Utah Women’s Basketball Finishes Up Road Trip With a Split in Northern California
University of Utah Utes Women’s Basketball Team Guard Bryanna Maxwell (11) looks to pass the ball during an NCAA Basketball match vs. the South Dakota Coyotes at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2019. (Photo by Abu Asib | The Daily Utah Chronicle)
January 26, 2020
The University of Utah women’s basketball team split two games this weekend on the road.
The Utes played twice over the weekend, on Friday at Cal and Sunday at No. 6 Stanford. They took the first game over the Golden Bears before losing to the Cardinal. The weekend moves them to 10-9 on the season, 3-5 in Pac-12 play.
The Utes played a tight game on Friday afternoon and saw 10 lead changes throughout before pulling away in the fourth quarter. They trailed 58-59 with 6:40 left in the game before starting an 11-0 run, putting them up 69-59. The Golden Bears didn’t score again until there was only 52 seconds left, but by then it was too late. Led by their emerging star, freshman Brynna Maxwell, the Utes took out Cal 71-62. Maxwell had 27 points on 10-14 shooting.
That was the Utes’ third win in a row, and it came against a desperate Golden Bears squad. They had lost six in a row prior to Friday. The Utes rode their momentum into Berkeley and came out victorious with a late push. The Utes have won two in a row against Cal. They are 6-9 against them all-time — the Utes lost the first seven matchups and have won six of the last eight.
They weren’t so victorious on Sunday against Stanford, however. The Cardinal, ranked in the top ten nationally, proved to be too much for the Utes. Utah was mostly competitive during the first half — they only trailed by nine at halftime and held Stanford to just ten points in the second quarter. They kept it close through most of the third quarter, but a late Stanford run put a gap between the teams and suddenly Utah was down 17.
Stanford continued their barrage and basically put the game away shortly into the fourth quarter. They went on to win the game in a blowout fashion 82-49. Stanford continues to be a demon for Utah — the Cardinal has beaten them 19 out of 20 times. The lone win was last season.
The Utes are back home on Thursday against No. 4 Oregon. They will then play No. 7 Oregon State on Sunday. A brutal stretch of three games against top-ten opponents will be a tough test for the Utes, but they showed they can hang with the best during their first half against Stanford. If they put together a complete game, they will have chances to win this coming weekend.
