The Utah women’s basketball team was in need of a slump-busting win when they hit the road to take on Colorado Tuesday night.
The Utes got that victory, as they took over in the second half to beat the Buffaloes 67-64 at the CU Events Center.
It’s the kind of win that keeps NCAA tournament hopes alive for Utah, which is hoping to make its fifth straight trip to the NCAAs.
“We came into the game with a mentality, we’re down 10, we’re on the road. We’re against a home crowd,” Utah senior guard Lani White said in a postgame interview on ESPN+.
“And the Colorado Buffs, man, they are tough. For us, we wanted to play as hard as we can, stay within our own system, and we got it done.”
While several players came up with big plays for the Utes (18-11, 9-8 Big 12), White in particular had a memorable night.
She scored 12 points in the third quarter, when Utah outscored Colorado 23-15 to reverse the momentum of the contest.
That’s a positive sign for the Utes, who’ve struggled coming out of the half in recent games, including a 86-74 home loss to rival BYU last Saturday.
That wasn’t the case against the Buffaloes (20-9, 11-6 Big 12), who had been on a five-game winning streak heading into the night.
Utah, meanwhile, had lost four of its past five games and had found itself on the wrong side of the NCAA bubble watch in several recent national projections.
“I’m really proud of our group, we worked really hard,” White said. “We had to take those last couple losses to heart. We played really hard. I’m proud one through 13 of everyone.”
The Utes started the night with a 6-0 lead as Colorado shot 1 of 10 to begin the game.
Despite that, the Utes trailed 14-13 after one quarter because of eight first-quarter turnovers.
The Buffaloes then took charge in the second quarter. After Maty Wilke hit a 3 to give the Utes an 18-16 lead, Utah scored just once over the next seven minutes, as Colorado went on a 13-2 run to build a 29-20 lead.
Colorado eventually built that lead to double-digits at 33-23 before taking a 33-26 advantage into the break.
After halftime, though, Utah fought its way back into the contest quickly, trimming the Buffaloes lead to one just two and a half minutes into the third.
Appropriately enough, it was five straight points from White, including one of her three 3-pointers on the night, that gave the Utes a 37-35 lead, then a minute later, Reese Ross hit a 3 to give Utah the lead for good.
Utah ended up shooting a solid 45.5% from the field and 9 of 18 from 3-point range, the Utes’ first game shooting 50% or better from 3 in nearly a month.
“Once we see the first two go in, that (rim) looks a lot bigger to us,” White said of Utah’s strong night from 3-point range. “Our coach (Gavin Petersen) believes in us. He has great confidence in everyone. He tells everyone to shoot it and shoot it confidently.”
White had 21 points and four rebounds to pace the Utes, while Ross added 10 points, seven rebounds and an assist despite being limited by foul trouble.
Other Utes stepped up, too — Wilke scored 9 points, with 6 of those coming in the fourth quarter.
Senior forward Sam Crispe came off the bench and scored 7 points, while hitting two 3-pointers, and Grace Foster made a 3 early in the fourth as Utah went up seven at 55-48.
Colorado fought back after that and it was a 61-60 game with two minutes to play. Wilke, who hit a 3 in the opening minute of the final period, scored with 33.4 seconds to play to make it 63-60 and she was fouled.
Though Wilke missed the free throw, the Buffaloes couldn’t tie the game as they missed their final two shots from the field and the two teams also traded free throws down the stretch.
With 5.3 seconds remaining, Colorado had a chance to tie or take the lead trailing 66-64 after Wilke went 1 of 2 from the free-throw line. Following a timeout, the Buffaloes inbounded the ball in the front court.
Jade Masogayo couldn’t handle the inbounds pass, however, and Utah’s Chyra Evans stole the ball and was fouled with 1.7 seconds to play.
After Evans hit 1 of 2 free throws, Colorado’s Desiree Wooten got off a half-court 3-point attempt, but it came just after time ran out and was well off target.
Wooten led Colorado with 16 points, five rebounds, four steals and two assists, while Zyanna Walker and Masogayo each had 10 points.
It was a rough night offensively for the Buffaloes, who shot just 34.4% from the field. Colorado ended up shooting 20 more field-goal attempts than Utah, thanks to a 19-7 edge in offensive rebounding.
Utah will return home to wrap up the regular season, as the Utes host Arizona at the Huntsman Center on Saturday (5 p.m. MST, ESPN+).
Following that, Utah will head to Kansas City next week for the Big 12 tournament, which runs March 4-8 at T-Mobile Center. It will extend to March 9 if BYU advances to the championship, since it’s scheduled for a Sunday.
“This is a huge win. We went into the game saying we had to win,” White said. “It’s really hard to win in February, but it is harder to win in March. So we played our game tonight. We finished and I’m really happy.”