The ‘U’ on the hill flashed for the first time since Jan. 4 for the Utah women’s basketball team following a 71-55 win over Colorado on Thursday night. Senior point guard Dani Rodriguez blow-torched the Colorado defense for a career-high 19 points and carried the Utes to a wire-to-wire victory over their Rocky Mountain counterparts.
After losing its last five games, Utah was hungry for a win against the Buffs and showed it, opening the first quarter on a 12-4 run. Utah’s center Emily Potter, who has struggled with foul trouble recently, picked up her second personal foul midway through the second period and was forced to watch the remainder of the first half from the sideline.
In her stead, backup big Joeseta Fatuesi put up a strong performance, earning six points and seven rebounds in her 14 minutes of first-half play.
“I thought Joeseta was great holding down the fort,” said head coach Lynne Roberts.
After a low-scoring first quarter, both teams turned on the burners in the second, scoring 19 points apiece. Colorado was bolstered by freshman guard Kennedy Leonard, who scored nine points through the first half and added three rebounds and three assists to round out her all-around play, while Utah was fueled by Rodriguez, who finished the half with 12 points on a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor.
“I didn’t even realize, I just kept shooting and it felt good so I just kept shooting,” Rodriguez said.
Coming out of halftime, Utah’s strong play wavered, as the Buffs squeezed out a 6-2 run in the opening minutes of the third period, trimming the Utah lead to just three. But Utah, remembering its last game in which it held a second half lead before losing to UCLA, was ready for the Buffalo run. Paige Crozon tempered the Colorado run with a wide-open corner three off a whizzing baseline-swing pass from Potter.
The fourth quarter was one of composure for the Utes, as they were careful not to allow the Buffaloes an inch of daylight after collapsing in the final period of play against UCLA in their last matchup.
“Overall [it] was a team win that we finished, that was the biggest difference,” said Roberts.
The Utes outscored Colorado 20-12 in the final quarter and released a collective sigh of relief as they earned their first win since Jan. 15 against Arizona.
“We were all really frustrated because we were in all the games and were so close and ended up losing them,” Malia Nawahine said. “So [we were focused on] just staying in the game all the way to the end and putting four quarters together.”
Nawahine finished with 15 points in what was her third straight game in double-figures.
The Utes will have little time to celebrate their first win in several weeks, as they turn around to play the Buffs again this Sunday, this time in Boulder.
@westinyjay