At the South Point Thanksgiving Shootout in Las Vegas, Utah dropped both of its contests, losing to Butler on Friday and Marquette on Saturday. The Utes’ latest loss came by a score of 72-65, despite the fact that they outrebounded the Golden Eagles and held them to just a 37.5 field goal percentage. Up by four early in the second half, Marquette quickly stretched its lead to nine and Utah never found a way to claw back.

“They did it fast,” said Utes’ head coach Anthony Levrets. “We had breakdowns in transitioning defenses, we had breakdowns in half court defenses, we missed really easy lay-ins and took a really bad three in that stretch. We have had those in every game. We have had periods of times where we break down. We’ve got to clean it up and get those periods to be less and less often, and if they happen, less damage from [the opponent].”

The main storyline heading into the game was the fact that Utah forward Michelle Plouffe would be facing off against her twin sister, Katherine. While Utah’s Plouffe notched her fourth double-double in six games with a team-high 18 points and 13 rebounds, Marquette’s Plouffe put up 21 and nine in helping her team claim victory.

“It was really cool,” Levrets said of seeing the sisters play one another. “It was cool for them and it was cool for their families. They both played well and for both of them, it was fun leading up to it, though I think both are glad that it is over with. To see both great competitors play, it was just really cool to watch and to have their family watch them play.”

For Utah, guard Danielle Rodriguez added 13 points, four assists and two rebounds. Freshman forward Emily Potter also shined with 12 points, her third game with 10 or more points on the season. She also had six rebounds and a block.

After four consecutive road games, the Utes will return home to play Nevada on Saturday evening. The Wolfpack are led by Danika Sharp, who is averaging 17 points per game on the young season.
Despite losing two consecutive games, Levrets said the overall weekend experience was good for his team and he feels that they are about to make a breakthrough.

“We are going to get better,” Levrets said. “We are pretty close. We are not miles away, but we are pretty close. Hopefully we can survive and get a few wins back at home and then this team is going to improve drastically. This is what we needed. We needed some games and now we can practice before we play again, so this is a very big time for us.”

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