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SALT LAKE CITY — It was raining 3-pointers at the Huntsman Center Saturday night.
The 12th-ranked Utes made early work of the rival Cougars on their home court, with 10 first-half 3-pointers on 22 attempts to pace Utah to a 52-32 lead at the halftime break.
Utah native Kennady McQueen had 16 points, including four made 3-pointers, in the first half to lead the Utes, and finished with 18 points to pace the home team to an 87-68 win over BYU.
Utah (7-1) used that early momentum, which included pushing the tempo against BYU (6-2) in transition and then finding the open player for the 3-point look, to build up a double-digit lead against a Cougars team that mostly found success inside the paint. But trading 2-pointers for 3-pointers wasn't enough to combat Utah's hot shooting.
"Our bigs got a lot of them — (Alissa) Pili, (Jenna) Johnson open looks — because they weren't pressuring on the 3-point line," Utah head coach Lynne Roberts said of her team's penchant for 3-point shooting. "Our players are programmed to let it fly, and when you've got five people on the court that can all shoot and make threes, it's hard to defend."
BYU settled in to start the third quarter and put pressure on Utah out of the gate with a 9-0 run amid a three-minute scoring drought from the Utes to cut Utah's lead to 12. But McQueen ended the scoring drought with a jumper, Pili drained a top-of-the-key 3-pointer, and Reese Ross added a 3-pointer of her own to push the lead back up to 18.
It was the closest BYU could get as Utah maintained a nearly 20-point lead for the duration of the game.
"I just thought we were trying to score in five seconds or less, and so we were taking rush shots," Roberts said of the rough start to the third quarter. "When you've got a 20-point lead, you don't need to rush anything. So I just felt like we were a little sloppy and our execution was poor.
"We knew that they were going to compete, but we answered and hit some big shots when we needed to, and even when they would make a push we would always answer."
Pili led Utah with 23 points, including five made 3-pointers, six rebounds and five assists for a Utah team that shot 53% from the floor and 50% from behind the arc on 17 made 3-pointers. Utah also assisted on 26 of its 31 made field goals on the night, with Ines Vieira contributing 12 assists.
Utah opened up the rivalry game with a Pili block on a driving Lauren Gustin to elicit loud cheers from the mostly-filled lower bowl of the Huntsman Center. McQueen then hit the first of her four 3-pointer on the night, and the Utes were off and running.
Gustin had 8 of the team's first 13 points to keep BYU in the game, but was quiet for the remainder of the first half. The nation's leading rebounder, who averages 14.6 boards per game, was held to only four rebounds in the first half before breaking out in the second half where she finished with 17 total points and 13 rebounds.
Utah attempted to limit Gustin all night, and largely did for much of the night, but the veteran BYU player was difficult to contain.
"I don't know that you can scheme, but you can certainly make it an emphasis to be the more physical rebounding team, so we did," Roberts said. "It was definitely a point of emphasis in practice and what we worked on, but there's not much you can do. She's just — for whatever reason, she just has it figured out; she's really effective."
Though BYU couldn't match Utah's shooting from behind the 3-point line, the Cougars still managed six made triples and finished shooting 38% from deep. It just wasn't enough to combat Utah.
Though Utah got the win, junior guard Gianna Kneepkens suffered a non-contact injury with just over two minutes left in the game. Kneepkens suddenly dropped to the ground in what Roberts called an "ankle-foot thing," but needed help off the court without putting pressure on her right leg.
Roberts said Kneepkens will get an X-ray, but "hopefully it's nothing."
"Obviously, she's a huge part of our team and that's a significant loss if that happens, but I believe in our team and our depth, and that's why you have depth," Roberts said.
