Make that five straight wins for Gavin Petersen’s Utah women’s basketball squad.
The Utes steamrolled the Big Ten’s Northwestern 91-66 at the Huntsman Center on Sunday, avenging a loss to the Wildcats in nonconference play last season.
This time, Utah pulled away in the second and third quarters after a tight first quarter.
The team is rounding into shape before Big 12 play
The Utes have taken some time to find a rhythm with a new group that doesn’t include former Ute greats like Gianna Kneepkens, Jenna Johnson, Kennady McQueen and Ines Vieira.
In the win over Northwestern, senior guard Lani White continued to solidify her position as someone the Utes will rely on this season as they try and make a fifth straight NCAA tournament appearance.
After going 5 of 5 from 3-point range last week in a win over Boise State, White upped that performance and was a perfect 7 of 7 shooting from 3-point range against Northwestern, including 4 of 4 in the third quarter when Utah outscored Northwestern 32-13.
White scored a career-high 26 points and added seven rebounds and three assists, while junior forward Reese Ross added a season-high 20 points, eight rebounds and two assists.
The Utes followed their veterans to the win, including a tough 11-point, five-rebound, four-assist day from Maty Wilke, who’s playing through a shoulder injury.
Utah shot a blistering 76.5% in the third quarter, made 53.8% of their shots in the game and had 24 assists against their power conference opponent.
The Utes made 13 3-pointers, a staple of their recent string of success in the Petersen and Lynne Roberts era, while holding Northwestern to two 3-point makes.
It all led up to a dominant win over a Wildcats team that brought a 6-3 record to Salt Lake City.
Utah endured some early adversity and thrived
For as good as things went in the final two-plus quarters for Utah — the Utes outscored Northwestern 45-30 in the second half — the home team had to fight through a close matchup early on.
The Wildcats led by as many as five points in the first quarter, thanks to 14 points from Grace Sullivan in the opening period, and were up 24-23 after one quarter.
Northwestern even had it at a 34-34 game with just over three minutes left in the second quarter, before Utah started to pull away.
The Utes outscored the Wildcats 12-2 to end the second quarter and went into the half up 46-36, then extended that to a 38-8 run by scoring 26 of the first 32 points of the third to go up 72-42.
It was more than enough to put away the Wildcats, who were led by 21 points from Sullivan.
What it means for Utah
The Utes (8-3) have won by an average of 24.6 points per game during their five-game winning streak, beating Weber State, Montana, Colorado State, Boise State and Northwestern in that stretch.
Utah will finish up the nonconference portion of its schedule with a home game this Wednesday (7 p.m. MST) against UC Riverside, which is 2-7 on the season.
Utah is just eight days out from the start of Big 12 play, with a Dec. 22 game at Arizona prior to the Christmas break.
The Utes will then host unbeaten Arizona State on Dec. 31 in the team’s conference home opener.
Following a three-game losing streak earlier this year against three teams currently projected as NCAA tournament teams in Washington, Syracuse and defending national champion UConn, the Utes have responded well and started to showcase the kind of efficiency Utah fans are familiar with in recent years.
Can young players like LA Sneed, Avery Hjelmstad and Evelina Otto continue to develop as the conference season gets underway?
There’s one more chance to further that development before Big 12 play hits.