Las Vegas • Jenna Johnson scored 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting and Utah upset No. 3 seed Washington State 70-59 on Thursday night in the Pac-12 tournament.
Sixth-seeded Utah (19-10) plays No. 2 seed Oregon in Friday’s semifinals at 9:30 p.m. (Pac-12 Network) MST. The unranked Ducks, who have been in and out of the Top 25 after having been ranked No. 10 in the preseason poll, beat Utah 73-65 in the regular-season finale last Saturday to sweep the season series.
Johnson scored 10 points in the first quarter and her 3-pointer with 6:03 left in the first quarter gave Utah the lead for good at 15-12. The Cougars (19-10) went 0 for 5 from the field and committed three turnovers as the Utes used a 15-0 run to take a 29-13 lead into the second quarter.
Johnson hit another 3 — Utah’s eighth of the first half with 2:22 left — to spark a 7-0 spurt that made it 45-25 at the break.
Brynna Maxwell scored 11 points and Isabel Palmer added 10 for Utah.
Washington State (19-10), which won a program record 11 conference games this season and earned its highest seed in conference-tournament history, awaits an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Cougars are 0-2 all-time in the NCAA tourney, losing first-round games in 1979 and 2021 — a 57-53 loss to South Florida. Bella Murekatete made 7 of 13 from the field and finished with 18 points and Tara Wallack scored 16 on 6-of-10 shooting for Washington State.
Charlisse Leger-Walker, the Cougars’ leading scorer at 16.3 points per game, had six points and sister Krystal Leger-Walker scored four. The duo each went 2 of 12 from the field and 0 for 5 from 3-point range.
