Maxwell And Utah WBB Prepared For So Cal Road Trip

Entering the 2021 season, expectations were high for the Utah women's basketball team.

The team was returning nearly every key player from the previous season, which included point guard Dru Gylten and star shooting guard Brynna Maxwell, an all-Pac-12 freshman team nominee. Add in a stellar recruiting class led by Kennedy McQueen and Peyton McFarland, and it's no wonder why expectations were high.

But early on, the Utes had failed to live up to those expectations.

Utah suffered a four-game losing streak, all to conference opponents, over the past couple of weeks as the offense went extremely quiet. But Maxwell found her groove in the Utes last game, scoring 24 points in the second half to lead them to an 84-61 victory over Washington.

“I told them let’s just play a little more confidently,” Utah head coach Lynne Roberts said postgame against Washington. “I thought offensively we can get good looks. But we were just kind of rushing and we didn’t seem real sure of ourselves. That can happen from losing a couple in a row and in this conference, until you really get momentum, it’s hard and so I just told them to keep doing what we were doing. I thought defensively we were great all game."

Utah will now turn its attention to USC and No. 9 UCLA as they're preparing to travel to face the Southern California schools this weekend. The Utes will face the Trojans on Friday night before playing the Bruins on Sunday afternoon.

It the Utes are to pull off the weekend sweep — which will be tough — the offense and Maxwell are going to have to shine.

She averaged 9.3 points during the four game losing streak, but snapped out of it in a big way against the Huskies. Although it did take her a half to get going.

Maxwell was held scoreless in the first half as Utah struggled to pull away from Washington. But then she caught fire over the final 20 minutes as she scored all 24 of her points behind a relentless attack. She went 11-for-12 from the free throw line and 3-for-6 from beyond the arc.

“She uncharacteristically hadn’t scored a bucket in the first half,” Roberts said of Maxwell. “But I thought defensively she was doing great. You always just kind of assume the next ones in with her. When she gets going like that it’s really fun to watch, even from the bench. It’s fun to watch her, she’s got such a quick release and when she’s feeling it like that, you know, pretty confident she’s gonna make shots.”

24 points in the second half ✅

Career-high 11 made free throws ✅

Surpass the 500-career point mark in just 39 career games ✅ @brynnamaxwell doing Brynna Maxwell things. #Elevate pic.twitter.com/pvG5RFTSib
— Utah Women’s Basketball (@UTAHWBB) January 4, 2021

More than just Naxwell, other Utes will need to step up.

Gylten can do it all, as evidenced by her 10-point, 7-assist, 3-steal against the Huskies. Lola Pendande added 10 points and six rebounds while Niyah Becker finished with 12 points and five rebounds off the bench.

If Utah is to take take down the Trojans and Bruins, it will need a huge performance from Maxwell — so it's a good thing she and her teammates found their offensive prowess earlier in the week.

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