Utah women's basketball upsets No. 2 seed Oregon to advance to first-ever Pac-12 Championship
The Cinderella story continues in Las Vegas as the University of Utah women’s basketball team upset the No. 2 seed Oregon Ducks to advance to the programs first ever Pac-12 Championship. Despite trailing early to a dominant Ducks team, Utah rallied back with an explosive 23-point third quarter and battled late to secure a 80-73 victory.
The start for the Utes was less than ideal as they trailed 25-14 after the initial quarter. However, after outscoring Oregon 31-20 over the second and third quarters, Utah clung to a slender lead going into the fourth but rallied to outlast Oregon.
While the Ducks roared back after trailing by 10 to begin the final period of regulation, Utah regained the lead after a technical foul was assessed to the Oregon coaching staff following a three-point foul. Once the foul was confirmed, and with the addition of the technical, Kennady McQueen connected on four of the five free-throws to retake the lead and the Utes did not look back.
Over the course of the final few minutes, Utah remained composed while the Ducks continued to make mistakes. Freshman Gianna Kneepkens continued to shine as she led her squad with 24 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Kneepkens was also clutch late as she scored 17 second-half points, nine of which came late in the fourth quarter.
"I am incredibly proud of my team," Head coach Lynne Roberts said. "We've been on them about how to win in March. We picked two things about what it takes to win in March, and we just talked about being 30 percent tougher, just every possession, every person. You don't have to be perfect, but you need to be as tough as you can and play as hard as you possibly can. I couldn't be more proud of them."
With the victory, Utah will advance to their first ever Pac-12 Championship. They will face a heavily favored Stanford Cardinal team on Sunday at 4 p.m. MT. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
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