FRESNO, Calif. – The University of Utah women's basketball team defeated Fresno State 65-55 Tuesday night at the Save Mart Center.
Senior wing
Paige Crozon finished with a double-double scoring 12 points while grabbing 10 rebounds. Junior wing
Tanaeya Boclair led the Utes (2-0, 0-0 Pac-12) with 16 points. Junior forward
Emily Potter was the second leading scorer for the Utes with 15 points while pulling down eight rebounds and swatting four shots.
"I'm never going to worry about Paige (Crozon), she's a stud. She bounded back and shot for 12 points," head coach
Lynne Roberts said about her senior. "I thought
Daneesha Provo did well too. She came in and brought some life to the first half. Saturday she looked nervous and today I think she looked like what we're going to see this season."
Fresno State (1-1, 0-0 MWC) pulled out to a 4-0 lead after Utah started the game 0-for-10 from the floor, but the Utes came back with a 10-0 run for the lead. Utah's defense held the Bulldogs to 17.6 percent shooting from the floor in the quarter for an 18-8 lead after the first 10 minutes of action.
Back-to-back defensive efforts results in five points for the Utes after steals from junior wing
Malia Nawahine and Crozon. Nawahine drove and dished the ball to freshman guard
Kiana Moore for an and-one while Crozon drove to the basket for two points. Fresno State ended the first half with an 8-0 run to close the gap with the Utes leads 31-26 at the break.
Junior wing
Daneesha Provo picked up six points in six minutes on 3-3 shooting from the floor while Crozon led the Utes at the half with 7 points and 6 rebounds.
Potter grabbed her second steal of the game as Bean drove the ball dishing out to Boclair for a layup at the Ute's sixth-straight points to open the third quarter for a 37-28 lead. Utah continued offensively with an 11-0 run before the Bulldogs knocked down a pair for free throws.
The Bulldogs came back with an a 9-0 run, but Provo knocks down a 3-pointer before the end of the third quarter to keep the Utes ahead, 45-37.
Nawahine opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer to start an 8-0 run for the Utes largest lead of the game for a 16-point margin. Despite a slow start to the game, Utah finished with 20 points in the fourth quarter for another 10-point win.
Utah returns to Salt Lake City Saturday to take on Utah Valley Saturday at 5:30 p.m. at the Jon M. Huntsman Center.