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The University of Utah Athletics
Thursday, January 19
Tuscon, Ariz.
7:00 PM
University of Utah
65
at
60
Arizona
Women's Basketball Downs Arizona in Overtime, 65-60
1/19/2012 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 19, 2012
TUCSON, Ariz. - For the second time this season, the Utah women's basketball team came away victorious in overtime in Pac-12 play, defeating Arizona, 65-60 on Thursday evening.
In a tight second half that featured six ties and four lead changes and came down to the wire, the Utes (9-8, 2-4 Pac-12) were buoyed in the final minutes by Rachel Messer, who hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 51-51 with 1:20 remaining. Following an Arizona turnover, she again nailed a shot from behind the arc with 33 seconds left to put the Utes in the lead, 54-51.
After a timeout, the Wildcats Davellyn Whyte answered with her own three to again tie the game with 23 seconds left. The Utes took a timeout, and Janita Badon could not get off a clean shot as the buzzer sounded.
The overtime period started with missed three's for each team before Badon hit a layup to get the scoring started for the Utes. Although Arizona's Shanita Arnold answered with a jumper, Utah would score the next two buckets on layups from Badon and Taryn Wicijowski (who sunk her basket as the shot clock timer went off) for a four-point lead, 60-56 with 1:26 left.
The two teams traded baskets to keep Utah in the lead by four points. Arnold cut the lead to two, 62-60, with a layup with 29 seconds remaining, but with time winding down the Wildcats were forced into fouling the Utes. Badon hit two free throws and Michelle Plouffe was good on one of two, while Arizona missed two three's at the other end of the floor to clinch the victory for the Utes.
"It was a great win," Utah head coach Anthony Levrets said. "I am really proud of these kids and their effort tonight. They are an incredibly resilient group. When things are at their toughest is when we seem to find something and play our best. This group finds that extra something when times are tough. And now the challenge for us is to find that all the time."
Badon, who led Utah in scoring with 22 points, scored eight points in the extra stanza. Wicijowski and Plouffe each had double-doubles, Wicijowski with 16 points and 13 rebounds and Plouffe with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Utah was strong on the boards with a 46-37 advantage, including 19 offensive rebounds. Although Arizona Shot 50 percent in the second half, they were held to just 33 percent shooting in overtime (3-of-9) while the Utes were 4-of-6 from the field in the OT period (67 percent).
"This has been the same formula in every game," Levrets said. "We really defend teams, and in the second half they stop running their stuff and start playing one-on-one against us. There are good enough players in the league that they can go make baskets, and what's happened to us in some of the games is that we haven't answered at the offensive end. Tonight we answered them on the offensive end and kept executing our stuff and mixing up what we were doing. Everyone was making shots and making plays.
"The other thing is that when you're not shooting the ball particularly well you have to find other ways to get possessions and shots. We got 19 offensive rebounds tonight, which is huge. It got us to the free throw line a couple of times or it got us some easy baskets for putbacks, and it was a huge piece of the game."
Utah held as much as a seven-point lead in the first half, after a 9-2 run broke a 12-12 tie and gave the Utes a 21-14 lead with 2:20 remaining. Arizona closed out the first half strong with a 4-1 run to give the Utes a four-point lead at halftime, 22-18.
Utah's first Pac-12 win also came in overtime, a 49-36 win over Washington.
Arizona was led by 32 points from Whyte.
Utah continues its road trip by traveling across the state to Tempe to face Arizona State on Saturday, Jan. 21.
Players Mentioned
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