For just the second time this season, the Utah women’s basketball team’s leading rebounder, Reese Ross, wasn’t available for a game.
The junior forward landed on the Big 12 availability report released Friday night with an “out” designation, leaving the Utes to switch up their starting five for a matchup at Houston.
That adjustment didn’t matter, as Utah (14-5, 5-2 Big 12) easily put away the Big 12’s last-place team, beating the Cougars 71-61 at the Fertitta Center in Houston.
With Ross out of the lineup, the Utes went with a starting five of Lani White, Maty Wilke, Brooke Walker, LA Sneed and Chyra Evans.
Utah ended up outrebounding Houston 37-35, which included a career-high eight from freshman Avery Hjelmstad, who added 14 points in the win.
Hjelmstad hit four 3-pointers, as did White, who scored a game-high 19 points while adding four assists and two rebounds.
After Houston took an early three-point lead, the Utes took control. Behind nine first-quarter points from White, Utah led 20-13 after 10 minutes.
The Utes extended that out to a 21-point halftime lead after outscoring the Cougars 22-8 in the second period.
Houston ended the third quarter on a 13-3 run to cut the Utah lead to 52-40 and briefly made it a nine-point game in the final period, but Utah relied on 8 of 13 shooting from the field in the fourth quarter to put the game away.
The Utes, paced by White and Hjelmstad, had a balanced scoring effort in the win.
Sneed and Evelina Otto, both freshmen, added nine points each, and Sneed and senior Maty Wilke finished with four assists apiece.
That helped counter the efforts of Houston guards TK Pitts (14 points, seven rebounds) and Kierra Merchant (13 points, seven rebounds).
In addition to outshooting Houston 47% to 33% from the field, the Utes also made 11 3-pointers to the Cougars’ five.
Utah’s next game will be a week from now, with the Utes hosting No. 17 Texas Tech at the Huntsman Center on Jan. 24 at 5 p.m. MST (ESPN+).
The Red Raiders went into Saturday with an unbeaten 19-0 record, but Kansas State beat them on the road, 65-59.