Utah Women’s Basketball Picks Up Two Big Road Wins
University of Utah Utes Women’s Basketball Team Wing Niyah Becker (14) dribbles with the ball during an NCAA Basketball match vs. the Eastern Washington Eagles at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah on Monday, Nov. 18, 2019. (Photo by Abu Asib | The Daily Utah Chronicle)
February 9, 2020
The University of Utah women’s basketball team (12-11, 5-7 Pac-12) snapped a three-game losing streak this weekend with two big road wins.
Coming off an extremely tough stretch against three Top 10 teams, the Utes bounced back, beating both Washington (11-12, 3-9 Pac-12) and Washington State (11-13, 4-8 Pac-12) on the road.
On Friday night, the Utes were in Seattle to play the Huskies. They took an early lead and never gave it back. They went up 23-13 at the end of the first quarter and kept a steady lead for most of the game. A third quarter rally by the Huskies cut the lead to four, but the Utes finished strong and closed the game out, winning 74-65.
Utah’s star freshman Brynna Maxwell led the team with 16 points on 5-9 shooting in her return to her home state of Washington. Senior Kiana Moore chipped in 11 off the bench.
From there, the team travelled to Pullman for a game against the Washington State Cougars on Sunday. They jumped out to an early lead and kept up the pressure in route to an easy victory. The Cougars led 4-0, and then the Utes went on a 22-2 run and led 22-6 at the end of the first quarter. By the third quarter, they led by as many as 34 points.
Utah took their foot off the gas in the fourth quarter, and won 78-66 in a game that was not as close as the final score. Maxwell had 22 on 7-9 shooting, including four 3s. Senior Daneesha Provo had 20.
The Utes were looking for a win after they had lost three in a row. It’s been a season of streaks for them with wins and losses coming consecutively. They will look to keep this new two-game winning streak going when No. 6 Stanford (21-3, 10-2 Pac-12) comes to town on Valentine’s Day and California on Sunday.
The Pac-12 is a very hard place to play, but the Utes showed they can get it done this weekend. They played to their strengths and consistently hit shots, which allowed them to be successful this weekend. The schedule is easing up a little bit, but they still have Arizona (19-4, 8-4 Pac-12), Arizona State (16-8, 6-6 Pac-12) and UCLA (21-2, 10-2 Pac-12) coming up, so they have to stay disciplined to stay afloat in the Pac-12. They showed they can beat lesser teams, so long as they can take care of business they will be alright.
