SPOKANE, Washington — For the second straight game at the McCarthey Athletic Center, aka “The Kennel,” Utah suffered through a second quarter rife with struggles during the NCAA Tournament.
On Monday night, facing hometown Gonzaga, that poor second quarter changed the momentum, as the Utes lost to the Zags 77-66 in the NCAA Tournament’s second round, ending their season.
It’s the second time in the past three seasons that Utah lost in the NCAA’s second round, and comes up one step short of where the Utes ended their season last year, in the Sweet 16.
“Our execution was just poor, and I don’t know why,” Utah coach Lynne Roberts said of the second-quarter swoon when the Zags outscored the Utes 24-8.
“I mean, it’s loud in there, but we play in places that have more people. Not that that’s not a factor, but it’s not like we haven’t been there, done that, so I don’t know what happened in that second quarter.”
Three-point shooting ended up being a major factor in the contest.
Utah shot 15 of 29 from 2-point range, but the Utes were just 9 of 34 from 3-point range.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs made 12 of 22 from 3-point range.
At one point, the Bulldogs made nine straight 3-pointers to help them balloon their lead out to as high as 21 at 55-34 just over three minutes into the second half.
That came after Utah made 5 of 10 3-pointers in the first quarter.
“They got hot from 3 in that second quarter,” Roberts said. “I thought we kind of — it was a great first quarter back and forth, and then that second quarter just we just — you know, it was the same thing on Saturday. We didn’t have a great second quarter offensively.
“Felt like we were a little rushed and our execution was poor on both ends and they got hot.”
In her final game as a Ute, All-American forward Alissa Pili scored a game-high 35 points, often willing her team in the matchup of the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds in their region of the bracket.
Pili gave the Utes one last gasp hope in the fourth quarter, scoring six straight points to bring Utah with six at 67-61 with just under five minutes to play.
The Utes even had a chance to cut into that deficit further, but after a missed Maty Wilke 3, Gonzaga scored the game’s next seven points to put the contest away.
Gonzaga made more than half of its free throws in the final period alone — the Zags made 11 of 13 in the quarter and 17 of 22 in the game, while the Utes shot 9 of 9.
The Zags (32-3) move on to face No. 1 seed Texas in the Sweet 16 on Friday in Portland.
“It definitely wasn’t the ending to our season that we wanted, but like Coach said, hats off to Gonzaga. They played a really good game. But, you know, it’s just tough when you know that that’s your last college game and it kind of just flew by. I’m just grateful for it all.”
— Utah forward Alissa Pili
“It definitely wasn’t the ending to our season that we wanted, but like Coach said, hats off to Gonzaga. They played a really good game,” Pili said.
“But, you know, it’s just tough when you know that that’s your last college game and it kind of just flew by. I’m just grateful for it all.”
For Utah (23-11), it ends the season in the Round of 32 for the second time in three years, though this one was a bit different than the first.
The Utes were the preseason favorite to win the Pac-12, but injuries to Gianna Kneepkens and Issy Palmer forced adjustments, even for the veteran squad.
Still, Utah picked up four wins over top 10 teams during league play and was in contention in March to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
Playing in front of a raucous, rowdy 6,000-capacity crowd, though, the Zags fed off the energy and pushed their way past a never-say-quit Utah team.
Like Saturday’s first-round game against South Dakota State, Utah’s first quarter was a polar opposite from its second.
Against the Zags, that meant Utah watched its six-point lead through one period evaporate quickly.
The Utes, behind Pili, got off to a strong start. Pili scored the team’s first 10 points and Utah made 5 of 10 3-pointers and shot 61.5% in the first period as they led 23-17 through one quarter.
Just over a minute into the second quarter, though, after Pili recorded an and-one, things fell apart for the Utes.
While the hometown Bulldogs shot a scorching 9 of 12, or 75%, during the second quarter, Utah was an abysmal 3 of 12, or 25%.
As a result, Utah went from up 26-19 to down 41-29 thanks to a 22-3 Gonzaga run that put the Zags squarely in control as they led 41-31 at the break.
“The second quarter, Utah is a great third quarter team, and they’re a really good team anyway, but we wanted to be strong in the third quarter but our second quarter turned out as huge decider in the game,” Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier said.
Initially it appeared that Utah had trimmed the lead to eight in the final minute of the half, but after a review, officials took away a 2-point runner from Pili, deeming it a shot clock violation.
That was a microcosm of the second quarter for Utah — things were just off for those 10 minutes, and that extended into the third before the Utes’ comeback came up short.
Pili, who added seven rebounds, battled inside all night with Gonzaga’s leading scorer, forward Yvonne Ejim, who finished with a double-double of 17 points and 13 rebounds to go along with three assists and a steal.
“If anything, like kudos to her and the team,” Ejim said of the Utes. “They played really hard. We’re just coming out, playing with a lot of energy and matching their physicality. They brought a lot of it, physicality. That’s the game. If we have to step up and do that, we’re going to do that. I think we did that well today.”
Kayleigh Truong scored a team-high 21 points for Gonzaga and made three 3-pointers, while twin sister Kaylynne Truong (14 points) made a team-high four 3-pointers and had five assists in a game in which the Bulldogs had 16 assists on 24 field goals, a number Utah matched in both assists and made shots.
“I think we were just moving the ball from one side of the court to the other. We weren’t stagnant at all,” Kayleigh Truong said.
During the second and third quarters, Gonzaga shot a combined 16 of 27, helping the Zags finish the night shooting 48%. Five of Gonzaga’s six field goals during one stretch of that 22-3 run in the second quarter came from 3-point range.
That was enough to hold off a Utah team that shot 38.1%, with Kennady McQueen (12 points) and Dasia Young (11) also scoring in double-figures.
In spite of the loss, Roberts was proud of the effort and resiliency of her squad to keep fighting until the end.
“They showed a lot of toughness,” she said. “You saw that tonight, too. They could have easily gone through the motions there, and we fought back and got it to six I think, and just kind of ran out of gas.”