At the beginning of the Utes’ Women’s National Invitational Tournament game against San Diego, the Toreros (22-10) drew first blood with a Klara Wischer jumper, but that was the only lead the Toreros would enjoy. Utah senior Rachel Messer hit a 3-pointer, and the Utes led the rest of the way in a 61-50 win.
Utah will advance to the WNIT Sweet 16, where they will face Pacific on Thursday.
“Really happy with our performance tonight,” said head coach Anthony Levrets. “We did a great job offensively. I was really happy with the pace. We feel like in man-to-man we would have the advantage.”
Levrets mentioned one of the benefits of postseason is playing against teams that haven’t seen much of the season that they have — giving the Utes a fresh start.
The biggest reason for Utah’s win came from its two biggest players. Junior forwards Taryn Wicijowski and Michelle Plouffe combined for 44 points and 21 rebounds and were huge boosts for Utah (20-13). Wicijowski dominated in the post as she put up her team-high 23 points.
“They were out on the perimeter and they don’t have a lot of backside help,” said Wicijowski. “So that gives the post a lot of space to work with.”
Plouffe was right behind Wicijowski with a 21-point, 15-rebound performance.
Utah was unable to build separation in the first half and entered the locker room with just a 30-27 lead at halftime. But in the second half, the Utes’ defense ratcheted up as Plouffe and Wicijowski took over. A quick 12-4 run to start the half gave Utah all the cushion it needed.
“If we get stops we can push it,” Plouffe said. “We did a good job at making them transition, so if it’s not there then pull it out and run our motion, and it leaves making them go with it so we tired them out.”
Utah’s win sends it to the third round of the WNIT, where it will face Pacific (27-7) on Thursday. The Utes were confident they would win Monday, and they had a good idea Pacific would be waiting for them.
“Scouting’s done,” Levrets said. “We knew last night who we were going to play and there is no point in waiting. You get it done and you don’t play then you only lost one night’s sleep. We will spend most of the night tonight and will practice tomorrow. It’s going to be a short prep.”
The Tigers were one win away from making it to the NCAA Tournament, but fell in the Big West championship game. Now the Utes look to become the next team to halt a Tigers tournament run.