In one of the wildest games of the year, the Utes kept calm and took care of business, even when it appeared the contest was slipping away.
Michelle Plouffe hit a 3-pointer with 14 seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime. Then she and Taryn Wicijowski, scored all 12 of Utah’s points in the extra session to give the Utes a 60-55 win over the Pacific Tigers on Thursday night in the Sweet 16 of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament.
“It’s a great team win,” said head coach Anthony Levrets on the ESPN 700 postgame show. “We have a really good size advantage and did an excellent job of getting the ball down where we needed it.”
The Utes’ size is in Plouffe and Wicijowski, and the duo was certainly effective, as they combined for 49 of Utah’s 60 points and 32 of their 48 rebounds. This feat was challenging because they both had four fouls late, but they played smart defense and were able to stay on the court and pace the Utes over the Tigers.
“It was a dog fight,” Plouffe said. “We played our butts off. We played as a team and did what we had to do.”
It was certainly a dog fight. Utah limited Pacific to 26.4 percent shooting but committed 19 turnovers. There were three technical fouls called, a scuffle among the players, and the teams combined to shoot 43 free throws, even as the referees allowed a lot of contact throughout the game.
“We knew it would be scrappy,” Plouffe said. “It was a real physical game. We knew it would be a grind.”
Before the helter-skelter final 10 minutes of the game, Utah stormed out of the gates ready to play. The Utes opened up leads of 9-0 and 19-8 before letting Pacific climb back into the contest by allowing an 11-0 run to end the first half.
Down four with 1:19 to go in regulation, the Utes got a layup from Wicijowski to cut the lead to two. After Pacific stretched the lead to three with a free throw, Plouffe made the game-tying triple after missing a potential game-tying shot 16 seconds earlier.
“I was just thinking, ‘the next one was going in,”’ Plouffe said. “You have to have short-term memory. I knew I was going to get the look I wanted, and I just had to knock it down.”
Utah outscored the Tigers 12-7 in overtime, and Plouffe sealed the victory with foul shots in the final seconds to send the Utes to the quarterfinals to face off against St. Mary’s on Saturday at 2 p.m.
“They are a very good program,” Levrets said of St. Mary’s. “We’ve played them quite a few times in the last few years. They play hard. It’s going to be a tough game.”
Because the Gaels use the pick-and-roll frequently, the Utes will need to adjust to that different system with only one day to prepare. St. Mary’s (23-10, 11-5 WCC) is coming off a 59-55 road win against BYU.
“I don’t know much about them,” Plouffe said. “We’ll get the game plan tomorrow. The coaches have been working on it all week.”