Multitude of mistakes doom Utes women in Bruins' blowout win at home

LOS ANGELES — The trifecta was not completed at Pauley Pavilion Thursday night.

Over the weekend, both the Runnin' Utes and the Red Rocks secured comeback wins against UCLA. Lynne Roberts' squad was the latest to attempt the comeback in Pauley Pavilion over a week's time, but that hope ended fairly early.

The Bruins opened up the game on a 12-0 run to take a commanding lead at home before Alissa Pili finally got Utah's first bucket of the game — and her 2,000th point — to stop the bleeding. And though Utah made several attempts to battle back, the comeback never came.

Utah cut the lead to 8 late in the second quarter, but UCLA reeled off a 6-0 run amid a nearly three-minute scoring drought by the Utes to closeout the quarter and take a 39-25 halftime lead.

UCLA maintained a double-digit lead and never let Utah seriously threaten after building the lead up to a 24 points midway through the third quarter. Utah never found a consistent answer and lost 82-52 Thursday night.

The Utes shot a dismal 32% for the game, but turnovers and poor shooting from behind the 3-point line doomed the visitors. Utah (19-8, 9-6 Pac-12) finished the night with 20 turnovers, which lead to 26 points for the Bruins, and was only 1-of-6 at the halftime break and 3-of-15 for the game from behind the arc.

Utah was without the service of Issy Palmer (pregame injury) and Jenna Johnson for a time. Johnson left the game early after suffering a head injury on an inadvertent elbow on a rebound attempt. The hit to the head left a significant gash that required the junior forward to get stitches during the game.

Johnson eventually returned with about two minutes left in the third quarter, wearing a No. 50 jersey after her original No. 22 jersey had too much blood from the "2-inch gash," according to ESPN's Holly Rowe.

Though much of Utah's problems were self-inflicted, UCLA's Lauren Betts also made the night difficult for the Utes. Nearly every shot attempt around the rim was swatted away or threatened by Betts, and rebounds were easily collected by the talented big.

Betts finished with 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting, and collected six rebounds and three blocks in the win.

Though Betts was a menace in the post, Londynn Jones was lethal from behind the perimeter. The Bruins (21-5, 10-5 Pac-12) guard was 7-of-10 from deep to finish with a team-high 23 points.

Utah was led in scoring by Pili, who finished with 20 points on 5-of-13 shooting and a perfect 10-of-10 from the free-throw line. Kennady McQueen, who also suffered an elbow injury in the second half, finished with 11 points in the loss.

Utah's road test doesn't get any easier as it now stays in Los Angeles to take on USC Sunday.

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