The Cougars start their NCAA Tournament run Saturday against Villanova.
BYU Cougars center Sara Hamson and BYU Cougars guard Tegan Graham laugh as Maria Albiero strikes a pose as BYU celebrates their win over the Waves, in women's basketball action between the BYU Cougars and the Pepperdine Waves, at the Marriott Center in Provo, on Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022. Judkins scored his 450th win tonight.After every practice, the No. 20 BYU women’s basketball team gathers in a circle before everyone goes their separate ways for the day.
“We came back because we didn’t want to end on the losses that we did and because we wanted to see how far we can go because we are a really good team,” seniorHamson, Paisley Harding, Tegan Graham and Maria Albiero all returned this season as a result of the NCAA giving athletes an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This will be their final run together.
But winning wasn’t the sole reason those four seniors decided to return. Hamson said there was a sense of not wanting to let down their other teammates by leaving. And additionally, there may have been a sentiment of wanting to delay the inevitable.“College basketball is all we’ve known for the past four — now five — years and it’s comfortable and we enjoy it and we don’t want it to end,” Hamson said.
And while Judkins said the reasoning behind the seniors returning is more understood than spoken aloud, it seems to be a topic of conversation among the players. The Cougars left for Ann Arbor, Mich., Thursday morning and were sent off by fans who gathered at the Marriott Center ticket office and held balloons and waved BYU flags.
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