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Women's Basketball Falls Short in Conference Finals

by Utah Athletics
Mar 6, 2022

LAS VEGAS – The Utah women's basketball Pac-12 Tournament run ended in the Championship game on Sunday afternoon when they were defeated by No. 2 Stanford, 73-48. The Utes had two players earn All-Tournament honors as Gianna Kneepkens, and Jenna Johnson earned All-Tournament Team honors. 
 
Brynna Maxwell led the Utes (20-11) with 16 points on the day on 6-of-12 shooting. Kelsey Rees grabbed a team-high ten rebounds, and Dru Gylten dished out five assists against Stanford (28-3). Utah shot 32.1 percent from the floor in the game. 
 
Throughout the tournament, Kneepkens averaged 14.0 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. During the tournament, she had two 20-point performances. Kneepkens scored 56 points over the tournament, which tied for the most by a single player. Johnson was second on the team with an average of 13.0 points per game. She tallied 3.3 rebounds per game. The freshman duo were both over 45 percent shooting from the floor on the week. They are the first two Utes to earn Pac-12 All-Tournament honors in program history.
 
Coming out of the gate, the Utes got things going on the offensive end when senior point guard Dru Gylten hit a three-pointer. A few minutes later, trailing 8-3, Brynna Maxwell drilled a three of her own. Maxwell's three was her 1,000th career point. This put the Utes down 8-6. The Utes continued to keep the game close, and a jumper by Maxwell to end the first quarter put the Utes down ten, 21-11. 

Utah used a strong second quarter to cut into the Cardinal lead as they shot 6-of-8 from the floor, including 4-of-5 from deep. Dasia Young got Utah scoring going as she hit a pair of free throws. Two minutes later, Gylten drilled her second three of the game. This one was from deep and cut the lead down to eight, 26-18. Utah continued to battle, and Gianna Kneepkens drilled another three, and Utah trailed by three, 26-23. Utah continued to hit the threes, and a Young three put the Utes down two, 32-30, going into halftime. 

 
Opening the third quarter, the Utes tied the game after Kelsey Rees grabbed an offensive rebound and had put it back. The next trip down the court, Stanford retook the lead and extended the lead to nine, 45-36, midway through the third quarter. Utah did not go away, and a four-point play by Maxwell put the Utes down seven, 50-43. Utah trailed 52-43 after the third quarter. 
 
Johnson hit a layup to open the fourth quarter taking the lead down to seven, 52-45. However, Utah's shooting cooled off as they scored five points in the quarter, and the Cardinal outscored the Utes by 16 in the frame. The Utes were defeated 73-48. 

 
TALKING ABOUT THE GAME: HEAD COACH LYNNE ROBERTS
"I'm incredibly proud of this team, and this game doesn't define our season. I'm certainly proud that we were here. I'm disappointed we lost, but our season's not over. I'm excited about the NCAA Tournament. This was not the outcome we wanted, but certainly a great achievement to play in this game. We want to play in this game again more time's in the future."
  
STANDOUT STAT
2 – The Utes placed two players, Gianna Kneepkens and Jenna Johnson, on the All-Tournament team. They are the first two Utes to earn Pac-12 All-Tournament honors in program history. Throughout the tournament, Kneepkens averaged 14.0 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. She had two 20-point performances during the tournament. Johnson was second on the team with an average of 13.0 points per game. She tallied 3.3 rebounds per game. The freshman duo were both over 45 percent shooting from the floor on the week.
 

UP NEXT
The Utes will wait and see who they will match up within the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, March 13. The selection show starts at 6 p.m. MT on ESPN.
 
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Fans can follow along during the 2021-22 season on social media (Twitter: @UtahWBB | Instagram: @UtahWBB | Facebook: Facebook.com/UtahWBB). 

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