This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Utah's women's basketball players talked about how much it would mean to get their first Pac-12 victory, and how that experience would help them close out close games in the future.
It may yet.
But against the No. 11 Sun Devils on Sunday afternoon, that proved too tall an order.
The Utes led 20-15 early and closed within two points, at 43-41, with five minutes remaining when junior point guard Danielle Rodriguez drove and kicked to freshman wing Tanaeya Boclair, who drained an open three.
But ASU (20-2, 9-1 Pac-12) was made of sterner stuff than Arizona, whom Utah (7-14, 1-9) trounced Friday, and finished both halves with one-sided stretches and picked up the 58-48 win..
"I'm very proud of our effort against a really, really good team," said Utah head coach Anthony Levrets, who pointed to Utah's 3-of-8 free-throw shooting, first-half turnovers and spells of exhaustion as culprits in the loss.
The Utes gave themselves a shot, though, with characteristically stout defense and a hard-charging style of offense.
Boclair scored 15 for her third consecutive game in double digits and 10th of the season, and Rodriguez totaled 13 points, four rebounds and five assists.
"They just pressure like crazy every pass, which eventually, if you get past the first part of it, leads to very good opportunities behind [the pressure]," Levrets said.
After Utah surged to a 20-15 lead, however, the Sun Devils rattled off 11 straight points and earned a 26-20 advantage at the break. The Utes — even more shorthanded than usual due to the absence of Valerie Nawahine and Wendy Anae for personal reasons — just ran out of gas, Levrets said.
"They played nine kids before the media timeout," he said. "They played more kids before the first media timeout than we had available to play today."
Behind Boclair — who is "turning into kind of what we thought she could become," Levrets said — Rodriguez and senior Taryn Wicijowski, who added six clutch points after a scoreless first half, Utah clawed back, and was within two possessions of the lead in an eventual Pac-12 loss for the seventh time this season.
But Arizona State won the final five minutes 15-7, led by guard Promise Amukamara, who scored all 11 of her points in the second half.
"We're getting better," Levrets said. "That's the hard part. I think our kids feel it, and when you feel some sort of progress, you can continue to fight and compete."
Next Utah travels to Los Angeles for games at USC (Friday, 8 p.m. MST) and UCLA (Sunday, 3 p.m. MST), two teams that beat them by just three at the Huntsman Center.
Twitter: @matthew_piper