Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
SPOKANE, Wash. — One does not just go into The Kennel and come away with a win.
Riding a 35-game win streak at home, Gonzaga did to Utah what it has done to everyone else that enters the McCarthey Athletic Center in Spokane. This time, it just took place in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Gonzaga used a 21-3 run in the second quarter — a run that stretched almost eight minutes — to put distance on a Utah team that suddenly couldn't hit a shot after going on a 13-3 run of their own in the first quarter. That second quarter run, though, was enough to doom the Utes, who fell to the Bulldogs 77-66 Monday night.
"We didn't have a great second quarter offensively," Utah head coach Lynne Roberts said. "Felt like we were a little rushed and our execution was poor on both ends and they got hot.
"I thought we had a good game plan and thought the players understood it. I think we did a good job in the first quarter with that, and then for some reason we just kind of got punched in the mouth and didn't regroup until halftime."
At one point spanning the second and third quarters, Gonzaga made nine straight 3-pointers on nine attempts and finished the night shooting 55% from 3-point range on 22 attempts.
Utah hoped to earn another Sweet 16 appearance and "redo" their second weekend run after last year's exit to eventual national champion LSU. But the Utes ran into a high-powered offense in a Gonzaga team that made life difficult for a full 40 minutes of action.
Gonzaga, meanwhile, returns to the Sweet 16 for the first time since the 2014-15 season — the first season in which current head coach Lisa Fortier took over the position. The Bulldogs will play No. 1 seed Texas Friday in Portland.
The Bulldogs had four players finish in double figures in a total team effort, with Kayeigh Truong leading the charge with 21 points, including three made 3-pointers, and seven rebounds.
Alissa Pili opened up the night making the team's first 10 points, including two 3-pointers, to give the Utes an early lead over the Bulldogs. But Gonzaga answered the call and kept the game close until Utah got hot from behind the perimeter and reeled off a 13-3 run to take a 7-point lead into the second quarter.
Gonzaga then found its shot in a whole team effort en route to 75% shooting from the field and a 24-8 advantage before the break.
The hot shooting continued in the second half when the Bulldogs opened up the third quarter on a 11-0 run to take a game-high 21-point lead. But Utah battled back and went on a 13-3 run of their own to make it an 11-point game.
The game stayed around there until late when Utah went on an 11-1 run to cut the deficit down to 6. But despite Utah's best attempts to cut more into the lead, the team wasn't able to get over the hump.
"They showed a lot of toughness, you saw that tonight, too," Roberts said about her team's effort. "They could have easily gone through the motions there, and we fought back and got it to 6, and just kind of ran out of gas. ... But I'm proud of our team. We have set the standard. We raised the standard in our program that the NCAA Tournament is what we do. That's the expectation."
Pili, who played her last collegiate game, finished the night with a game-high 35 points on 12-of-20 shooting, including four made 3-pointers, as Utah's best option on the night, and added seven rebounds in nearly 40 minutes of game time.
This story will be updated.
