Utah Women’s Basketball Picks Up First Conference Win Over Arizona State
Jan 5, 2024, 9:06 PM | Updated: Jan 8, 2024, 11:39 am
TEMPE, Ariz. – The Utah Utes women’s basketball team cruised to a 17-point road win over the Arizona State Sun Devils on Friday.
The Utes played stifling defense in Desert Financial Arena. They held ASU to just 14 points in the first half.
Kennady McQueen led Utah in scoring with 12 points. She added six rebounds and five assists.
UTES WIN#GOUTES pic.twitter.com/Tg9IRUizkT
— Utah Women’s Basketball (@UTAHWBB) January 6, 2024
First Half
Jenna Johnson got the Utes started with a shot from deep.
Johnson had a solid game against the Sun Devils as well. She had the second-most points with 10.
JJ hits to start the game.@jenna_johnson22 #GoUtes
📺https://t.co/Jwge1GE9GC pic.twitter.com/X10ExtJQE2— Utah Women’s Basketball (@UTAHWBB) January 6, 2024
Arizona State had a clear defensive game plan from the jump. Limit Alissa Pili.
They honestly did a pretty good job of that as well. Pili finished with eight points but that didn’t stop her from getting some easy buckets inside.
Pili doing Pili things @alissa_pili #GoUtes
📺https://t.co/Jwge1GE9GC pic.twitter.com/NEssYLYtGw— Utah Women’s Basketball (@UTAHWBB) January 6, 2024
Pili’s layup kickstarted a 9-0 run that went until the end of the first quarter.
After the rough end to the first, ASU went on a 7-4 run to close the lead down to single digits.
Utah then shut the Sun Devils out to close the half while scoring six points to lead by 14 at the break, 28-14.
🔴🔴⚫️⚫️
UTAH – 28
ASU – 14#goutes pic.twitter.com/ic8IRnyAdR— Utah Women’s Basketball (@UTAHWBB) January 6, 2024
Second Half
There were a total of 17 points scored in the second quarter.
Both teams stepped it up in the third and scored a combined 41 points.
Utah opened the second half on an 8-0 run.
This sequence 😍
Block by @Dasia_Young11 Three ball by @MatyWilke #GoUtes
📺https://t.co/Jwge1GE9GC pic.twitter.com/gjDPlH4anU— Utah Women’s Basketball (@UTAHWBB) January 6, 2024
ASU responded with a run of their own and dropped Utah’s lead to eight with three minutes left in the third.
After the Utes built the lead back uo a bit, McQueen closed the quarter with a kickout three-pointer.
⚡️McQueen⚡️@KennadyMcqueen #GoUtes
📺https://t.co/Jwge1GE9GC pic.twitter.com/vajBNUXgYA— Utah Women’s Basketball (@UTAHWBB) January 6, 2024
The fourth quarter was all defense as both sides scored eight points.
Neither side could find the bottom of the net down the final stretch either. There were no made field goals in the final three minutes of the game.
Utah pulled out the big conference win over Arizona State to improve to 11-3 on the season.
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Chandler Holt is a co-host for the Jazz Notes podcast and a Digital Sports Producer for sports.ksl.com, specializing in all things basketball and football. Follow Chandler on Twitter @ChandlerHoltKSL or on Threads @chandlerho1t.
