SALT LAKE CITY – Utah women’s basketball made some history in their NCAA Tournament win over Gardner-Webb and will face Princeton on Sunday in the second round.

The Utes’ 103 points in Friday night’s first round game is a school record for the program in an NCAA Tournament game. Utah forward Alissa Pili was also up to her usual ways scoring a career-high 33 points and flirted with a triple double ending her night with eight rebounds and assists.

Head coach Lynne Roberts and the Utes will now turn their attention to preparing for the Tigers on Sunday at the Huntsman Center after they beat NC State in a nail-biter, 64-63. Tipoff will be 5:00 pm MT and can be viewed on ESPNU.

.@UTAHWBB will play @PrincetonWBB on Sunday at the Huntsman Center.

The Tigers beat NC State to advance, 64-63 after a clutch three-point shot gave the lead with under 5 seconds to play.#GoUtes #MarchMadness

— Michelle Bodkin (@BodkinKSLsports) March 18, 2023

Big Contributions That Led To Utah Win

While the 103 points and Pili’s efforts toward that score were impressive, the Utes overall put forth a strong collective effort to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Jenna Johnson was also a problem for the Bulldogs, putting up 20 points, four rebounds, five assists, and two steals. Gianna Kneepkens and Lani White came in clutch with the three-point shots going 2-3 and 2-2 respectively and accounting for four of Utah’s seven total made three-point shots.

As a team, the Utes hauled in 44 total rebounds and 32 assists on 37 made baskets.

While Utah overall put on a dominating performance in their first-round game, there is one area they will need to drastically improve heading into Sunday’s contest and beyond if they want to keep advancing and that is turnovers. The Utes committed 18 total turnovers against Gardner-Webb that at one point helped them to get back within eight points in the third quarter, but Utah cleaned it up and ultimately prevailed.

Michelle Bodkin is the Utah Utes Insider for KSLsports.com and host of both the Crimson Corner Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and The Saturday Show (Saturday from 10 a.m.–12 p.m.) on The KSL Sports Zone. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram: @BodkinKSLsports

Follow @bodkinkslsports