Utah Comes Back to Beat UCLA Women's Basketball on Buzzer-Beater

The Bruins didn't trail at all in the fourth quarter, until the buzzer sounded.

No. 8 UCLA women's basketball (17-5, 6-4 Pac-12) lost to No. 9 Utah (18-2, 8-2) by a score of 71-69 in Salt Lake City on Sunday, dropping them to 5-5 in their last 10 games. The Bruins led by five with just over a minute left, but forward Alissa Pili came through with a 3-pointer and a layup to win it for the Utes.

Pili led all players with 23 points and nine rebounds.

With the result, UCLA fell to 5-4 on the road, while Utah improved to 10-0 at home.

The Bruins opened the game on an 8-0 run, featuring 3-pointers from forward Emily Bessoir and guard Charisma Osborne. The Utes battled back with a 9-0 run, starting a stretch of five lead changes and two ties in the last five minutes of the first quarter.

There were two ties in the second quarter, but UCLA never trailed in the frame. Utah opened the third with a 10-2 run to steal back the lead, only for guard Londynn Jones to hit a 3-pointer and Bessoir to hit back-to-back triples.

That sparked a 13-0 run late in the period, and a 3-pointer by guard Gina Conti put the Bruins up by eight with just over six minutes left on the clock. When the Utes cut the lead down to two, Osborne rejected a shot at the rim to give the Bruins some momentum.

Osborne hit a jumper with 2:18, plus a free throw with 1:58, to put UCLA back up by five.

From there, however, the Bruins went 0-for-3 from the field. Pili's 3-pointer with 41 seconds left tied things up, and her layup at the buzzer won it for Utah.

Bessoir led UCLA with 17 points on 6-for-8 shooting from deep an 5-for-6 shooting from deep. Guard Kiki Rice dropped 11, while Jones and forward Gabriela Jaquez scored 10 apiece. Osborne finished with nine, which was tied for her second-fewest points in a game this season.

UCLA will get a chance to return to the win column Friday at 8 p.m. against Arizona. That game will be broadcast on Pac-12 Networks and marks the start of a four-game homestand at Pauley Pavilion.

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