, and she always finds a way to get the most out of herself. She has big dreams and with her work ethic, she has the opportunity to achieve them."

Gibb, a four-star freshman and Canadian international with eyes on representing her country in the Olympics, also had a game-high five assists, two seals and a block against the Utes to average 22.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 5.5 assists on 51.6% shooting from the field in two games last week as she continued her ascent up the BYU record books.

The former two-time Ms. Alberta basketball ranks second in program history in points by a freshman, her 507 points trailing only former BYU star Shaylee Gonzales' 560 in 33 games during the 2018-19 season.

Gibb leads all freshman in BYU history with 17.48 points per game through 29 contests, and also ranks top five in 15 statistical categories, including field goals made (177), field goal attempts (385), 3-pointers made (75), 3-point attempts (187), defensive rebounds per game (4.21), assists (121), assists per game (4.2), turnovers (131), games started (29), minutes played (979:27) and minutes per game (34.9).

Utah coach Gavin Peterson pointed toward Gibb's "high-level" experience and coaching with Canada basketball, in training camps and youth tournaments, including a spot at the U19 world championships in 2023 and U17 world championships a year before.

"She has the tools, she is one of those kids where it will be exciting to see what she does individually," Peterson said of Gibb after Utah's rivalry win in the regular-season finale. "But, obviously, it's a team game, and I think our program right now is kind of where they want to go. Maybe that's their start of what we've had.

"Credit to her; we recruited the crap out of her. We wanted her in Utah red, but sometimes you lose kids like that. She's one hell of a player, should be Big 12 freshman of the year, and probably should get a few more accolades. Credit to her."

BYU (13-16, 4-14 Big 12) earned the No. 12 seed in this week's Big 12 women's basketball tournament. The Cougars will face No. 13 UCF at 10 a.m. MST Wednesday at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.

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