Utah’s Season Ends With First Round Upset Loss To Washington
Mar 7, 2019, 11:31 PM
Utah's bench watches the action as Utah and Washington play in Pac-12 tournament action at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Thursday, March 7, 2019. (Scott Winterton, Deseret News)
(Scott Winterton, Deseret News)
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The Utah women’s basketball team’s season came to an unceremonious end as the Utes were dismissed from the Pac-12 Conference tournament with a 64-54 first-round loss to Washington.
It was a disappointing end to a strong year for the Utes whose season started red-hot. They raced out to a 19-1 start with their lone loss being a slim 2-point decision to Arizona State. The national media took notice of the work that head coach Lynne Roberts had done and rewarded the team with recognition in the Top 25. The Utes climbed as high as the No. 14 national ranking.
Unfortunately the Utes then entered a rough stretch of their schedule and the wins came far less frequently. They ended up losing eight of their last 10 games to finish as the sixth seed in the Pac-12 Conference tournament.
Final Score: Washington 64, Utah 54. #GoUtes #Elevate pic.twitter.com/Uxus2nCr3y
— Utah Women's Basketball (@UTAHWBB) March 8, 2019
Injuries also didn’t help as the team was severely short-handing going into the postseason. Still it looked to be a favorable first-round opponent for the Utes as they drew a Washington team that Utah had defeated handily twice in the regular season. However, the 11th-seeded Huskies were opportunistic and hungry and bounced the Utes early in the tournament.
The game as competitive through the first quarter and a half. However, once Washington’s Missy Peterson drained a three to give the Huskies a 4-point lead with three minutes to go in the second, the Huskies didn’t look back.
Fired up to be in Vegas to support our amazing @UTAHWBB team at the @pac12 Tourney…Lets go, beat the Huskies!!! pic.twitter.com/k2VsZR6g7V
— Mark Harlan (@MarkHarlan_AD) March 8, 2019
Trailing by 19 at one point, Utah rallied near the end to cut the lead to seven with less than two minutes to go, but wasn’t able to give it a final push to escape with a win.
Washington will move on to face Oregon State, the tournament’s 3 seed in the quarterfinals.
While the NCAA Tournament is not a possibility for the Utes, time will time what Utah will do next or if the team will receive an invitation to another postseason tournament.
