GREENVILLE, S.C. (ABC4 Sports) – In what has been an historic season for the Utah women’s basketball team, it all ended in heartbreak.
Jenna Johnson missed two free throws with 4.7 seconds that would have given the Utes the lead, in a 66-63 loss to LSU Friday night.
Gianna Kneepkens led Utah with 20 points, while Issy Palmer chipped in with 15. Alissa Pili, who scored 61 points in Utah’s first two NCAA Tournament games, was held to 14 points on just eight shots before fouling out in the final seconds.
“What a great game,” said Utah head coach Lynne Roberts. “I thought both teams left it all out there on the floor. That’s why it stings so bad when you put it all out there and someone has to win.”
“It’s a bummer to end it like this because we know we could have won,” said Kneepkens. “It could have gone either way. We were just right in there at the end.”
LaDazhia Williams was the star for the Tigers, pouring in a season-high 24 points. All-American Angel Reese had 17 points.
Utah fell behind early by seven points, but rallied to take a seven-point lead in the second quarter, and led 33-29 at the half.
“We came out of the gate, not intentionally, like slow-ish,” Palmer said. “Stuff wasn’t flowing for us, but we always get rolling. I wasn’t too worried, we got back into the game pretty quickly.”
In a back-and-forth battle, Utah took a 1-point lead into the third quarter after a three-pointer by Palmer.
LSU went on an 11-2 run in the fourth quarter to take a 61-54 lead with three minutes to play.
But the Utes responded with a 9-0 and took a 63-61 lead with 1:09 to play on two free throws by Palmer. The Tigers regained the lead on two free throws by Alexis Morris with ten seconds left.
Johnson rebounded a miss by Kneepkens and got fouled with 4.7 seconds to play. But Johnson, a 75 percent free throw shooter, missed them both.
Morris added two more foul shots for a three-point lead. The Utes had a final chance, but Young’s 3-point try from the left corner hit the side of the backboard as time expired.\
“I think today we proved that we belong at this level,” said Pili. “I’m just proud of everybody, just for how good of a season we had this year.”
Utah was hoping to get to its second Elite 8 in school history. But instead LSU will face Miami on Sunday.
Utah shot just 38.3 percent from the floor and committed 16 turnovers.
With every player eligible to return next season, Utah could be another deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
“What an amazing season we had, and I couldn’t be more proud of these guys,” Roberts said. “Their fight and their buy-in, and the way they represent our university.”
Utah finished the season with a record of 27-5, tying for the second-most wins in a season in program history (28-4 in 200-01; 27-5 in 2007-08; 27-7 in 2005-06).
The Utes won 27 or more games for just the fourth time in program history, and made their third trip to the Sweet 16. The others came in 2000-01 and 2005-06 (Elite Eight).