Toure, Kneepkens lead Utah women to 77-60 win over visiting Colorado

SALT LAKE CITY — Maye Toure was unstoppable in the first few minutes of Wednesday night's game against Colorado.

The senior forward had 11 points in the first few minutes, and Utah jumped out to a 17-5 lead before the visiting Buffaloes went on a 10-0 run to close the early gap. But Colorado was never able to fully recover as Utah held a lead that only grew in the second half en route to a 77-60 win at the Huntsman Center.

"Good team win today," Utah head coach Gavin Petersen said. "A lot of people stepping up in the point column, but I think we also did a good job on the rebounding, especially on the offensive end with 12 offensive boards, creating second chances for our team, which is great."

Toure finished with 15 points and six rebounds but failed to score in the second half as Colorado (16-8, 7-6 Big 12) sent double- and triple-team defense to stop her around the rim.

Colorado head coach JR Payne, though, said her team didn't necessarily do anything different to limit Toure's production other than trying to limit how many offensive rebounds she could collect to get second-chance points. That attention to rebounding in the second half, she said, helped limit Toure's impact on the court.

Despite the sudden stop in production from Toure, Gianna Kneepkens took over for the Utes — as she has done the last few weeks — to help the team to an 11-0 run in the third quarter that pushed Utah's lead to as much as 23 points in the third quarter.

Kneepkens led Utah (19-5, 10-3 Big 12) with 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting, while adding five assists and four rebounds in the win. No other player for Utah finished in double figures.

Outside of Utah's hot start to the game and its short run in the third quarter, Colorado did well to keep the game interesting for much of the game, including an 8-0 run late in the fourth quarter. Utah hit 51% from the field but struggled to get into a consistent rhythm at times as Colorado challenged each shot with an aggressive defense.

But Colorado only shot 44% from the field and didn't have enough in the tank to contend with a healthier Utah team that went on another late run to keep the double-digit advantage.

"They just did the things that they do, right? They hit threes, they offensive rebounded, shot 51% from the floor," Payne said. "So they definitely beat us tonight. Utah is a really good team, and I don't think we did what we needed to do for the first three quarters, but loved our effort in the last quarter."

The Buffaloes had three players finish in double-figure scoring, with Tabitha Betson leading the charge with 15 points and eight rebounds in the loss. Lior Garzon added 13 points and five rebounds, while Jade Masogayo contributed 11 points.

The game itself was "disjointed" at times, Petersen said, but some of that has been the limited practice time the team has together, in addition to some of the lineups on the court not having a ton of time together in practice to build that chemistry.

Petersen said it's on him to help that moving forward as Utah prepares for a deep run in March, but felt like his team continues to show fight, especially early in the game to establish an early lead.

"I was really, really excited to see our start in that first quarter to really settle us in," Petersen said. "And then as the game went, I think there were moments when we took our foot off the gas pedal, which shouldn't happen, but it sometimes does. ... We need to be able to close games out on a high note and be able to put teams away.

"When we start doing things on our own and being disjointed, then we're just another average program," he added. "So to be great, I think you've gotta earn that with your effort on the defensive end, and then you've gotta be moving."

Utah still finished the night with a 17-point win.

"Missed shots and turnovers are going to happen — it's part of basketball — but we can always give 100% effort," Kneepkens said.

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