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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah wing Malia Nawahine went to high school just 10 minutes away from BYU and the Marriott Center.
But in her first game against the Cougars last year, the Springville High product admits to being shut down by former Alta guard Makenzi Pulsipher.
Nawahine got her revenge Saturday night.
Nawahine scored 16 points with three assists, and post Emily Potter had 21 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals to lead the Utah women’s basketball team to a 9-0 start with a 77-60 win over rival BYU in the Huntsman Center.
“Last game, she shut me down and so I had a chip on my shoulder. I was excited,” said Nawahine, who drained of her four shots from 3-point range. “I’m more happy than everyone else.”
Tanaeya Boclair added 15 points for the Utes, who turned a three-point halftime edge into a 23-point margin in the third quarter.
“They played really tough. I don’t think I did a tremendous job in the first half getting depth and posting up,” said Potter, who entered the game averaging a double-double with 3.0 blocks. “But once we were moving the ball in the second half, everyone was hitting threes and it made everything easier.”
BYU’s Cassie Broadhead had a game-high 22 points, two assists and two steals, and teammate Kalani Purcell added 15 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals for the Cougars (5-4).
But BYU had only two double-digit scorers, and got just 11 points off the bench.
“You never want to lose, but if you lose you never want to lose by getting out-competed and out-hustled. That’s what happened tonight,” BYU coach Jeff Judkins said. “They wanted it more than us.
“Too many people let their emotions go on their jump shot. Smart players don’t.”
Purcell scored or assisted on BYU’s first four field goals to give the Cougars an 8-4 lead on Shalae Salmon’s backdoor layup with 6:30 left in the opening quarter, and BYU took a 20-13 lead after the first period on back-to-back 3-pointers by Broadhead and freshman Brenna Chase.
It was the largest lead the Cougars would hold all night in the hotly contested rivalry game.
Nawahine hit back-to-back 3-pointers to fuel a 9-2 run to open the second quarter and tie the game at 22 with 4:55 left in the half.
“I just noticed I was open, and I got confident,” Nawahine said of the back-to-back stretch.
The Springville High product gave the Utes their first lead of the game on a free throw with 3:34 left in the half, and Utah finished the quarter on a 7-2 run to take a 33-30 edge into halftime.
“That kind of got the nerves out,” Utah coach Lynne Roberts said. “I think BYU came to play; they’re very, very good. The first quarter is when everybody’s execution is on point. They were ready to roll.”
Potter stretched the lead to 12 on a layup as Utah opened the third quarter making 5-6 free throws to pace a 9-0 run. The junior from Winnipeg, Manitoba, then scored six-straight to help Utah pull away for a 58-36 lead with 1:45 left in the third.
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Lynne Roberts had never experienced anything like the BYU-Utah rivalry before taking the head post over the Utes’ women’s basketball program.“We got out-played, out-toughed and they just wanted it a lot more than us tonight,” Judkins said. “In that third quarter, we came out really flat. They took it to us, and we buckled.”
BYU was held scoreless from the field until Purcell’s layup just over five minutes into the half. The Cougars made just 2-of-12 shots in the third quarter in falling behind 60-37.
Paige Crozon iced the game on back-to-back 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, giving the Utes a 70-47 lead with 4:41 remaining as they ran out the clock. Crozon finished with 12 points and five rebounds.
The Utes finished with four double-figure scorers. But it was defense that gave them the win, holding BYU to just 34 percent shooting, including 4-of-25 from 3-point range.
Nawahine can also take credit for that, Roberts said.
“Makenzi Pulsipher is a heck of a shooter, and she went 2-for-15 and Malia was guarding her,” Roberts said of BYU’s top shooter, who scored just seven points. “I wouldn’t want Malia guarding me for one minute, let alone 40.”
