Women's Basketball Falls At No. 25 UCLA, 76-60

Friday, March 1

Los Angeles, CA

8:00 PM

University of Utah

20-8

UCLA

18-11

Utah

UCLA

3/1/2019 10:29 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The University of Utah women's basketball team lost 76-60 to the No. 25 UCLA Bruins on Friday night, falling to 20-8 overall this season and 9-8 in Pac-12 play.

The Utes were able to keep it close in the first half, only trailing by three entering the third quarter, but scoring droughts and rebounding plagued the Utes allowing UCLA to break the game open in the fourth.

Utah shot 41-percent from the floor and was able to hold UCLA to just 18-percent shooting from the arc, but the Utes were out-rebounded 41-29 and also committed a season-high 18 turnovers. Megan Huff was able to put up 21 points and three steals against the Bruins with Sarah Porter adding 11 points and three rebounds.

"UCLA is a very good team," head coach Lynne Roberts said. "They are so athletic and they just expose you, so you have to give them credit. It's not like they didn't play well, they did. We were just missing some fire power."

It was a back-and-forth first quarter through the first four minutes of the game, but the Utes hit a scoring drought, unable to put up a basket for the final 5:34 of the quarter. It allowed UCLA to go on a 12-0 run to take an 18-8 lead heading into the second quarter with the Utes only shooting 18-percent from the floor in the first.

Utah got going offensively in the second quarter, shooting 66-percent from the field with Huff scoring 11 of her 13 first half points to chip away at the Bruin lead. The Utes were able to make it a four-point game multiple times throughout the quarter, eventually cutting it to two with 46 seconds remaining on a three-pointer from Moore before going into halftime down just 30-27.

A scoring drought late in the third quarter allowed UCLA to take a 10-point lead before going 4-of-4 from the floor to jump out to a 53-40 advantage with less than two to play. Andrea Torres was able to hit a key three with 35 seconds left on the clock, but UCLA answered with a three of their own to send the Utes into the fourth down 11.

The scoring woes continued for the Utes in the fourth quarter, only shooting 35-percent from the floor and going just 3-of-10 from the arc. It was a 12-0 run by UCLA late that would prove to be too much for the Utes, taking a 76-54 lead with 3:29 to go.

Utah would go on to score four more points, but it wouldn't be enough to close the gap, suffering its 76-60 loss.

Utah will return to action on Sunday, March 3 when they take on USC for its final regular season game. The game is set for a 1 p.m. MT tip on the Pac-12 Networks.