This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Michelle Plouffe scored 21 points and grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds as the Utah women's basketball team defeated Arizona State 54-46 on Friday evening in Tempe, Ariz.
The Utes (14-10, 5-8 Pac-12) earned their third straight win, and fourth in their past five games.
Taryn Wicijowski added 19 points for Utah.
"We are really proud of our team," Utah coach Anthony Levrets said. "We got out-statisticed in most categories, but the only statistic that matters is that we had more points at the end of the game. We gutted it out and played really hard. It was a really good win for our team."
Plouffe and Wicijowski together accounted for nearly three-fourths of Utah's scoring.
"We felt like we had a really good advantage in there," Levrets said. "They are both good at a lot of things. When you have a player like Plouffe, and all the things that she is good at, does them all in one night, it's a pretty special thing to get to watch. Obviously, they are very talented, but everyone else has to give them the basketball, everyone else has to execute to get the ball to them, and what we did tonight as a team defensively as a group was incredible."
Utah took an 8-0 lead over the first five minutes of the game, and led 26-21 at halftime.