Women's Basketball Prepares for Pac-12 Championship Against Stanford

THE GAME
On Sunday afternoon, the University of Utah women's basketball team faces the Stanford Cardinal in the championship of the Pac-12 Tournament. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. MT from Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas.
   
SUNDAY'S MATCHUP
Date | Time: Sunday, March 6 | 4 p.m. (MT)
Utah (20-10, 8-7 Pac-12) vs. Stanford (27-3, 16-0 Pac-12)
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada | Michelob Ultra Arena
Live Stats: Click Here
Live Audio: Click Here
TV/Stream: Click Here 
  
HOW TO TUNE IN
The game against the Cardinal will be aired on ESPN700 with Tyson Ewing and Milee Enger calling the shots, or you can find the game on ESPN2 with Eric Frede, Christy Thomaskutty, and Elise Woodward. Live stats can be found at UtahUtes.com.
 
UTES OFFENSE
The Utes are the highest-scoring team in the Pac-12 (16th NCAA), averaging 77.0 points per game, on pace for the third-highest figure in school history and highest since 1980-81. The school record is 78.5 (1978-79), and No. 2 is 78.2 (1980-81).
 
LEADING THE PAC-12
Utah also leads the Pac-12 in three-pointers made (5th NCAA; school-record 283), three-point shooting percentage (34th NCAA; 35.3%), three-point attempts (6th NCAA; 801), assists (29th NCAA; 464), assists per game (44th NCAA; 15.5), free throws made (9th NCAA; 446) and free throw attempts (31st NCAA; 569).
 
FRESHMAN DUO LEADING THE UTES
The Minnesota connection of Jenna Johnson and Gianna Kneepkens have been dangerous in the Pac-12 Tournament. The duo has scored 103 points over the three games for Utah and is leading the team in scoring. Kneepkens averages 17.7 points and 6.0 rebounds per game, while Johnson is right behind her, averaging 16.7 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. They both are shooting over 54 percent from the floor as they have helped guide the Utes to the Pac-12 Championship game. Prior to the start of the tournament, Kneepkens and Johnson were named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team.
 
UNDERCLASSMAN SCORING
The Utah underclassman has been scoring at will this season. At the Pac-12 Tournament, that is no different. The freshman class has scored 111 points. Utah has scored 216 points this tournament, and 51 percent of the scoring has come from the freshman class.
 
PAC-12 TOURNAMENT RECORD
Against Washington State on Thursday night, the Utes broke a Pac-12 record for most points scored in a quarter. The Utes came out on fire in the first quarter and scored 29 points. In the first quarter, the Utes shot 11-for-17 and hit four three-pointers to set the new Pac-12 record. Jenna Johnson led the scoring for Utah with 10 points.
 
ADVANCING IN THE TOURNEY
The Utes have advanced to the Pac-12 Tournament Championship for the first time in school history. Utah advanced to the finals following an 80-73 victory over Oregon on Friday night. This is the first time in program history that Utah has won multiple games at the Pac-12 Tournament.
 
McQUEEN SHINES IN SEMIS
Sophomore Kennady McQueen shined against the Ducks in the Pac-12 on Friday night. In the win over the Ducks, McQueen filled the stat sheet as she had 13 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, and one block. This was the first double-double of her career, and she set a career-high with those 11 rebounds. She hit two three-pointers on the day and now has hit at least one three in 16 straight games and has five made threes in the Pac-12 Tournament. Not only has she shined last night, but she has been a key piece to the Utes offense at the tournament. She averages 10.7 points and a team-high 6.3 rebounds per game in Vegas.
 
CAREER-DAY FOR REES
Like McQueen, Kelsey Rees had a career day on Friday night against the Ducks. She scored a career-high 14 points and collected eight rebounds in the game. She played a career-high 32 minutes helping the Utes to a win. Rees has led the team in rebounding over the last three games, averaging 7.0 rebounds per game. She has nine offensive rebounds over this span.
 
