Upcoming Event: Women's Basketball versus Western Colorado (EXHIBITION) on October 27, 2025 at 7:00 PM
7:00 PM
Women's Basketball
vs Western Colorado (EXHIBITION)
The University of Utah Athletics
Saturday, December 10
Provo, UT
5:00 PM
University of Utah
8-0,0-0Pac-12
76
at
59
Brigham Young
4-6,0-0WCC
1
2
3
4
F
Utah
18
21
20
17
76
BYU
10
17
16
16
59
Photo by: Liv Medivitz/Utah Athletics
Pili Powers No. 15/14 Utes to 76-59 win at BYU
12/10/2022 10:43 PM | Women's Basketball
Junior forward Pili scores game-high 28 points for second consecutive game
PROVO, Utah – Junior forward Alissa Pili scored 28 points for the second consecutive game, and added a team-leading seven rebounds, as the 15th-ranked Utah Utes improved to 8-0 on the season Saturday with a 76-59 win over BYU at the Marriott Center.
Sophomore Gianna Kneepkens added 18 points and pulled down a season-high six rebounds in the win, which improved Utah's record all-time against BYU to 68-42. It was Utah's second consecutive win in Provo, the most recent coming in 2019.
It was Utah's fifth game this season with eight or more three-pointers, including five from Kneepkens, on six attempts, which tied her career high. Utah was 8-22 from beyond the arc, and shot 54.7 percent for the game (29-53), including a clip of 69.2 percent in the third quarter (9-13).
Pili scored the first seven points of the game for the Utes, on a pair of layups and three-pointer from the right corner. She tallied nine points in first quarter, then scored the Utes' first four points of second quarter to fuel her high-scoring night.
Utah led 39-27 at half, and scored the first five points of second half to push its lead to 44-27. The lead increased to 20 points, the Utes' largest of the game, at 49-29, after a three-pointer by Kneepkens. Utah made four of its first six shots after halftime to push the lead to 20.
BYU cobbled together a 9-0 run and a 6-0 run to whittle the Utah lead down to 11 on several occasions, but the Utes answered the bell repeatedly to hold off the Cougars. A driving layup by Kneepkens with 5:41 to play ended the 6-0 BYU run and pushed Utah's lead back to 62-49, and the Utes never looked back.
GAME LEADERS
Alissa Pili and Gianna Kneepkens led the way for Utah with 28 and 18 points, respectively. Pili led the Utes with seven rebounds, while Kneepkens added six. Kelsey Rees had a game-high three blocks, while Jenna Johnson led the team with three steals and tied for the team-high with three assists.
TALKING ABOUT THE GAME: HEAD COACH LYNNE ROBERTS
"I'm so appreciative of the fans who came down. It was awesome. BYU had a great crowd too. It was just a great environment for a basketball game here. I thought it was a hard-played game. BYU did a really nice job. We were preparing for their zone all week and they didn't play one possession of it. They were super aggressive and did a good job in their transition defense. It didn't feel like anything was easy today, and that's a credit to them. I thought BYU did a nice job, but we seemed to answer the bell. When they were making a push to cut it to 10 or 11, we would rattle off a few and keep a comfortable distance. So great win, great day to be a Ute, always a fun game to play."
JUNIOR ALISSA PILI
"It was a great team win. We knew they were going to come out and fight hard. I think we kept our composure and played really hard and smart. It's a part of the reason I came here, to be surrounded by shooters and just open up the inside for me. A lot of times I'll be doubled down, and now that I have shooters around me it just opens up a lot, and I can create shots for them when I'm scoring inside. It's definitely something we've worked toward. I'm new here, so the rivalry is new to me, but I know how rivalries go. We knew it was going to be a dog fight and our preparation this week was on-point, and we did a lot of adjustments and key points to focus on."
STANDOUT STAT
Alissa Pili scored a season-high 28 points for the second game in a row. She came into the game ranked third in the nation in field-goal percentage (69.4%), and shot 13-18 (72.2%) tonight to raise her season mark to 69.9%.
Utah now turns its attention the 2022-23 Pac-12 opener, scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 14, when the Colorado Buffaloes visit Salt Lake City. The game is scheduled to tip off at 3 p.m. at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. Tyson Ewing and Milee Enger will have the call of the contest on ESPN700, and it will be televised by Pac-12 Network. Live Stats can be found at UtahUtes.com.
Follow the Utes!
