Defense Key In Utes' 71-41 Win Over UTA

Monday, November 27

Salt Lake City, Utah

6:00 PM

University of Utah

5-1

UT Arlington

5-1

UT Arlington

UTAH

11/27/2017 8:45 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

SALT LAKE CITY – The University of Utah women's basketball team put up a strong defensive game against the UT Arlington Mavericks on Monday night, finishing with a 71-41 victory to improve to 5-1 on the season.

The Utes stingy defense was key in tonight's win, forcing 19 turnovers and only allowing the Mavericks to shoot 32-percent from the floor and 11-percent from the three. Utah out-rebounded UTA 44-26, led by senior Emily Potter.

Potter recorded her second double-double of the season and 32^nd of her career with 16 points and 11 rebounds. She added two key blocks for the Utes, giving her 225 in her career to tie the all-time blocks record with Lauren Beckman who had 225 from 1998-2002.

Utah had a tough time from the three-point line against the Mavericks, only shooting 11-percent themselves, but were still able to come away with the 30-point win. Tilar Clark added a career-high 11 points to the stat line with Megan Jacobs contributing a season-high 10.

"Defensively, I don't know if we can do much better," head coach Lynne Roberts said. "We held them to four points in that first quarter. Offensively, we hadn't seen all season the way they were defending the pick and rolls, so we weren't prepared for that and had to figure it out as the game went on. With that said, we scored 71 points on an offensively average night and I think that speaks to our potential and that we have good players."

Utah jumped out to a quick 9-0 lead, holding the Mavericks scoreless until the 4:44 mark in the first quarter. It was strong rebounding and strong defending that gave the Utes the early lead with four of its first nine points coming off turnovers and second chance points, giving Utah a 17-4 advantage.

The Utes finished the first quarter on a 6-0 run that turned into an 8-0 run with when Tanaeya BoClair came off the bench to score right away for the Utes to make it 19-4 with 9:15 remaining in the second quarter. Utah shot 64-percent from the floor in the second quarter with Jacobs punching in five of her 10 points off the bench to send the Utes into halftime up 36-17.

UT Arlington got within 19 points early in the third quarter, but that would be the closest they would come with Utah leading by as many as 29 before heading into the final quarter. Clark and Jacobs scored five points each in the third quarter that included back-to-back threes from the duo to give the Utes a 51-24 lead with less than three minutes on the clock.

Utah entered the final quarter up 56-33, keeping strong defense as a priority. The Mavericks only shot 26-percent from the floor in the fourth quarter and was 0-of-4 from the arc. BoClair capped off an 8-0 run to start the fourth quarter, helping the Utes to their eventual 71-41 victory.

The Utes return to action when they host Saint Mary's on Saturday, Dec. 2 at 2:30 p.m. in the Huntsman Center. The game will air live on the Pac-12 Networks.