KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Olivia Hamlin scored 16 points, Delaney Gibb and Lara Rohkohl each had 15, and Sydney Benally added 14 as BYU beat Houston 76-66 in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament on Wednesday.
After winning its first Big 12 Tournament game in its third season as a conference member, ninth-seeded BYU (21-10) will play eighth-seeded Utah in the second round Thursday.
BYU outshot 16th-seeded Houston 47% to 31% but had to overcome 22 turnovers and didn’t have the game in hand until the final minutes.
Shun’teria Anumele scored 17 points and TK Pitts 14 for Houston (7-23). The two combined for eight straight points as Houston cut a 12-point deficit to three to open the fourth quarter. BYU held on, leading by five with 3:20 to go before scoring the next eight points with Hamlin making it 74-61 on a bucket in the paint.
Brinley Cannon hit a 3-pointer — her first shot of the game — to open the third and give BYU the lead for good. Rohkohl scored eight points on 4-of-5 shooting and BYU led 56-44 heading into the final period.
BYU never trailed but found itself tied at 29 at halftime after committing 15 turnovers, 10 in the first quarter when it led 11-10.
Jade Jones added 11 points for Houston.
BYU had won the lone regular-season matchup 79-64 on Jan. 10 against a Houston team that was missing four players, three of whom had been suspended for the game following their ejections after a scuffle against Kansas State on Jan. 7.
Up next
BYU: The Cougars, on a four-game win streak, swept Utah in two regular-season games, each time by 12 points.
Houston: Season is over after going 1-17 in Big 12 play before losing Wednesday.
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