Upcoming Event: Women's Basketball versus Western Colorado (EXHIBITION) on October 27, 2025 at TBD
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Women's Basketball
vs Western Colorado (EXHIBITION)
Friday, March 17
5:30 PM
University of Utah
26-4,14-3Pac-12
103
vs
77
Gardner-Webb
29-5,18-0Big South
1
2
3
4
F
Gardner-Webb
14
20
27
16
77
Utah
27
22
27
27
103
No. 2 Utah Downs No. 15 Gardner-Webb to Advance to NCAA Second Round
3/17/2023 10:37 PM | Women's Basketball
SALT LAKE CITY – The University of Utah women's basketball took down Gardner-Webb 103-77 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday night.
Utah's 103 points is the most scored by the Utes in an NCAA Tournament game. Utah now boasts a 26-4 overall record on the season. Utah will advance to the Second Round where they will take on No. 10 Princeton Sunday, March 19 at 5 p.m.
Early in the first quarter, Utah captured the momentum going on an 11-2 run. The Utes persisted and pushed on for a 9-0 run to end the first quarter to take a 27-14. Utah continued to control the pace of the game in the first half pushing their lead to as much as 18 points. Going into the halftime break, the Utes had a 49-34 lead.
Gardner-Webb found some momentum in the third quarter by cutting the lead to eight. The Utes refocused to push out for a 76-61 score going into the final quarter. Utah didn't let off the gas in the fourth quarter. The Utes outscored the Bulldogs 27-16 and pushed out for a 29 point lead in the final minute. With the final buzzer Utah came away with a 103-77 win to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
LEADERS
Utah had fourUtes score in double figures and were led by Alissa Pili who had a career high of 33 points. She went 12-17 from the field and 9-11 from the line. Pili also had eight rebounds and a career high of eight assists.
Jenna Johnson had 20 points with 10 of those coming in the first quarter. Gianna Kneepkens added 17 points for Utah and had the game high rebounds of nine. Lani White ended the game with 10 points going 4-4 from the field including 2-2 from the three.
COMPARISON
Utah ended the game shooting 59 percent from the field, 44 percent from beyond the arc, and 79 percent from the free throw line.
GWU shot 41 percent from the field, 32 percent from the three and 82 percent from the free throw line.
Utah dominated the paint outscoring Gardner-Webb 60-26. Utah pulled down 44 boards to 30.
STAND OUT STATS
Utah's 103 points were its most in an NCAA tournament game.
Pili's 33 points are the most by a Utah player in an NCAA tournament game since Kim Smith scored 35 in a 73-64 First-Round win over DePaul on March 23, 2003, as a No. 8 seed in Raleigh, N.C.
Utah hosted an NCAA tournament game at the Huntsman Center for the first time since March 19, 2011 (#2 Notre Dame 67, No. 15 Utah 54).
This marks the second season in a row that Utah has won a game in the NCAA tournament and the eighth time in school history. Last year No. 5-seed Utah defeated No. 12-seed Arkansas 92-69 in Austin, Texas before falling to the host Longhorns in the second round.
This marks the first time the Utes have won an NCAA tournament game in consecutive seasons since the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons. Utah won its First Round game in 04-05 and advanced to the Elite Eight in 05-06.
This is the fifth time this season Utah has broken into triple digits. This is the most 100 point games in a single season in Utah history. Most recently the Utes put up an even 100 in a win over Cal on February 23.
HEAR FROM HEAD COACH LYNNE ROBERTS
I appreciate you guys being here so much. It matters, and covering women's basketball is so important, I think, just seeing you all here. I really do appreciate it, the work that you do for our sport. I want to also congratulate Gardner-Webb on a great season. I was impressed with their competitiveness. I think we were just bigger. But they didn't quit, and they're well-coached, and they had won 21 games in a row coming into this thing. That's hard to do, as I've said. So just congratulations to them on a great season.
No game in this tournament is easy. I thought we controlled the game the whole time, but we had some peaks and valleys of great play and kind of loose play. But, we scored 103. The statistics that stand out to me is we had 32 assists on 37 made baskets. That's remarkable, and that's a sign of an unselfish team.
I think back to a year ago this week when we were in Texas playing -- they were the 2 seed and we played them on Sunday and the crowd mattered. I'm hopeful that we can get even a bigger one on Sunday. We're going to play -- NC State or Princeton both are really, really good. Very, very good. So we're going to need the fans.
UP NEXT
The No. 2 seed Utes will take on No. 10 Princeton in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament Sunday, March 19 at 5 p.m.
