Upcoming Event: Women's Basketball at Arizona on December 22, 2025 at Noon (MT)
Noon (MT)
Women's Basketball
at Arizona
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The University of Utah Athletics
Wednesday, December 17
Salt Lake City, Utah
7:00 PM
University of Utah
9-3,0-0Big 12
61
vs
52
UC Riverside
2-8,1-1Big West
1
2
3
4
F
UC Riverside
9
15
12
16
52
Utah
5
18
31
7
61
Photo by: Liv Medivitz/Utah Athletics
Utah Picks Up 61-52 Win Over UC Riverside
12/17/2025 10:23 PM | Women's Basketball
SALT LAKE CITY– The Utah women's basketball team extended its win streak to six games with a 61-52 win over UC Riverside to close out non-conference action.
Utah (9-3) was led by Reese Ross who posted a standout scoring night with a game-high 17 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. This is Ross' first double-double of the season.
GAME SUMMARY
Utah had a slow start as UC Riverside (2-8) forced the Utes into a six minute scoring drought while going on a 7-0 run. The drought was broken by a Reese Ross free throw. The first quarter ended 9-5 in favor of the Highlanders.
In the second quarter the Utes put on the pressure. Freshmen LA Sneed and Avery Hjelmstad put up 10 consecutive points including back-to-back threes from Hjelmstad to swing momentum in favor of the Utes. UC Riverside continued fighting and were ultimately able to claim the 24-23 lead going into half.
Out of the halftime break Utah went on a 10-4 run led by two layups by LA Sneed. The Utes continued building momentum and were able to go on a 15-0 run to take total control of the game. Utah out scored UC Riverside 31-12 in the third quarter and pulled ahead for a 54-36 lead.
In the fourth quarter, the Highlanders fought back, going on a 10-0 run but the Utes were able to remain in control to secure the 61-52 win over UC Riverside.
LEADERS
Utah had two Utes score in double figures and were led by junior Reese Ross's double-double of 17 points and career-high 13 rebounds. Freshman Avery Hjelmstad contributed 10 points to the Utes final score.
Evelina Otto pulled down seven boards to help out the Utes while Chyra Evans added six. LA Sneed, Maty Wilke and Otto all contributed three assists to help out Utah's offensive power.
COMPARISON
Utah shot 46.2% from the field while UC Riverside shot 35.1% from the field. Utah went 20.0% from three making 4-of-20 while UC Riverside went 28.0% shooting 7-of-25. The Utes shot 42.9% from the line going 9-of-21 while the Highlanders shot 71.4% from the line going 5-of-7.
Utah had 13 assists to UC Riverside's nine. The Utes outrebounded the Highlanders 43-29. Utah boasted 36 points in the paint to UC Riverside's 20.
HEAR FROM THE UTES
Head Coach Gavin Petersen
Opening statement…
"You know, we closed the non-conference schedule with a win, ugly win, but a win is still a win — so we can't lose sight of that. Credit to UC Riverside, Brad [Langston] had his team coming in ready to go. In games like this, they have nothing to lose and they came out and played hard and just kind of set the tone. They made it a very scrappy, ugly game early on and we kind of followed their lead and that's something we cannot do. Defensively in the first half we were locked in. We did a good job of executing our game plan, it was just our offense that was out of whack. For whatever reason, the ball was getting sticky, we were over dribbling, UCR iced the ball screens on the wing and it's like we had never seen that, never practiced against it, and it was just a bad rhythm altogether. The team is sick of me saying it, but as soon as they decide how good they want to be, they'll be that good. When they think about other things that don't have to do with our team, with basketball, then we're going to be in games that look ugly and have an ugly feel to them. So nonetheless, 9-3 heading into Big-12 play, happy about that. We'll have practice tomorrow and get them ready to go for our two day prep for Arizona."
Junior Forward Reese Ross
On where she thinks the team is heading into Big 12 action…
"I'm confident saying we're right where we need to be. I mean, we've shown that we can compete with Big Ten teams. We still have opportunities to get better in areas where we're struggling. But that doesn't mean we're not where we're supposed to be at. We're 9-3 going into the Big 12 and that's great. We're winning the games we need to win and we're proving ourselves in the games that we lost in a close way. I'm really happy and confident with our team right now."
On how her performance thus far motivates her for the rest of the season…
"Going out and playing tough and gritty is something I've done consistently the whole time I've been here and that's something that Gavin [Petersen] always supports me in. It's nice having a coach that is confident in my abilities, because it pushes me to continue to be more gritty. Heading into Big 12 action I'm going to be playing stronger and more physical players, I know I can go down there and bang with the big girls. So it's just continuing to understand that the sky's the limit if I just keep pushing myself to continue being gritty each and every game."
UP NEXT
Utah will open Big 12 play Dec. 22 at Arizona. The Utes first home Big 12 game will be against the Sun Devils of Arizona State on Dec. 31 at 2 p.m.
FOLLOW THE UTES!
