#7 Utah Smacks UW WBB Huskies with Record 52-point 1st Half, 92-69 Loss

After their upset of #2-ranked Stanford at home, the Washington Huskies (13-10 overall, 5-8 Pac-12) seemingly failed to bring their “A-game” on the road to Utah, losing 92 – 64 to the #7-ranked Utah Utes (21-2 overall, 11-2 Pac-12).

UW freshman guard Elle Ladine and senior big Darcy Rees seemed to be the only UW players with any competitive fight on Friday night as the Huskies collectively laid a proverbial egg in Salt Lake City.

Utah cruised to a 23-point victory by outscoring the Huskies in every quarter and raining down threes with little resistance from the Huskies defenders.

Along the way, UW’s defense set the record for most points allowed in the first half in any PAC-12 game this season.

Besides a very poor team effort, Washington’s game plan was poor as well.

Although the Utes came into the game averaging 26 points per game from beyond the arc, the Huskies allowed Utah to shoot multiple wide-open three-pointers — the Utes scored 48 points from three-point range against UW on 16 made threes.

The Huskies also never attempted to slow down the tempo of the game — despite Utah averaging 76 points per game, i.e., 15 more points per game than the Huskies.

Game Summary

First Quarter

In the first quarter, the Huskies managed just four rebounds versus 12 rebounds by Utah.

Elle Ladine had a team-leading 8 points in the first period, along with 1 rebound and 1 assist, despite only playing 6 minutes.

LADINE hits her second 3 🔥

📺 Pac-12 Mountain
📲 https://t.co/Uq1vucZkB8 pic.twitter.com/3xWQNyBAhF

— Washington Women’s Basketball (@UW_WBB) February 11, 2023

Darcy Rees added 2 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist despite only playing 4 minutes in the first quarter.

Combined Ladine and Rees outscored and rebounded Washington’s entire starting five in the first quarter.

Utah outscored the Huskies 24-19 in the first period.

Second Quarter

The second quarter was more of the same, as the Utes outscored the Huskies 28-16.

The Utah Utes went on a 10-2 run late in the second period to take a 14-point lead and the Huskies would not come within single digits the rest of the game.

Darcy Rees had a team-leading 6 points (3 for 3 for 100% shooting overall) and 3 rebounds in 8 minutes.

Elle Ladine contributed 4 points and 1 assist in 6 minutes in the second period.

Adding insult to injury, Utah’s point guard Issy Palmer hit a halfcourt three-pointer with one second on the clock to end the first half with the Utes leading by 17 points, 52-35.

Utah’s 52 points is the most scored in a first half by any Pac-12 team in conference play this season.

Third Quarter

The third quarter was more of the same misery for the Washington Huskies.

Elle Ladine scored 4 points, along with 1 rebound and 1 assist, in 7 minutes.

Darcy Rees scored 2 points, along with 1 rebound, in 4 minutes.

The only other Huskies scoring in the third period were: Haley Van Dyke with 4 points, Trinity Oliver with 3 points and Lauren Schwartz with 2 points.

At the end of the third period, Utah held a 68-50 lead over the Huskies.

Fourth Quarter

To start the fourth quarter, the Utah Utes went on a 9-0 run while holding the Washington Huskies scoreless for over three minutes.

At that point, any hope of a Husky comeback was gone.

Utah built a 30-point lead with approximately three minutes left in the game.

Ultimately, the Utes handed the Huskies a 23-point defeat, 92-69, that ws never in doubt.

UW HUSKIES PLAYER OF THE GAME – DARCY REES

Certainly Elle Ladine deserves kudos for showing up and finishing with 18 points, 5 assists and 2 rebounds (with three turnovers) in 30 minutes.

However, Darcy Rees was the player of the game due to her efficiency in scoring 10 points with 5 rebounds and 1 assist (zero turnovers) in 17 minutes. Frankly she deserved more playing time against Utah — and deserves more playing time going forward.

NEXT UP

The Huskies will try to rally for a victory against the Colorado Buffaloes on Sunday, February 12th at 11am PST.