Utah women hold off late Arizona surge to pull away for 67-58 at home

SALT LAKE CITY — The Gianna Kneepkens heater continues.

A week after setting a career-high in scoring in back-to-back outings, the junior sharpshooter was back at it Friday night at home against Arizona. And for as much as Arizona tried to cool her down with an aggressive defense, Kneepkens showcased why she's one of the best players currently in the game.

"If you go under handoff, she shoots. If you stay tight on her and you go over, she drives it," Arizona head coach Adia Barnes said. "She's got good size, so she's a really hard matchup. And I think that if you look at her stats, like, she shoots at a really efficient rate.

"We knew we wanted to slow her down, and we tried to capitalize when their point guard was out — we tried to — but we didn't as much as I wanted to."

The Duluth, Minnesota, native had a game-high 15 points at the halftime break after scoring Utah's first 7 points of the game, and then pushed her total to 28 points — including a perfect 9-of-9 from the free-throw line — while adding seven rebounds and three assists.

As if her scoring wasn't enough, Kneepkens also recorded her 200th career assist Friday on a cross-court pass to the corner to Maty Wilke, who hit the spot-up triple to help Utah push its lead to 10 en route to an eventual 67-58 win over Arizona.

"Honestly, I'm trying to win the games, and I have teammates that are finding me on open threes, so that helps a little bit," Kneepkens said. "But I think when you are in the gym and you're practicing game reps, it's not any different when you get to the game, because you've been there 100 times."

After controlling a 10-point lead at the halftime break, Kneepkens added a quick 5 points and Maye Toure added a 3-pointer of her own to give Utah (16-5, 7-3 Big 12) an 18-point lead just three minutes into the third quarter.

But Arizona (14-9, 5-5 Big 12) battled back, using a 9-0 run over a two-minute stretch in the third quarter after Utah missed four straight 3-point attempts. Utilizing a trapping defense, the Wildcats put pressure on Utah and battled all the way back to take a 4-point lead four minutes into the fourth quarter.

The aggressive defensive strategy forced Utah into turnovers and jump ball situations, while speeding up looks on the offensive side of the ball as the home team went cold from the floor for a stretch.

But the strategy only worked for so long, and Arizona was called for several fouls to put Utah at the free-throw line. Jenna Johnson went 3-of-4 from the line, and Kneepkens went 4-of-4 to give Utah the lead again.

Wilke then drained a deep 3-pointer to give the home team a 6-point lead and a standing ovation from the Huntsman Center crowd with 2:10 left to play, forcing Arizona into a timeout.

"A sloppy third quarter that made it a really, really interesting game for the fans in attendance and those watching on TV, but I'm proud of our grit and our collective competitiveness down the stretch," Utah head coach Gavin Petersen said.

Still, Arizona refused to back down and fought to the bitter end. But a clutch 3-pointer by Jenna Johnson with 54.1 seconds left to play gave Utah a 5-point lead — one that Utah would never give away.

"There was a point in that fourth quarter when I think our players got a little upset and they took it upon themselves that we are going to do what it takes — whatever it takes — to get this win, and so super proud of that," Petersen said.

Arizona guard Jada Williams finished with 25 points, seven rebounds and three assists to lead the Wildcats, while two other players — Skylar Jones and Isis Beh — each contributed 11 pointes apiece.

"We lost to a really good team tonight," Barnes said. "Utah is really good. They're experienced, they have a lot of offensive weapons, and they're really hard to guard. I'm proud of us. We were down by 18 at one point, and it was a 22-point swing in the third quarter, so I'm proud of our fight.

"Our team is young," she added. "We could have laid down and died and lost by 30, but we didn't; and we fought and we gave ourselves a chance to win, so I'm proud of our team for that."

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