No. 7 Utah women make 16 3-pointers en route to 92-69 win over Washington

SALT LAKE CITY — As the ball floated through the air, and the halftime buzzer sounded mid flight, there was no question it was going through the net.

Issy Palmer's half-court shot had the distance, it was on the mark, and it found the bottom of the net to give No. 7 Utah a 17-point halftime lead — its largest of the first half — over the visiting Washington Huskies. All Palmer could do was give a little shrug and a smile as the team celebrated on its way to the locker room.

To say Utah women's basketball was feeling it behind the 3-point line on Friday night was an understatement. Palmer's half-court shot was just the icing on the cake.

"The rim was pretty big there for a while," Utah head coach Lynne Roberts said. "Yeah, that was a great moment, great way to end the half and go into the locker room with some energy."

The Utes made 10 3-pointers in the first half on 14 attempts (71%) and eventually finished with 16 for the game en route to a 92-69 win over the Huskies, who entered Friday night's contest on a three-game win streak and a recent win over then-No. 2 Stanford.

"U-Dub was coming off of beating Stanford, so they definitely had our team's attention," Roberts said. "I thought we came out really well, and just kind of wore them down. Obviously, we shot the ball really well. They were doing a really good job of defending inside; it was hard to score around the bucket, and that's kind of what we're able to do.

"If you're gonna do that, then we have people that can shoot — great win. Anytime we win by 23 in this league, I don't care if you're home or away, it's a great night."

But Utah (21-2, 11-2 Pac-12) had no trouble putting distance on Washington (13-10, 5-8 Pac-12) and found success in the post early before the team quickly found its range for multiple 3-point looks that went down with ease. The Utes cooled down a bit — if 40% is cooling down — in the second half from behind the arc, but continued to build upon its lead before taking a game-high 30-point lead with 3:27 left to play.

Much of that was helped by the team assisting on 25 of the team's 31 made field goals as Utah shot 51% from the field.

Kneepkens led all scores with 19 points, which included five made 3-pointers on eight attempts. Her five 3-pointers was just one less than what Washington made all night. Kneepkens said she was given the "green light" and had multiple open looks, and it paid off for the sophomore guard.

Alissa Pili added 17 points, including two 3-pointers, four rebounds and three assists; and Lani White and Jenna Johnson added 11 points apiece in the win. White's 11 points was a career high for the freshman, and Roberts said she let her team know in the locker room.

"It's just who she is," Roberts said, laughing about the locker room interaction. "It comes from a good place. She just wants to play and it's just the joy of playing, so it's fun."

Elle Ladine paced Washington with a team-high 18 points, including two of the team's six 3-pointers on the night. Darcy Rees and Haley Van Dyke both added 10 points apiece as the only other players to score in double figures for the Huskies.

Washington attempted to cut into Utah's lead late in the game, but got no closer than a 23-point deficit against one of the best teams in the country.

"I think U-Dub is really good," Robert said. "I think they're incredibly well coached. This is Tina Langley's second year and she's getting that thing going. They play hard, they're disciplined, they run their stuff. We just had a little too much firepower."

It was another strong showing from a Utah team hoping to keep the momentum as the team nears the end of the regular season. The dominant performance comes a day after the NCAA released its projected seeding for the top 16 teams in the upcoming NCAA Tournament, where Utah was slated as a No. 2 seed as the sixth-highest ranked team in the country.

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