Fans can follow along during the 2025-26 season on social media (Twitter: @UtahWBB | Instagram: @UtahWBB | Facebook: Facebook.com/UtahWBB).
Utah (9-3) was led by Reese Ross who posted a standout scoring night with a game-high 17 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. This is Ross' first double-double of the season.
GAME SUMMARY
Utah had a slow start as UC Riverside (2-8) forced the Utes into a six minute scoring drought while going on a 7-0 run. The drought was broken by a Reese Ross free throw. The first quarter ended 9-5 in favor of the Highlanders.
In the second quarter the Utes put on the pressure. Freshmen LA Sneed and Avery Hjelmstad put up 10 consecutive points including back-to-back threes from Hjelmstad to swing momentum in favor of the Utes. UC Riverside continued fighting and were ultimately able to claim the 24-23 lead going into half.
Out of the halftime break Utah went on a 10-4 run led by two layups by LA Sneed. The Utes continued building momentum and were able to go on a 15-0 run to take total control of the game. Utah out scored UC Riverside 31-12 in the third quarter and pulled ahead for a 54-36 lead.
In the fourth quarter, the Highlanders fought back, going on a 10-0 run but the Utes were able to remain in control to secure the 61-52 win over UC Riverside.
LEADERS
Utah had two Utes score in double figures and were led by junior Reese Ross's double-double of 17 points and career-high 13 rebounds. Freshman Avery Hjelmstad contributed 10 points to the Utes final score.
Evelina Otto pulled down seven boards to help out the Utes while Chyra Evans added six. LA Sneed, Maty Wilke and Otto all contributed three assists to help out Utah's offensive power.
COMPARISON
Utah shot 46.2% from the field while UC Riverside shot 35.1% from the field. Utah went 20.0% from three making 4-of-20 while UC Riverside went 28.0% shooting 7-of-25. The Utes shot 42.9% from the line going 9-of-21 while the Highlanders shot 71.4% from the line going 5-of-7.
Utah had 13 assists to UC Riverside's nine. The Utes outrebounded the Highlanders 43-29. Utah boasted 36 points in the paint to UC Riverside's 20.
HEAR FROM THE UTES
Head Coach Gavin Petersen
Opening statement…
"You know, we closed the non-conference schedule with a win, ugly win, but a win is still a win — so we can't lose sight of that. Credit to UC Riverside, Brad [Langston] had his team coming in ready to go. In games like this, they have nothing to lose and they came out and played hard and just kind of set the tone. They made it a very scrappy, ugly game early on and we kind of followed their lead and that's something we cannot do. Defensively in the first half we were locked in. We did a good job of executing our game plan, it was just our offense that was out of whack. For whatever reason, the ball was getting sticky, we were over dribbling, UCR iced the ball screens on the wing and it's like we had never seen that, never practiced against it, and it was just a bad rhythm altogether. The team is sick of me saying it, but as soon as they decide how good they want to be, they'll be that good. When they think about other things that don't have to do with our team, with basketball, then we're going to be in games that look ugly and have an ugly feel to them. So nonetheless, 9-3 heading into Big-12 play, happy about that. We'll have practice tomorrow and get them ready to go for our two day prep for Arizona."
Junior Forward Reese Ross
On where she thinks the team is heading into Big 12 action…
"I'm confident saying we're right where we need to be. I mean, we've shown that we can compete with Big Ten teams. We still have opportunities to get better in areas where we're struggling. But that doesn't mean we're not where we're supposed to be at. We're 9-3 going into the Big 12 and that's great. We're winning the games we need to win and we're proving ourselves in the games that we lost in a close way. I'm really happy and confident with our team right now."
On how her performance thus far motivates her for the rest of the season…
"Going out and playing tough and gritty is something I've done consistently the whole time I've been here and that's something that Gavin [Petersen] always supports me in. It's nice having a coach that is confident in my abilities, because it pushes me to continue to be more gritty. Heading into Big 12 action I'm going to be playing stronger and more physical players, I know I can go down there and bang with the big girls. So it's just continuing to understand that the sky's the limit if I just keep pushing myself to continue being gritty each and every game."
UP NEXT
Utah will open Big 12 play Dec. 22 at Arizona. The Utes first home Big 12 game will be against the Sun Devils of Arizona State on Dec. 31 at 2 p.m.
FOLLOW THE UTES!
Fans can follow along during the 2025-26 season on social media (Twitter: @UtahWBB | Instagram: @UtahWBB | Facebook: Facebook.com/UtahWBB).
Team Stats
UCR
Utah
FG%
.351
.462
3FG%
.280
.200
FT%
.714
.429
RB
29
43
TO
20
23
STL
14
9
Game Leaders
Pts
17
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
10
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballUtah: 61, UC Riverside: 52 | Utah Women's Basketball Post Game Press Conference
Thursday, December 18
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ESPN+ Feature | Utah Women's Basketball's Avery Hjelmstad
Sunday, December 14