No. 18 Utah women dominate in wire-to-wire blowout win over Washington State

SALT LAKE CITY — No. 18 Utah wasted little time building up a double-digit lead in the penultimate game of the regular season Thursday afternoon.

Alissa Pili got a wide open look at the top of the key on Utah's first possession, and the senior forward drained the 3-pointer with ease. On the ensuing Utah possession, Maty Wilke drained a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer of her own, and Utah was off and running.

It didn't take long before Utah had a 14-2 lead amid a perfect 5-of-5 shooting, including 4-of-4 from behind the arc, to open up and to dictate the terms of the game against the visiting Washington State Cougars.

Outside of a 10-0 run at the end of the first half to cut a one-time 16-point lead down to 6 by Washington State, the Utes maintained a double-digit lead in a wire-to-wire win, beating the Cougars 82-67 in the first part of a doubleheader with the men's team at the Huntsman Center.

"Great win for us," Utah head coach Lynne Roberts said. "I thought, obviously, from the start, we set the tone. ... I thought we came out with the right energy. Washington State's a good team, they're an NCAA Tournament team, in my opinion, and we knew they weren't going to just roll over and die."

Utah (21-8, 11-6 Pac-12) took over in the third quarter and put distance on Washington State (17-13, 6-11 Pac-12) amid a long stretch in which the Cougars turned over the ball several times and Utah capitalized. The Utes won the quarter 21-10 and built up a 22-point lead as the Cougars all but surrendered before the final 10 minutes of action.

Kennady McQueen made good use of several strong cuts to the basket to lead to easy layups, and then hit from deep to give the junior guard a career-high tying 22 points, three rebounds and three assists to lead the Utes, who shot 54% from the field and 44% from 3-point range on 11 made triples.

"She would have blown her career high out of the water if I hadn't pulled her, but we were ahead and we need her healthy and fresh for Saturday," Roberts explained.

"When you have Alissa Pili owning the paint like that, it makes guard jobs easier, so she did a great job of finding the open man, and then I thought our ball movement was awesome, which is why I had so many open shots I felt like," McQueen said. "Just when we move the ball like that, that's Utah basketball, and it's just going to end up in the right person's hand for the right shot."

Pili added 21 points, 10 of which came in the first quarter alone, and 12 rebounds; and Ines Vieira finished with 13 points and six assists on a day where the Utes assisted on 25 of its 33 made baskets.

"Any time (Pili) catches it, or she's posting up, everybody is keyed in, and so you turn your back, you've got to cut or whatever; and we knew that was going to be the case," Roberts said. "Every time she posted up, the weak side two-guard, the two people were swarming, so that opens it up; that's why we hit 11 threes.

"You've got to pick your poison with us. If you want to do that, then we'll hit threes or we'll cut, or do those kinds of things."

In total, Utah had five players score in double figures, including 11 points from Lani White and 10 points from Dasia Young, both of which came off the bench to help contribute to Utah's 21 bench points.

Washington State led a late charge to cut into the deficit, in what Roberts described as a "sloppy" fourth quarter, which included a 8-0 run over 1:08, but the damage was already done. Utah maintained a near 20-point lead to closeout the game to earn another double-digit win in a highly-competitive Pac-12 race.

Bella Murekatete led the Cougars with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting as one of three players to finish in double figures. Kyra Gardner added 13 points, four rebounds and two assists; and Tara Wallack, whose back-to-back 3-pointers in the second quarter helped the 10-0 run, finished with 10 points.

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