Follow the Utes!
Fans can follow along during the 2022-23 season on social media (Twitter: @UtahWBB | Instagram: @UtahWBB | Facebook: Facebook.com/UtahWBB).
Utah's 103 points is the most scored by the Utes in an NCAA Tournament game. Utah now boasts a 26-4 overall record on the season. Utah will advance to the Second Round where they will take on No. 10 Princeton Sunday, March 19 at 5 p.m.
Early in the first quarter, Utah captured the momentum going on an 11-2 run. The Utes persisted and pushed on for a 9-0 run to end the first quarter to take a 27-14. Utah continued to control the pace of the game in the first half pushing their lead to as much as 18 points. Going into the halftime break, the Utes had a 49-34 lead.
Gardner-Webb found some momentum in the third quarter by cutting the lead to eight. The Utes refocused to push out for a 76-61 score going into the final quarter. Utah didn't let off the gas in the fourth quarter. The Utes outscored the Bulldogs 27-16 and pushed out for a 29 point lead in the final minute. With the final buzzer Utah came away with a 103-77 win to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
LEADERS
Utah had fourUtes score in double figures and were led by Alissa Pili who had a career high of 33 points. She went 12-17 from the field and 9-11 from the line. Pili also had eight rebounds and a career high of eight assists.
Jenna Johnson had 20 points with 10 of those coming in the first quarter. Gianna Kneepkens added 17 points for Utah and had the game high rebounds of nine. Lani White ended the game with 10 points going 4-4 from the field including 2-2 from the three.
COMPARISON
Utah ended the game shooting 59 percent from the field, 44 percent from beyond the arc, and 79 percent from the free throw line.
GWU shot 41 percent from the field, 32 percent from the three and 82 percent from the free throw line.
Utah dominated the paint outscoring Gardner-Webb 60-26. Utah pulled down 44 boards to 30.
STAND OUT STATS
Utah's 103 points were its most in an NCAA tournament game.
Pili's 33 points are the most by a Utah player in an NCAA tournament game since Kim Smith scored 35 in a 73-64 First-Round win over DePaul on March 23, 2003, as a No. 8 seed in Raleigh, N.C.
Utah hosted an NCAA tournament game at the Huntsman Center for the first time since March 19, 2011 (#2 Notre Dame 67, No. 15 Utah 54).
This marks the second season in a row that Utah has won a game in the NCAA tournament and the eighth time in school history. Last year No. 5-seed Utah defeated No. 12-seed Arkansas 92-69 in Austin, Texas before falling to the host Longhorns in the second round.
This marks the first time the Utes have won an NCAA tournament game in consecutive seasons since the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons. Utah won its First Round game in 04-05 and advanced to the Elite Eight in 05-06.
This is the fifth time this season Utah has broken into triple digits. This is the most 100 point games in a single season in Utah history. Most recently the Utes put up an even 100 in a win over Cal on February 23.
HEAR FROM HEAD COACH LYNNE ROBERTS
I appreciate you guys being here so much. It matters, and covering women's basketball is so important, I think, just seeing you all here. I really do appreciate it, the work that you do for our sport. I want to also congratulate Gardner-Webb on a great season. I was impressed with their competitiveness. I think we were just bigger. But they didn't quit, and they're well-coached, and they had won 21 games in a row coming into this thing. That's hard to do, as I've said. So just congratulations to them on a great season.
No game in this tournament is easy. I thought we controlled the game the whole time, but we had some peaks and valleys of great play and kind of loose play. But, we scored 103. The statistics that stand out to me is we had 32 assists on 37 made baskets. That's remarkable, and that's a sign of an unselfish team.
I think back to a year ago this week when we were in Texas playing -- they were the 2 seed and we played them on Sunday and the crowd mattered. I'm hopeful that we can get even a bigger one on Sunday. We're going to play -- NC State or Princeton both are really, really good. Very, very good. So we're going to need the fans.
UP NEXT
The No. 2 seed Utes will take on No. 10 Princeton in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament Sunday, March 19 at 5 p.m.
Follow the Utes!
Fans can follow along during the 2022-23 season on social media (Twitter: @UtahWBB | Instagram: @UtahWBB | Facebook: Facebook.com/UtahWBB).
Team Stats
GW
Utah
FG%
.406
.587
3FG%
.318
.438
FT%
.824
.786
RB
30
44
TO
14
18
STL
9
9
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
33
FGM
12
3FGM
0
FTM
9
Pts
20
FGM
10
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
17
FGM
6
3FGM
2
FTM
3
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballG
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