Utah 77 @ BYU 73 in OT

[Pinhead]

The Beehive State's women's basketball rendition of the holy war was on BYU TV last night. Lots of youngsters out there. At times it seemed like the only seasoned player on the floor was the Cougar guard Paisley Johnson who led all scorers with 19. While 6'7" BYU big Sara Hamson is a defensive force in the paint, if she possessed Johnson's swagger she'd be unstoppable. Alas, while she demonstrated some uncharacteristic rebounding aggression toward the end of the game, that doesn't seem to be a regular part of her repertoire. Cougars sorely miss medical redshirt guard Shaylee Gonzales. Utah freshman guard Brynna Maxwell led the Utes with 18 and her quick release is as advertised. Highly-touted 6'4" Ute freshman Lola Pendande looked lost and intimidated by Hamson's size. Ute forward Andrea Torres was solid as usual and Ola Makurat as well. Guard Dru Gylten missed a handful of clutch free-throws toward the end of regulation that might have avoided OT. Utes seemed to have survived the loss of their graduated all-star Megan Huff and transfer of Dre'una Edwards. Utah coach Lynn Roberts was rolling an interesting full 5-player line change. As usual, some questionable officiating, likely impacting BYU more than Utah.
A comment regarding attendance... while the Cougars regularly pack South Field for women's soccer (RIP after 5-1 loss to Stanford in Elite 8), and standing room only throngs at Smith Field House for women's volleyball, the crowd at the Marriott Center looked comparatively small for this game. Holiday perhaps?

 

[eebmg]

other Makurat was 3-5 from 3pt land. Keeping the pressure up on Anna.

 

[Plebe]

Nice to see Utah pull out an overtime game because they have been the queens of the heartbreaking losses the past two seasons. They also lost in overtime to a very good South Dakota team a couple weeks ago.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Paisley Johnson

Brynna Maxwell

From Everett and Gig Harbor, WA. I don't think either was a very high profile recruit. If only the Huskies could recruit in their own backyard.


Utah has bounced back nicely after an 0-3 start to the season. BYU is struggling a bit. I think they were picked to finish 2nd in the WCC. Overall the OOC for the WCC has not been going well. Not getting any of the big wins they picked up like last season.

 

[TheFarmFan]

From Everett and Gig Harbor, WA. I don't think either was a very high profile recruit. If only the Huskies could recruit in their own backyard.

FWIW, more goes into recruiting than just basketball. Johnson is Mormon and Maxwell is also pretty religious, so it's possible they sought out schools whose cultures more closely reflected their backgrounds. In that sense, BYU and Utah would probably be better fits than UW, which is located in one of the most liberal and areligious metropolitan areas in the country.

 

[nwhoopfan]

FWIW, more goes into recruiting than just basketball. Johnson is Mormon and Maxwell is also pretty religious, so it's possible they sought out schools whose cultures more closely reflected their backgrounds. In that sense, BYU and Utah would probably be better fits than UW, which is located in one of the most liberal and areligious metropolitan areas in the country.

Yeah, certainly w/ BYU many of their recruits are drawn by the Mormon angle, maybe all the schools in Utah to some degree or another have that as a factor.

OT, but a few years ago a Washington volleyball prospect committed to BYU, changed her mind at the 13th hour, and ended up at UW--Kylin Munoz.