Utah Women’s Basketball Come Up Short To UCLA In Pac-12 Tournament
Mar 7, 2024, 11:39 PM
LAS VEGAS – The No. 22 Utah women’s basketball team handled their business against ASU and now face the No. 7 UCLA Bruins in the quarterfinal round of the Pac-12 Tournament.
The Utes started a little slow against the Sun Devils Wednesday night, but eventually turned up the heat, particularly after an incredible third quarter half-court buzzer beater. Utah will be looking to carry that momentum into Thursday’s meeting with UCLA- a team they split results with in the regular season.
The Utes started strong but UCLA wasn’t going to go away easy going into the locker room with a 32-27 lead.
HALFTIME
Utah women trail UCLA 32-27 at the half. The #Utes are shooting 37% from the field, 29% from the three and 25% from the field.
Turnovers have kept Utah in the game- UCLA has had seven, the Utes just two.#GoUtes
— Michelle Bodkin (@BodkinKSLsports) March 8, 2024
Utah continued to battle but the Bruins seemed to have an answer for every move the Utes made. UCLA walked away with the win 67-57.
The Utah women’s run in the Pac-12 Tournament comes to an end tonight against UCLA.#Utes pic.twitter.com/cMd63x2Bsf
— Michelle Bodkin (@BodkinKSLsports) March 8, 2024
How The Semifinal Round Of The Pac-12 Tournament Looks
No. 13 Oregon State took care of business against No. 18 Colorado earlier in the day and will play No. 2 Stanford on Friday who beat Cal earlier Thursday. That game will tipoff at 6:00 pm MT and can be viewed on Pac-12 Networks.
No. 5 USC had to battle hard against Arizona, but will turn their attention to No. 7 UCLA on Friday with tipoff set for 8:30 pm MT. That game will also be available on Pac-12 Networks.
Looking Ahead At The Utah Women’s Basketball Schedule
With Utah’s run in the Pac-12 Tournament over, the Utes will wait for Selection Sunday to learn their NCAA Tournament Regional fate.
Starting Lineups Utah Women Vs. UCLA
Starting lineup#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/DxsGqvtdvq
— Utah Women’s Basketball (@UTAHWBB) March 8, 2024
First 5⃣ in Las Vegas!
1⃣ – @kiki_rice0
3⃣ – @Deeezzy3
2⃣0⃣ – @CharismaOsborne
3⃣2⃣ – @AngelaDugalic
5⃣1⃣ – @laurenbetts12 #GoBruins pic.twitter.com/RJD7HI6NXq— UCLA Women’s Basketball (@UCLAWBB) March 8, 2024
Utah Women Stats Leaders In Pac-12 Quarterfinal
- Scoring Leader: Alissa Pili – 16 points
- Rebound Leader: Maty Wilke – 7 rebounds
- Assists Leader: Jenna Johnson – 4 assists
Alissa Pili finished as the leading scorer for the Utes with 16 points while adding four rebounds and two assists.
Kennady McQueen came in as Utah’s second leading scorer with 14 points while adding three rebounds.
Ines Vieira and Maty Wilke rounded things out with 11 and 10 points.
Noteworthy Women’s Basketball Team Stats In Pac-12 Quarterfinal
The Utah women didn’t have the best night shooting against UCLA going 35% from the field, 30% from the three, and 50% from their trips to the line.
The Utes collected 27 rebounds, 12 assists, one block and 10 steals.
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 X, Instagram, and Threads: @BodkinKSLsports
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