Utah Women’s Basketball Drops Two Home Games to Stanford, Cal
The University of Utah Women’s Basketball team plays against Stanford University in the Huntsman Center, University of Utah Campus, Salt Lake City, on Friday, Feb. 14, 2020. (Photo by Mark Draper | The Daily Utah Chronicle)
February 16, 2020
The University of Utah women’s basketball team (12-13, 5-9 Pac-12) dropped two games this weekend at home.
Going up against No. 8 Stanford (23-3, 12-2 Pac-12) on Friday, they had a two-game winning streak snapped at the hands of the Cardinal. Stanford hit a ridiculous 15 3-pointers, while the Utes only had eight. They started off the game strong, leading 8-3, but Stanford quickly put hopes of a victory to bed as they took a 23-13 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Cardinal didn’t look back and cruised to an easy victory. The Utes gave up a season high 97 points, and lost 64-97. Freshman Kemery Martín led the Utes in scoring with 15 while Lexie Hull was the lead scorer for Stanford with 24. The Utes lost to Stanford 49-82 earlier in the year, and they are now 1-20 against them all-time.
“We just have to keep going and just try again,” said sophomore Andrea Torres. “Just be there for the offensive rebounds and everything. If we keep attacking, they’re going to foul at one point, and we’re just gonna get confident that we’re going to make it.”
“We can’t let them get going from 3,” added senior Daneesha Provo. “I mean, Stanford, they played a great game. It’s hard to stop them.”
The Utes then moved on to face California (10-15, 2-12 Pac-12) on Sunday. Cal had the lead for most of the game, going up by 12 at halftime. They led by as much as 16, and the Utes needed to make a comeback. A third quarter rally by the Utes brought them back into the game and they took the lead, 58-57 on a 3 by freshman Brynna Maxwell. It only went downhill from there, however, as Cal rallied back and went back up by double digits to win the game 88-74 behind a strong fourth quarter performance on the road.
The Golden Bears were led by Cailyn Crocker, who had 26. Sophomore Dru Gylten led the Utes with 21 on 7-12 shooting while Maxwell had 19 on 6-15. The Utes beat Cal, 71-62 earlier this year.
The Utes are now sitting one game below .500 with only four games left in Pac-12 play. They will see No. 12 Arizona (21-4, 10-4 Pac-12) and No. 22 Arizona State (18-8, 8-6 Pac-12) at home next weekend in the final home games of the year before hitting the road heading to Los Angeles and then Las Vegas for the Pac-12 Tournament. They will need to grab some wins coming up in these final four games to have some momentum going into the conference tournament.
