Utah Beats BYU, 78-67

Saturday, December 8

Salt Lake City, UT

7:00 PM

University of Utah

Brigham Young

BYU

Utah

Photo by: Steve C. Wilson

12/8/2018 9:54 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah women's basketball team claimed the Deseret First Duel trophy tonight with a 78-67 victory over the Brigham Young Cougars in front of 6,106 fans, improving to 8-0 on the season.

"The crowd made such a difference tonight," head coach Lynne Roberts said. "Players feed off of it and it just adds so much to the game. When I took this job, I wanted this to be the toughest place to play in the Pac-12 with the elevation and because it is a sports town. We have great sports fans here, we just need them to keep coming out because I think they are going to like what they are seeing. I really appreciate them coming out tonight."

It was a complete team win from top to bottom as the Utes pushed past the Cougars, shooting 46-percent from the floor while holding them to 36-percent. The Utes outscored a lengthy BYU team 42-38 in the paint and held them to just 29-percent from the three.

"I just want to keep getting better," Roberts said. "If we win, great, but the goal is to keep getting better so that when we hit Pac-12, we are better than we have been. I have a ton of confidence in the this team."

Megan Huff led the Utes in scoring with a career-high 28 points, with 24 coming in the second half, adding eight rebounds. Dru Gylten also put up a career-night, chipping in 17 points along with eight assists.

Dre'Una Edwards notched her third double-double of the season, grabbing a career-high tying 15 boards along with putting up 12 points. Erika Bean also contributed a solid game on both sides of the ball, scoring five points while adding five rebounds, six assists, a steal and three blocks.

Even though Utah led by as many as 16 late in the game, it was a close first and second quarter as the Cougars turned it into a game of runs. A 7-0 run by BYU in the first gave the Cougars a 14-12 lead with 3:17 to go in the first quarter, but Utah kept its composure with Edwards hitting a key shot at the buzzer to take an 18-16 lead into the second.

The Utes came out rolling in the second quarter, shooting 3-for-3 from the floor that included back-to-back threes from Sarah Porter to give Utah a 26-20 lead with 7:17 on the clock. It was BYU's turn to counter though, making it a one-point game with less than four minutes to go before the Utes were able to hold a three-point lead heading into halftime.

Huff only scored four points in the first half, but the second she hit the court in the third, the light switch turned on. She scored 11 points in the third quarter, allowing the Utes to gain some control in the game.

The Utes headed into the fourth quarter up 58-47 after a 7-0 run by Utah late in the third put them up by double figures. Huff scored five straight points to start the fourth with the Utes leading by 16 points with 8:37 to go. BYU made it an eight-point game with 2:09 remaining in the game, but a 7-2 run by the Utes to close out the game sealed its 65^thprogram win over the Cougars.

Utah returns to action when they host Weber State on Saturday, Dec. 15 in the Jon M. Huntsman Center. The game is set for a 2 p.m. MT tip and will be streamed on UtahUtes.com.