Consistency has been elusive in recent weeks for the Utah women’s basketball team.
That was the case again Saturday evening, as the Utes dropped a 79-72 contest against Iowa State at the Huntsman Center.
The Cyclones never trailed over the final three quarters while capitalizing on their 3-point shooting, and the nation’s leading scorer, Audi Crooks, got on track offensively after being held to two points in the first half.
It marks the fifth home loss for Utah this season, and the Utes (16-8, 8-5 Big 12) have gone 4-4 over their last eight games.
Utah is also 1-4 in its last five home games since beating then-No. 8 TCU at home on Jan. 3.
“They came in here and they really took advantage of our miscommunications, our lack of focus and intensity on the defensive end, and they capitalized on it,” Utah coach Gavin Petersen said.
“(I’m) proud of our team for the fight they showed, but unfortunately we’re still disconnected at home for whatever reason in the first and second quarter. I don’t know what the answer is. We’re gonna have to take a hard look at that, but we’ve got to get better.”
After the Utes scored just 27 points in the first half, Iowa State broke the game open with a dominant third quarter, when it outscored Utah 30-18 and pushed its lead to as many as 19 points.
The Utes used a combination of Chyra Evans (seven points, four assists, three rebounds) and Evelina Otto to lead the defensive effort against Crooks, and for the first half, it worked, as Crooks went into the break with just 2 points on 1 of 6 shooting.
“We challenged them. We gave them a lot to handle, but it’s not just one person,” Petersen said of Utah’s defense against Crooks.
“We could have had more ball pressure to maybe make those passes go offline. There’s a lot to it, but I am proud of them for rolling up their sleeves and getting after it.”
The Utes’ double-teams, though, left Cyclone shooters open on the perimeter, and they cashed in.
Arianna Jackson (12 points, two steals) hit four first-half 3-pointers, while Sydney Harris (12 points, seven rebounds, two assists, one steal) made four in the second half, as Iowa State shot 10 of 24 from outside.
“I think we’re doing a better job of taking 3s in the rhythm of our offense and Audi did a pretty good job of kicking it, and when we can space the floor and make a couple 3s, our offense is a lot better, obviously,” Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said.
“But if we can make just enough to keep people honest, that’s a big thing, and we’ve struggled with that. We’ve been really, really up and down, but tonight we really hit them, and we hit them when we had to.”
The Utes guarded Crooks more 1 on 1 in the second half, and she got going offensively. That included a stretch early in the third when she scored eight straight points, including a pair of and-ones.
That quick 8-point burst changed the complexion of the interior game.
Crooks ended up with 26 points to lead all scorers, while adding eight rebounds and three assists. She did have six turnovers.
It wasn’t all Crooks, though. In the third quarter, Iowa State (19-5, 7-5 Big 12) shot 10 of 17 from the field, while the Utes were 5 of 18.
“Offensively, we spread the court a little bit better (in the third),” Fennelly said. “We put four shooters in the game. Syd Harris had a couple big ones, and they played Audi 1 on 1 a lot in the third quarter.
“We had a pretty good combination of we could go inside to her or get a couple 3s, and there was like two or three times in a row where we had a pretty solid defensive stance and then we got a transition shot. That’s as good a third quarter as we’ve played in a long time.”
Meanwhile, Utah’s offensive struggles continued to compound in the third quarter.
“We’re trying to get Reese (Ross) as many touches as possible, trying to win our point of attacks,” Petersen said. “If they were continuing to switch on that, I thought we could have done a better job of winning our point of attacks, and we didn’t for whatever reason.”
The Ute offense finally got going in the fourth and made things interesting, as home side pressed and was able to pull within seven twice — with 3:42 and 2:30 remaining — but Iowa State had answers both times.
Jada Williams came up time and again for the Cyclones, as she finished with 14 points, a team-high seven assists, four rebounds and a steal.
It was enough for Iowa State to fend off a double-double effort from Ross, who had 22 points and 12 rebounds for Utah.
Lani White added 19 points for the Utes, including 12 points in the fourth quarter when Utah shot 56.3% from the field.
The Utes, though, still struggled offensively overall, as they shot 38.1% for the game, made just 10 of 32 3-pointers and were 14 of 23 from the free-throw line.
With six games left in the regular season, Utah now heads to Tempe, Arizona, next week to face Arizona State, which edged the Utes by one in the Huntsman Center earlier this season.
Iowa State, meanwhile, won its fifth straight to move into a tie in the Big 12 standings with the Utes.
“No rest for us. We’ve got to just get back on the horse and let’s get after it,” Petersen said.
“Proud of how we finished, I just wish we could have done better coming out of halftime and especially starting the game.”