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PHILADELPHIA — The opening minutes of Thursday night's road game for Utah women's basketball couldn't have gone much better.
Utah had no trouble opening up the game with a 17-2 lead over St. Joseph's, while holding the Hawks to just 11% shooting from the field during that stretch. Utah established a stingy defense that forced the Hawks into late-clock situations and contested shots that often rimmed out.
It was all Utah.
Even with starting guard Gianna Kneepkens out of the lineup for the first game of the season after suffering a season-ending injury, Utah was well on its way to sending the undefeated Hawks to their first loss of the season.
But the Hawks are undefeated for a reason.
St. Joseph's used a much-improved shooting performance in the second and third quarters (outscoring Utah in both) to cut Utah's once 21-point lead to 6 with 2:50 left in the third quarter to challenge the 11th-ranked Utes.
Utah eventually built up a 16-point lead on an Alissa Pili top-of-the-key 3-pointer en route to a 74-48 win on the road before a highly-anticipated neutral-site game against No. 1 South Carolina on Sunday.
Utah (8-1) closed out the game limiting St. Joseph (8-1) to only 8 points in the fourth quarter, and holding the Hawks to 32% shooting from the field.
"I thought we had a great first half," Utah head coach Lynne Roberts said. "They went on a 9-0 run to end the half and we gave them life. They played us pretty even in the third, but we're learning. We don't have Kneepkens, so we're trying to figure out where we'll get our plays from. I think it's going to take some time, we still need to figure out how to be aggressive on the perimeter and score, and I've got to do a good job of putting them in a chance for success."
Pili finished with a game-high 31 points, her seventh time scoring more than 20 points and the first over 30 points this season, and added seven rebounds and three assists in 27 minutes. Of Pili's 31 points, 14 came in the fourth quarter to blow open the game for the Utes.
Kennady McQueen added 11 points as the only other Utah player in double digits. McQueen continued her hot steak of 3-point shooting where she has made 16 of her last 25 3-point attempts on a night when Utah shot 48% from the field and 35% from 3-point range.
In its first loss of the season, St. Joseph's was led by Tayla Brugler, who finished the night with 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting as one of only two players for the Hawks to finish with double digits.
