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Lost in the midst of playing eight games in 16 days for the Utah women is the fact that the Utes didn't have much practice time during that stretch.

Yes, there were walkthroughs and shootarounds. But those hardly afforded enough teaching moments for Anthony Leverets with his crew of mostly freshmen and sophomores, and that showed as his team struggled during the month of December.

But with most of its brutal nonconference schedule out of the way, Utah engineered a 73-61 win against Utah State on Saturday at the Huntsman Center, in what was one final tuneup for Mountain West Conference play, which begins this week.

The victory gives the Utes a three-game winning streak, a bundle of confidence and the feeling that the difficult road of November and December was well worth it, even with a 7-7 record.

"The big thing is that we're getting better every day," Leverets said. "Having time to actually practice is huge. We've had some great practices in the past few weeks, and you can see the improvement on the court."

There were big differences, such as a previously offensively challenged Utah team scoring 73 points, making shots from the perimeter and placing four of its five starters in double figures for just the second time this season.

But there were subtle differences as well. Diana Rolniak, the sophomore center, is becoming comfortable with her role for the first time in her career. Her 12 points and four blocked shots proved to be big, especially against a big Utah State front court.

"It's been a challenge, but I'm becoming used to what's being asked of me and my role," Rolniak said.

Then there's Michelle Plouffe, a freshman forward. She scored 18 points, grabbed nine rebounds and is becoming the second freshman from Canada in as many years to make a huge impact for the Utes.

When you add in the 19 points from Iwalani Rodrigues and the steady floor leadership of Janita Badon, the Utes are slowly rounding into form. And with league play mere days away, the transformation couldn't have come at a better time.

"We feel that we're ready for the conference," Badon said. "We have much more confidence than we had earlier, and we're getting better. We've had adjustments to make, but we're playing well." —

Highlights

R Utah wins its third consecutive game to improve to 7-7 overall.

• Four of the Utes' starters score in double figures, led by Iwalani Rodrigues' 19.

• Utah pulls away late in the second half.