Utah didn’t advance out of the first round of the women’s basketball NCAA Tournament this year — and it brought a bittersweet end to one of the most successful eras of the program.
The No. 8 seed Utes fell to No. 9 seed Indiana 76-68 Friday in the first round at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina, and in good part, that was a lot by Utah’s own doing.
The Utes, who stumbled down the stretch of what’s been a roller-coaster season, again struggled to put together a full 40 minutes Friday.
Utah (22-9) shot 43.3% for the game, but for the fifth time in its last six contests, the Utes shot under 30% from 3-point range — a key element to the Utes’ offensive attack.
Indiana, meanwhile, executed its game plan and was scorching hot in the second half.
The Hoosiers (20-12) made 69.6% of their shots after halftime, turning a 31-31 game at the break into an Indiana win as Utah couldn’t come up with enough stops to rally after falling behind by as many as 13 points.
“Hats off to Indiana. Really good game, really hard-fought battle (that was) tied at halftime,” Utah coach Gavin Petersen said. “They took advantage in that third quarter. We just weren’t able to push through in that fourth quarter.”
The loss ends the careers of five Utah seniors, including Kennady McQueen, Jenna Johnson and Ines Vieira, who along with junior Gianna Kneepkens, have been with the program each season during a four-year run of making the NCAAs.
This was the first time in that stretch where Utah was eliminated in the first round.
Even with the loss, that feat — and the legacy of these players — shouldn’t be discounted.
It’s only the second time in Utah program history that the Utes have made it to the NCAA Tournament four-straight seasons, and two years ago, Utah made the Sweet 16.
Even with this group exiting — it’s unclear if Kneepkens will turn pro or return for one more year — first-year coach Gavin Petersen has a strong foundation, and another solid incoming recruiting class, to build on for the future.
“(I’m) extremely proud of our team, not only for this season and what we have accomplished, but our graduating senior class and the legacy that they have left,” Petersen said. “A scoreboard for one game is not going to define their success and how much they have impacted our program at Utah.”
The present, though, may take some time to digest.
Utah started the game strong and held a 28-22 lead a few minutes into the second quarter, as fellow senior Maye Toure, a Rhode Island grad transfer, helped fuel the Utes offensively in the first quarter and a half.
Things began to unravel for the Utes at that point, though.
Over the final 3:28 of the second quarter, Indiana outscored the Utes 9-3 to make it 31-31 at halftime.
“I think that probably helped giving them some momentum going into halftime, but basketball is a game of runs,” Kneepkens said. “There’s just happened to be a little bit bigger than ours tonight.”
The Hoosiers then broke the game open in the third, outscoring Utah 27-16 in the quarter.
Indiana made 10 of 12 shots in the quarter to forge ahead, and the Hoosiers — who shot 58% for the game — scored 14 of their 27 points in the third in the paint.
Though Utah had a 16-12 edge in points in the paint at halftime, the Hoosiers flipped that in the second half and ended the game with a 30-26 advantage in that category.
“I think they came out aggressive. They were getting to the paint a little bit more than we were, just being the more aggressive team there for a bit in the third quarter, and then ... we started fighting back the second half of the third quarter,” McQueen said. “But I think we just dug too big a hole to start that.”
Even after falling behind by as many 13 points, Utah managed to get within four points twice in the final three minutes.
First, Johnson made a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 68-64, but Indiana immediately countered with a Chloe Moore-McNeil jumper.
Then, Kneepkens scored the Utes’ final points of the season on a 3-pointer with 1:05 to play to make it 72-68.
Utah ended up getting a defensive stop and retained possession with 32 seconds remaining, with the opportunity to cut into the Indiana lead.
But it was a disastrous possession, one where Petersen didn’t call a timeout to set things up.
Kneepkens missed a 3 early in the possession, though Toure grabbed an offensive rebound to keep Utah alive. After that, though, the possession broke down as Utah eventually had to settle for a long Johnson 3 that missed everything and went out of bounds.
From there, Indiana finished the game at the free-throw line.
“We spent a lot of energy clawing back and coming back, and then we just kind of ran out of time,” Petersen said. “I know we cut it to four. You know, I’m going to kick myself for not calling the timeout, but at the same time, I thought we could get a 3 off in transition and I didn’t want them to set up their defense, but that’s something I got to live with.”
The Hoosiers, who had a 14-2 fastbreak points edge, ended up with five players in double figures.
Yarden Garzon led that effort, as she put up 17 points, seven rebounds, three assists and a steal. Moore-McNeil, a fifth-year guard with her own lengthy experience in the NCAAs, added eight assists, five rebounds and two steals.
Kneepkens paced the Utes, finishing with a game-high 24 points on 9-of-18 shooting. She made 4 of 9 from 3-point range, as Utah was 9 of 32 from 3 as a team.
Toure also had a double-double, with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
As for the rest of the group that’s been to every NCAA Tournament game for Utah over the past four years, McQueen finished with nine points and hit two 3-pointers, Johnson added six points, four assists and three rebounds, while Vieira had two points, six rebounds and an assist.
It wasn’t enough, though, as Utah struggled to put together as strong of a team effort as the Hoosiers did.
Indiana now awaits the winner of subregional host South Carolina and Tennessee Tech. The No. 1 seed Gamecocks are the defending national champions and a strong contender to repeat.
Utah heads home to Salt Lake City, its season over earlier than hoped.
“They do a tremendous job of executing and by that, I mean they’re patient,” Petersen said, of Indiana. “They wait for screens, they set them up, they use them. And they really caused us to have some mishaps on the defensive end. And that’s the difference of the game. And when you’re playing in March, it just takes a few possessions and a team goes on a big run, and then it’s kind of hard to stop.”
