There was just no stopping Gonzaga.
After Utah forward Alissa Pili scored the team’s first 10 points and the Utes led by seven early in the second quarter, the Bulldogs reminded its opponent and the country why they’ve only lost three games all season.
Utah’s NCAA Tournament run ended Monday with a 77-66 loss to Gonzaga at The Kennel in Spokane, Washington. It was the 36th straight win at home for the Bulldogs, who got to host the tournament’s first and second rounds due to their No. 4 seeding.
“I’m really proud of our team,” coach Lynne Roberts said. “Aside from this game, we had a great season and we hit so much adversity with injuries and the roster we had going into the season and only had for three games. These guys never flinched, and those that we had healthy didn’t quit or feel sorry for themselves.”
Pili led Utah with 35 points and seven rebounds on 12-of-20 shooting. Kennady McQueen had 12 points and seven rebounds.
Kayleigh Truong led the Bulldogs with 21 points and seven rebounds, while Yvonne Ejim added 17 points and 13 rebounds.
Utah shot just 38% from the field and 26% from the 3-point line.
The Utes trailed by as many as 21 points in the third quarter. They cut the deficit to just six midway through the fourth quarter, but couldn’t get over the hump.
Pili was the main driver of the run that got the Utes within striking distance. Her career at Utah ended Sunday, and she was reflective of her time there after the loss.
“My whole life changed when I came to Utah,” Pili said. “I’ve taken so many lessons from it and learned so many things from Coach Lynne, my teammates, and the rest of the coaches. Just the whole university, like staff and everybody. They’re great people. So the experiences will stick with me forever. I’m just really glad that I ended it with this group of people.”
Dasia Young also played her last college game. She finished with 11 points and four rebounds.
“We went down swinging, so I’m really — I’ll take the L, but I’ll take it with pride because we didn’t give up, we didn’t roll over,” Young siad. “At one point we were down by a pretty good margin but we kept fighting.”
Utah gave up a 23-5 run in the second quarter highlighted by 3-pointers from Kaylynne and Kayleigh Truong, former Ute Brynna Maxwell and Maud Huijbens. There was one point where the Bulldogs made nine straight 3-pointers. The Utes trailed 41-31 at halftime.
“They got hot from three in that second quarter,” Roberts said. It was a great first quarter back and forth, and then that second quarter, we just — you know, it was the same thing on Saturday. We didn’t have a great second quarter offensively.”
The Utes beat South Dakota State on Saturday to advance to the Round of 32.
