Tag: Utah Women’s Basketball

Former Badger Wilke commits to Pac-12 school

Former Wisconsin women’s basketball guard Maty Wilke announced Tuesday that she has committed to transfer to the University of Utah.

Former Wisconsin women’s basketball guard Maty Wilke announced Tuesday that she has committed to the University of Utah out of the transfer portal. Wilke will leave Wisconsin after two seasons, with 2022 being her first one as an active member following an ACL injury in high school.

The 5-foot-10 guard averaged 11.8 points per game this season while producing a team-high 61 made three-pointers over 29 contests. After being a highly sought after recruit from Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, Wilke proved to be a rising star with the Badgers, who went 11-20 this year.

She will now transition over to a Utah program that went 27-5 in the regular season and was a two-seed in the NCAA Tournament, losing in the Sweet 16 to the eventual champion LSU Tigers 66-63.

If Wilke is in search of more team success on the court, the move to Utah will certainly fulfill that. Her contributions to the women’s program in Madison will not be forgotten as she came in with head coach Marisa Moseley in 2021, helping bring more attention to the women’s team this past season.

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Pac-12 women’s basketball report: Arizona helped Stanford in a big way

Arizona beat Utah on Friday, then Colorado on Sunday. Colorado probably lost its chance to share the Pac-12 title.

Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer won her third national championship by beating Adia Barnes and the Arizona Wildcats in the 2021 national title game in San Antonio. VanDerveer might want to send Barnes a gift one week from now if Stanford is able to win the Pac-12 championship. Arizona just made Stanford’s path to the title a lot more manageable.

Arizona, which beat Utah on Friday, turned around and hammered Colorado on Sunday. Buffaloes Wire has more on the story:

“The No. 21 Colorado Buffaloes just can’t seem to figure out how to beat ranked teams on the road,” Tony Cosolo wrote. “Sunday’s test came in the form of the No. 18 Arizona Wildcats and CU was less than stellar, losing 61-42. With that loss, CU dropped to 21-6 on the season and a concerning 0-4 when playing ranked teams on the road.

“Shooting woes and turnovers were the main pain points for the Buffaloes, as Colorado shot only 28% from the field and turned the ball over 20 times en route to its lowest scoring output of the season. The Buffaloes jumped out to a 9-5 lead in the first quarter, but Arizona went on a 12-1 run to close out the quarter and never looked back.”

Stanford heads into a Monday night home game versus UCLA with a chance to maintain the outright lead in the Pac-12 heading into the final week of the regular season.

Before this past weekend of games, Stanford was tied with Utah and just one game ahead of Colorado. Now the Cardinal lead Utah by one game in the loss column and Colorado by two. If Stanford beats UCLA, the Trees will have a one-game lead over the Utes, two over the Buffaloes.

With Stanford visiting Colorado and Utah on the final weekend of the season, the Cardinal (in the event of a win over UCLA) would just need to split to guarantee a share of the Pac-12 title. If they beat Utah, they will win the league outright no matter what else happens.

Colorado isn’t officially eliminated from the Pac-12 title chase, but the chances are slim to none for the Buffs. If Stanford beats UCLA on Monday night, Colorado would need Utah to lose at home to California to have any chance of sharing the Pac-12 title. Utah beating Cal means that even if Colorado defeats Stanford, the Utes and Cardinal would enter their big showdown ahead of Colorado. Since one of Utah or Stanford would win that game, CU couldn’t catch the winner. It would catch the loser, but not both. CU needed to beat Arizona to stay in the title hunt, but it didn’t.

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USC puts up a fight but loses at No. 9 Utah

Former Trojan Alissa Pili, now on the Utes, scored 21 to beat USC, which shaved 14 points off a large deficit but fell short. An opponent finally solved USC’s defense.

It was bound to happen, and it took a top-10-ranked team to do it. Utah, which has been at or near the top of the Pac-12 Conference all season long and is enjoying one of its finest seasons ever, played a strong offensive game. An opponent finally solved the Lindsay Gottlieb-Beth Burns defense which has been carrying USC women’s basketball this season.

Utah produced three quarters with at least 20 points on Friday night in Salt Lake City, en route to an 83-73 win. USC entered this game having allowed fewer than 20 total quarters with at least 20 points allowed this season. Former Trojan Alissa Pili scored 21 points to lead Utah to a 20-point lead. USC cut that lead to six points late in the fourth quarter, but that’s as close as the Trojans got.

The Utes were sharpened by defeat last week against No. 3 Stanford. The Cardinal played an elite defensive game against Utah and exposed the Utes’ limitations. Unfortunately for USC, Utah carried the lessons and adjustments from the Stanford game into this contest versus the Trojans.

It was a game USC always figured to lose, but now the Trojans need to be the team which learns and benefits from a loss. USC will try to get back on track at the defensive end of the floor on Sunday in Boulder against Colorado. The Buffaloes just knocked off UCLA on Friday night, so they will be very, very tough to beat.

USC’s NCAA Tournament position isn’t hurt by a loss to a top-10 Utah team, but the Trojans could really boost their odds if they can grab a win in Boulder on Sunday. Increasing — not reducing — margin for error is the goal of this Mountain road trip. One win would be huge. No wins would not be a devastating outcome, but it would mean USC would have to hold serve in its upcoming home games versus beatable Pac-12 opponents.

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