SALT LAKE CITY — Lani White took the game into her own hands.
After a sluggish and disjointed first quarter as a team, White found a rhythm on offense that rallied the efforts from the Utah women's basketball team.
Utah used White's 7-point first and second quarters to propel the team to a 28-10 advantage in the second quarter and take a 22-point lead over a visiting Boise State team who was locked in a tie with the Utes after the first quarter.
That second-quarter effort was enough for the Utes, who went on to build upon the lead en route to a 91-58 win over Boise State.
White led the team in scoring with 23 points — including going 5-of-5 from 3-point range — while adding nine rebounds and six assists in the win. Her five 3-pointers made up the bulk of the team's 14 triples on the day.
Freshman LA Sneed, who started in her second straight game, finished with 17 points and four assists, contributing an additional four 3-points for the team. Chyra Evans added 15 points, eight rebounds and three assists.
Most impressive, though, was Utah (7-3) outrebounding Boise State 56-28, which was just short of cracking the school's top 10 all-time rebounding. Additionally, Utah outscored Boise State 40-12 in the paint, limiting the Broncos in their attempts at the rim behind an improved performance from the team's bigs.
Boise State (8-2), though, managed 12 3-pointers on the night, but that alone wasn't enough to compete with Utah's defensive stops.
Mya Hansen and Natalie Pasco combined for eight 3-pointers as the Broncos' leading scorers. Hansen finished with a team-high 13 points and five assists in the loss.
Boise State kept Utah on its toes early with five 3-pointers in the opening quarter, taking advantage of a disjointed Utah effort. But Utah "decided" to change the game and used a 28-10 effort in the second quarter to establish its dominance over the visiting team.
Veteran Utah guard Maty Wilke sustained an injury to the shoulder area of her body just before the halftime breaks, but tried to play through it to start the second half. The injury was too much, though, and Wilke checked herself out of the game and immediately went to the locker room, where she remained for the duration of the night.
Head coach Gavin Petersen said he didn't know "exactly the extent of the injury" but was hoping to learn more Wednesday night. The hope, he said, was that she'll be available to play on Sunday when Northwestern comes to town.
