No. 3 Red Rocks Sneak Past No. 16 Arizona State For Third Straight Win
Feb 6, 2021, 3:41 PM
(Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Red Rocks needed a rally in the final two rotations but they were able to get past No. 16 Arizona State with a 197.450 win.
Arizona State led the Red Rocks after two rotations but the Utes were able to overcome the deficit and pick up their third straight win.
Once again, Maile O’Keefe won the all-around with a 39.525, edging out ASU’s Hannah Scharf’s 39.475 score.
The Red Rocks remain undefeated in the Pac-12! 🙌#𝙉𝙊𝙄𝙎𝙀 pic.twitter.com/mdWfqDq96L
— Utah Gymnastics (@UtahGymnastics) February 6, 2021
Utah started the meet on the bars where Abby Paulson started out with a 9.85 score followed by a 9.90 from Cristal Isa. Alexia Burch, O’Keefe and Emile LeBlanc each posted a 9.825. ASU held a 49.350-49.225 lead after the first rotation.
Cristal Isa ends the rotation with a 9.90 to lead the Utes 🙌
📺 https://t.co/09R3lgGITX pic.twitter.com/WpeotnPodi
— Utah Gymnastics (@UtahGymnastics) February 6, 2021
The Red Rocks moved over to the vault. Isa started out with a season-high 9.85 before O’Keefe had a career-high 9.90 score. Burch won the event with a career-high score of 9.975. After the second rotation, Utah trimmed the Sun Devils’ lead to 98.725-98.700.
That's a career-high 9.90 for Maile O'Keefe!! Strong start to vault after a season-high 9.85 from Cristal!
📺 https://t.co/09R3lgGITX pic.twitter.com/zcGu8TyK4o
— Utah Gymnastics (@UtahGymnastics) February 6, 2021
The Utes moved over to the floor where Lucy Stanhope picked up a 9.875 score. Jaedyn Rucker had a massive routine that led to a career-high 9.90. Then to cap things off, O’Keefe had a career-high 9.925. Utah held a 148.125-147.750 lead going into the final rotation.
Career-high 9.90 for Jaedyn Rucker 🙌
📺 @Pac12Network pic.twitter.com/s5FGieAC6r
— Utah Gymnastics (@UtahGymnastics) February 6, 2021
The Red Rocks finished the meet at the beam where Burch recorded a 9.85 score. O’Keefe sealed her second straight all-around title with a 9.875 on the beam. Abby Paulson put the nail in the coffin for the Utes with a 9.95 score, winning her second straight beam title with the same score.
The third ranked Red Rocks improved their record to 6-1 on the season. They will have next week off since their meet with Stanford that was originally scheduled for Monday, February 15 was canceled. Utah will next face UCLA at the Jon M. Huntsman Center on Friday, February 19. The meet will begin at 7 p.m. MST and will be televised on ESPNU.
Trevor Allen is a Utah Utes Insider for KSLSports.com and host of the Crimson Corner podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @TrevorASports. You can download and listen to the podcast, here.