Dominant second quarter enough for Utah to overcome second-half slump, Utes gut out win in Big 12 opener

After building a 16-point halftime lead on the back of a 24-4 second quarter, the Utes needed a final-possession stop to beat Arizona 63-62 at McKale Memorial Center on Monday afternoon in the Big 12 …

Utah women’s basketball is 1-0 in Big 12 play by the narrowest of margins, thanks to a dominant second-quarter surge led by senior guard Lani White.

After building a 16-point halftime lead on the back of a 24-4 second quarter, the Utes needed a final-possession stop to beat Arizona 63-62 at McKale Memorial Center on Monday afternoon in the Big 12 opener for both schools.

“We had a great first half, followed by not-so-much third quarter, and definitely not-so-much fourth quarter. But I’ll take the win as we head into break,” Utah coach Gavin Petersen said in his postgame interview on ESPN 700 AM.

A truly dominant second quarter opened things up

It’s safe to say that Utah (10-3, 1-0 Big 12) owned the second quarter against Arizona.

After the Wildcats held a 19-15 lead through one quarter, the Utes took control of the game in the second, going on a 17-0 run in the period.

At one point, after Maty Wilke hit a 3 with 56 seconds left in the halftime — a shot that gave the senior guard 1,000 career points — Utah led by a game-high 18 and had only allowed a single field goal in the period.

The Utes ended up shooting 57.1% in the quarter, made three of their five 3-pointers in the game during that period and had seven assists on eight field goals in the quarter.

White scored 11 of her career high-tying 26 points in the second quarter, and at one time, she had outscored Arizona by herself, 20-19.

“I felt good in my shot,” White said in a postgame interview on the ESPN+ broadcast. “We were picking apart their defense, and we found the holes, and we just attacked their mistakes.”

The Wildcats, meanwhile, shot a frigid 2 of 13 in the second and turned the ball over six times.

The Utes were ahead 39-23 at halftime, and it looked like Utah would send itself into the Christmas break with a blowout.

“Lani had a great first half, and you know, we rode her that entire first half,” Petersen said.

Lani White was on fire for a half on a career day

White finished the first half with 20 points, and she made eight of nine field goals, including a trio of made 3-pointers, while adding three assists.

Simply put, the Wildcats didn’t have an answer for the shifty senior in the opening 20 minutes.

After halftime, White had more modest numbers — she scored six second-half points on 3-of-8 shooting, while Utah was outscored 39-24 in the final two periods.

Her 11 field-goal makes set a career high, and her layup two minutes into the second half helped stem a 7-0 Wildcats run.

Though the Utes shot 50% from the field in the first half, they were considerably cooler in the second half, shooting 30.6%.

That allowed Arizona to stick around.

Reese Ross led a dominant effort on the boards for Utah. She had her second straight double-double with 10 points and a career-high 14 rebounds, as the Utes owned a 45-31 rebounding edge.

Despite that advantage, Utah couldn’t pull away, even with solid contributions from Chyra Evans (10 points, eight rebounds, six assists) and Wilke (nine points, five rebounds, one assist), who was clearly hampered by a shoulder injury that’s been an issue for weeks.

“We’re banged up. Maty Wilke is playing with one shoulder and kept having to come out of the game,” Petersen said. “… You talk about the grit of a kid like that. I mean, she needs some rest. But we don’t win this game without a Maty Wilke.”

The Utes survived an Arizona rally

Thank goodness, for the Utes’ sake, that the Wildcats struggled finishing at the rim — otherwise, this likely would have been a win for Arizona (9-3, 0-1 Big 12).

The Wildcats slowly fought their way back into the game, despite shooting 37.3% from the field.

Late in the third quarter after Arizona cut its deficit to 47-41, the Utes got key scores on a 3-pointer from Grace Foster, followed by an and-one from LA Sneed to make it a double-digit lead again.

Both teams struggled shooting in the fourth, but eventually Arizona scored five straight points to make it a five-point game going into the final minute.

Utah, which had four turnovers over the game’s final five-plus minutes, got a timely layup from Sneed and appeared safe with a 63-56 lead with 39 seconds to play.

The Utes had to sweat it out, though — Mickayla Perdue, who led the Wildcats with 16 points and two rebounds, was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all three, then Arizona forced a turnover.

With 12 seconds left coming out of a timeout, Perdue then hit a 3 from the corner to make it 63-62.

The Wildcats fouled the freshman Sneed, and she missed both free throws.

“At some point, our freshmen and newcomers, they’re going to have to figure it out. You were brought here for a reason,” Petersen said. “You need to be able to do what we ask in closeout games. When we get there, we’re going to be a hard team to beat, but we’re not there yet.”

That gave Arizona possession with 8.4 seconds to play and a chance to win, though the Utes only allowed a poor shot underneath the hoop — one that hit the underside of the rim — as the buzzer sounded on a solid defensive possession.

It allowed Utah to survive and start Big 12 play with a win before taking a holiday break. Their next game is Dec. 31 at home against Arizona State.

“We were able to close the game today, but we got a lot of things to get back to Salt Lake and fix. But we played hard today, good first Big 12 win,” White said.

Source: Utah News