Fans can follow along during the 2022-23 season on social media (Twitter: @UtahWBB | Instagram: @UtahWBB | Facebook: Facebook.com/UtahWBB).
Sophomore Gianna Kneepkens added 18 points and pulled down a season-high six rebounds in the win, which improved Utah's record all-time against BYU to 68-42. It was Utah's second consecutive win in Provo, the most recent coming in 2019.
It was Utah's fifth game this season with eight or more three-pointers, including five from Kneepkens, on six attempts, which tied her career high. Utah was 8-22 from beyond the arc, and shot 54.7 percent for the game (29-53), including a clip of 69.2 percent in the third quarter (9-13).
Pili scored the first seven points of the game for the Utes, on a pair of layups and three-pointer from the right corner. She tallied nine points in first quarter, then scored the Utes' first four points of second quarter to fuel her high-scoring night.
Utah led 39-27 at half, and scored the first five points of second half to push its lead to 44-27. The lead increased to 20 points, the Utes' largest of the game, at 49-29, after a three-pointer by Kneepkens. Utah made four of its first six shots after halftime to push the lead to 20.
BYU cobbled together a 9-0 run and a 6-0 run to whittle the Utah lead down to 11 on several occasions, but the Utes answered the bell repeatedly to hold off the Cougars. A driving layup by Kneepkens with 5:41 to play ended the 6-0 BYU run and pushed Utah's lead back to 62-49, and the Utes never looked back.
GAME LEADERS
Alissa Pili and Gianna Kneepkens led the way for Utah with 28 and 18 points, respectively. Pili led the Utes with seven rebounds, while Kneepkens added six. Kelsey Rees had a game-high three blocks, while Jenna Johnson led the team with three steals and tied for the team-high with three assists.
TALKING ABOUT THE GAME: HEAD COACH LYNNE ROBERTS
"I'm so appreciative of the fans who came down. It was awesome. BYU had a great crowd too. It was just a great environment for a basketball game here. I thought it was a hard-played game. BYU did a really nice job. We were preparing for their zone all week and they didn't play one possession of it. They were super aggressive and did a good job in their transition defense. It didn't feel like anything was easy today, and that's a credit to them. I thought BYU did a nice job, but we seemed to answer the bell. When they were making a push to cut it to 10 or 11, we would rattle off a few and keep a comfortable distance. So great win, great day to be a Ute, always a fun game to play."
JUNIOR ALISSA PILI
"It was a great team win. We knew they were going to come out and fight hard. I think we kept our composure and played really hard and smart. It's a part of the reason I came here, to be surrounded by shooters and just open up the inside for me. A lot of times I'll be doubled down, and now that I have shooters around me it just opens up a lot, and I can create shots for them when I'm scoring inside. It's definitely something we've worked toward. I'm new here, so the rivalry is new to me, but I know how rivalries go. We knew it was going to be a dog fight and our preparation this week was on-point, and we did a lot of adjustments and key points to focus on."
STANDOUT STAT
Alissa Pili scored a season-high 28 points for the second game in a row. She came into the game ranked third in the nation in field-goal percentage (69.4%), and shot 13-18 (72.2%) tonight to raise her season mark to 69.9%.
UP NEXT???????? ????????????… It's a great day to be a Ute! ??#GoUtes | #UtesWin pic.twitter.com/pl0DjDqewD
— Utah Women's Basketball (@UTAHWBB) December 11, 2022
Utah now turns its attention the 2022-23 Pac-12 opener, scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 14, when the Colorado Buffaloes visit Salt Lake City. The game is scheduled to tip off at 3 p.m. at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. Tyson Ewing and Milee Enger will have the call of the contest on ESPN700, and it will be televised by Pac-12 Network. Live Stats can be found at UtahUtes.com.
Follow the Utes!
Fans can follow along during the 2022-23 season on social media (Twitter: @UtahWBB | Instagram: @UtahWBB | Facebook: Facebook.com/UtahWBB).
Driving layup by Kneepkens stops a 6-0 BYU run and pushes the lead back to 13 at 62-49!
— Utah Women's Basketball (@UTAHWBB) December 11, 2022
5:21 to play in Provo.#GoUtes
WATCH: BYUtv pic.twitter.com/H47YdCSDbb
Team Stats
Utah
BYU
FG%
.547
.397
3FG%
.364
.250
FT%
.667
.769
RB
31
32
TO
11
14
STL
9
3
Game Leaders
Pts
28
FGM
13
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Pts
18
FGM
6
3FGM
5
FTM
1
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Pts
7
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
F
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