FROM DEEP
Utah has hit nine or more three-pointers in 18 of its 30 games this season, including hitting 19 threes against Lipscomb. The 19 threes set a school record. Utah has hit eight or more threes in 85 games under the direction of Lynne Roberts, going 61-24 in those games. Utah has made 8+ threes in 18 games this season, including 10 with 10+ (19 vs. Lipscomb, 11/10, 14 vs. Xavier, 11/13, 12 at Hawaii, 11/27, 16 vs. Eastern Illinois, 11/27, 12 vs. BYU, 12/4, 15 vs. Cal State Fullerton, 12/10, 12 vs. UC Riverside, 11/14, 11 vs. #2/#3 Stan-ford, 1/16, 14 vs. USC 2/9, 10 at UCLA, 2/30). The Utes made 10+ three-pointers in a four-game stretch from Nov. 27 to Dec. 10. Since the 2009-10 season, Utah has made ten or more threes in 51 games. The Utes are 39-12 when making ten or more threes in a game. Utah has only hit 15 or more three-pointers four times in a single game, vs. Lipscomb (19), vs. Eastern Illinois (16), vs. Cal State Fullerton (15), and the previous school record of 16 at Colorado.
 
20-WIN SEASON FOR UTAH
On Friday night, the Utes picked up their 20th win of the season with an 80-73 victory over Oregon. The win advanced the Utes to the Pac-12 Title game and gave head coach Lynne Roberts her second 20-win season at Utah. This is the 29th time that Utah had a 20-plus win season in program history. This is the first 20-win season since 2018-19, when the Lynne Roberts team finished with 20. This is coach Roberts second 20-win season as a Ute.
 
CHASING 1000 CARRER POINTS
Entering Sunday's matchup against Stanford, junior Brynna Maxwell is chasing the 1,000-career point milestone. She is currently three points away from becoming the 30th member of the 1,000-point club at Utah. Maxwell has scored 997 points in her career as a Ute. She broke the 700-career point mark on Nov. 13 against Xavier. Maxwell went over the 800-career point mark against Utah Valley a month later. On Friday, she scored her 900th career point as a Ute. The last Utah player to join the 1,000-point club was Megan Huff during the 2018-19 season. She finished her career with 1,029 points.
 
DRU DROPPING DIMES
Senior Dru Gylten has been dropping dimes all season has been dropping dimes. Gylten has 13 assists over the Utes three games at the Pac-12 Tournament. She has 532 in her career, the fifth most in program history at Utah. She set a career-high last season with 13 assists against Montana State. She picked her 500th career assists this season at Cal. With her 500th career assists, she etched her name in the record book as she is one of five players at Utah to dish out 500 or more assists in her career. She is ten assists away from tying for the fourth-most in program history at Utah. Below are the next two that Gluten is trying to catch.
All-Time Career Assists List (3-5)
3 – Janita Badon, 2018-12, 578     
4- Erika Bean, 2015-19, 542   
5 - Dru Gylten, 2018-Present, 532
 
PAC-12 AWARDS
On Tuesday morning, the Pac-12 Conference announced its end of the year Coaches Awards. Utah's Gianna Kneepkens was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and All-Pac-12 selection. Kennady McQueen was a Pac-12 Honorable Mention selection, and Kneepkens and Jenna John-son earned Pac-12 All-Freshman honorees. Kneepkens is only the second Ute to take home the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honors. She is the first since the 2019 season. Not only is Kneepkens the first to take home the Freshmen of the Year honors, but she is also the first, All-Pac-12 selection since 2019 when Megan Huff earned the honors. The freshman duo from Minnesota, Kneepkens and Jenna Johnson, earned All-Freshman honors by the coaches. Kennady McQueen also earned All-Pac-12 honorable mention honors this season. Wednesday, Kneepkens and Johnson earned All-Freshman Team honors as the Pac-12 Media Members voted on.
 
NEXT UP
The Utes will wait and see who they will matchup within the NCAA Tournament. Utah will find its fate out on Sunday, March 13.
 
FOLLOW THE UTES!
 Fans can follow along during the 2021-22 season on social media (Twitter: @UtahWBB | Instagram: @UtahWBB | Facebook: Facebook.com/UtahWBB).