Hoosiers knock Utes out of the NCAA Tournament

Utah coach Gavin Petersen predicted a “chess match” between the Utes and Hoosiers as the eight- and nine-seeds met in the NCAA Tournament on Friday afternoon.

But, in the end, Utah found itself checkmated.

The Utes’ season came to an end with a 76-68 loss to Indiana.

Utah guard Gianna Kneepkens scored a game-high 24 points and Maye Toure added 18 points and 11 rebounds.

The Hoosiers were led by Yarden Garzon’s 17 points and Shay Ciezki’s 16.

“I’m extremely proud of our team not only for this season and what we have accomplished,” Petersen said, “but our graduating senior class and the legacy they’ve left, a scoreboard for one game is not going to define their success and how much they’ve impacted our program at Utah.”

The Utes led by six in the second quarter, but then went cold during a scoreless five-minute stretch.

At halftime, the score was level at 31.

Indiana used a 15-3 run to build a double-digit lead in the third quarter.

“They pose so many challenges for you defensively,” Indiana coach Teri Moren said of Utah. “They have a bunch of experienced and veteran players. They’re very, very impressive and they’re hard to prepare for. We absolutely knew this was going to be a dogfight.”

The Utes cut the deficit to four in the game’s final minutes, but couldn’t complete the rally.

“I think we just dug too big of a hole,” Utah senior Kennady McQueen said.

Utah finished the season with a record of 22-8.