Women's Basketball Downs NNU in Fifth Annual Future-Scholars Game

Thursday, October 27

Salt Lake City, UT

11:00 AM

University of Utah

0-0,0-0Pac-12

119

Northwest Nazarene

0-0,0-0Great Northwest

Northwest Nazarene

Utah

119

Photo by: Hunter Dyke/Utah Athletics

Women's Basketball Downs NNU in Fifth Annual Future-Scholars Game

10/27/2022 2:06 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Utah claimed a 119-62 victory in its exhibition game against Northwest Nazarene

SALT LAKE CITY – In front of 5,786 fans, the University of Utah women's basketball team kicked off its season with the fifth annual Future-Scholar game and came away with a 119-62 win over Northwest Nazarene in an exhibition contest on Thursday afternoon.

The University of Utah Women's Basketball team improved to 7-0 in exhibitions games under head coach Lynne Roberts after the win over Northwest Nazarene at the Jon M. Huntsman Center.

The Utes got out to a fast start as they scored five points in the first 24 seconds of the game on a three by Kennady McQueen and after an Inês Vieira steal and layup. Northwest Nazarene came back to tie the game, but a three by Gianna Kneepkens and a layup by Isabel Palmer put the Utes back ahead by five, 12-7. The first quarter would be a back-and-forth affair for the final six minutes of the quarter, and a pair of free throws at the end of the quarter would tie the game at 23-23 after one-quarter of play.

Utah slowly started to pull away in the second quarter, and after an old-fashion three-point play, the Utes went ahead by five, 33-28. The Utes continued to extend the lead, and after six straight by Alissa Pili, Utah extended its lead to double-figures, 40-29. The Utes continued to grow the lead in the game and went into halftime ahead by 16, 57-41, after a Kneepkens fast break layup.

Coming out of halftime, Northwest Nazarene trimmed the Utes lead down to 10, 59-49, with seven minutes to go in the quarter following a Lydia Nieto layup. After her layup, Utah scored the next six points, taking the lead back to 16 points, 65-49. Utah continued to extend the lead in the quarter, and after a Pili layup, Utah held a 73-52 lead. Utah continued to extend the lead and stretched the lead to 86-52 after a Palmer layup.

Starting the fourth quarter, Kneepkens hit a three-pointer for the Utes, extending the lead to 89-52. The lead grew to 41, 93-52, after a layup by Kelsey Rees. Teya Sidberry put the Utes over the century mark after hitting a fast break jumper. Utah continued to grow the lead and came away with a 119-62 victory.

GAME LEADERS
Teya Sidberry shined as she led Utah's seven players in double-figures with 22 points. She also led the team with 12 rebounds in the game. Inês Vieira led the Utes with seven steals, while Dasia Young dished out a team-high five assists.

TALKING ABOUT THE GAME: HEAD COACH LYNNE ROBERTS
"Typical exhibition game where there was good, bad, and ugly. I thought NNU did a nice job in that first half. They came shooting lights out, playing fearless and aggressive, and we looked a little nervous, just kind of tentative defensively. We got it going, and the second half was really good. I think we just kind of overpowered them there. It was not a great shooting day for us from three; more than a third of our shots were threes. We just didn't shoot for percentage, but we will. We didn't get a ton of practice time in the Huntsman Center before we got in the game. Overall great effort, and no one played more than 22 minutes which is kind of the idea. It's a good day to be a Ute."

STANDOUT STAT
Freshman Teya Sidberry made a splash with her Ute debut as she pulled off a double-double in the exhibition game. Sidberry scored 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting and had 12 rebounds in the win over Northwest Nazarene.

UP NEXT
Utah is set to host its second exhibition contest on Tuesday, Nov. 1, when they host Westminster (Utah) at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. There will be no video or radio stream of this contest.

Follow the Utes!
Fans can follow along during the 2022-23 season on social media (Twitter: @UtahWBB | Instagram: @UtahWBB | Facebook: Facebook.com/UtahWBB).