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SALT LAKE CITY — For the thousands of elementary-aged children in attendance as part of a field trip to the Huntsman Center Tuesday afternoon, the Utah women's basketball team put on a show.
If it wasn't singing along at the top of their lungs at timeouts to Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" or one of several Taylor Swift songs, it was simply a wild and entertaining day for students who got to miss school to watch a basketball game.
Utah's mascot Swoop started off the fun, with his sheer presence eliciting a chorus of screams and cheers. That energy and excitement carried over into the actual game when the home team made any basket — free throw, layup or 3-pointer.
The 3-point shots — of which Utah made 14 Tuesday — were a particular favorite of the crowd, who jumped out of their seats each time the Utes drained a triple in hopes of securing a coveted thrown out T-shirt as part of the university's "T's for 3's" promotion.
It was an easy crowd to please happy to be out of school.
For the 12th-ranked Utes, though, it made a great atmosphere for a day game against an overmatched Carroll College team. The visiting Fighting Saints scored the first bucket of the day — a top-of-the-key 3-pointer — before the Utes reeled off 20 straight points to quickly put some distance on Carroll College.
Utah used that early momentum to run away with a 100-44 win on 67% shooting from the field and 61% shooting from 3-point range.
"Great atmosphere. ... That was fun having all those kids here," Utah head coach Lynne Roberts said. "My ears are still ringing; they bring the pitch level up an octave I didn't know existed. But it's fun and it's cool to see all the kids here and cheering on the Utes."
Utah (6-1) closed out the first quarter with a 22-8 lead, looking to make easy work of the Fighting Saints, but the team got a bit casual in the second quarter and turned the ball over a handful of times and relaxed on defense to allow Carroll College (6-3) to close the gap in the quarter.
The Utes still outscored the Fighting Saints 27-20, but it was a quarter that Roberts hoped to see a better effort from her team.
"Good win for us," Roberts said. "Other than that second quarter, I thought we played really well. We came out, did a good job defensively, and then I thought we just kind of got casual and loose and turned it over and didn't defend with the intensity we needed to."
That all changed in the second half when Utah locked in on defense and allowed Carroll College only 16 points split evenly between the final two quarters. With mostly bench players, Utah then added 51 points to the scoreboard to, once again, break the century mark for the fifth time this season.
Gianna Kneepkens, who helped lead the charge for the Utes, finished with 19 points on 8-of-8 shooting from the field, including 3-of-3 from deep, while adding four assists in the win. With Kneepkens' sixth shot of the day, a 3-pointer, she crossed the 1,000-career points barrier in her three seasons with the Utes.
"Yeah, it's exciting, but I think for me, it's a lot more fun just winning games, so just focusing on that," Kneepkens said, almost brushing off the honor. "I didn't really know what I needed or anything like that."
"I would add that 1,000 career points seven games into your junior year, that means you're doing something right. ... But I love that she wants to win more than she wants to score 1,000 points," Roberts added. "That's what separates her."
Alissa Pili led the team with a quiet 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting in only 22 minutes of action Tuesday, while Jenna Johnson and Reese Ross each added 16 points apiece.
No player from Carroll College scored in double figures, though three players finished with 8 points apiece.
Utah now turns its attention to a rivalry game at home against BYU Saturday (7 p.m. MST, Pac-12 Networks) before going on the road to Saint Joseph's and a neutral game meeting with No. 1 South Carolina.
