By Steve Luhm

| The Salt Lake Tribune

During its historic first season in the Pac-12, the University of Utah women’s basketball team achieved two more milestones Saturday.

The Utes won back-to-back league games for the first time with a 73-67 victory over Arizona at the Huntsman Center.

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At a glance

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Utah 73, Arizona 67

Michelle Plouffe has 22 points and 12 rebounds as Utah defeats Arizona, 73-67.

» The Utes’ Rachel Messer makes 9 of 10 free throws in the final 52 seconds.

» Utah wins back-to-back Pac-12 games for the first time.

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The Utes also swept a regular-season series from a conference rival for the first time, adding this win to an early-season overtime thriller in Tucson.

"It’s really nice for our team," said Utah coach Anthony Levrets. "… A good weekend."

Sophomore Michelle Plouffe scored 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for the Utes, who improved to 12-12 overall and 5-8 in the Pac-12.

Taryn Wicijowski, another sophomore, contributed 20 points and six rebounds as the Utes overcame a 34-29 halftime deficit.

"I think we lacked a lot of energy in the first half," said Wicijowski. "We were — I don’t know — kind of just lolly-gagging. We can get better there.

"But we did a really good job with their pressure. We didn’t let it affect us too much. So I think it was one of our [best] games for the whole 40 minutes."

Behind the play of junior Davellyn Whyte, who finished with 22 points before fouling out, Arizona owned a 39-33 lead with 18 minutes remaining.

The Wildcats managed only three points from their next 14 possessions, however, as Utah increased its pressure on defense.

Over an eight-minute stretch, the Utes used a 17-3 run to build a 50-42 lead.

"I’m really pleased with our defensive effort," Levrets said. "… Arizona is a talented offensive basketball team. They have so many guards who can score and we did a really, really nice job."

Still, Utah failed to put away the Wildcats, who trailed only 63-59 when they started fouling.

Inexplicably, Arizona kept sending Rachel Messer to the free-throw line, where she went 9-for-10 in the final 52 seconds to ice the victory.

Messer has now made 35 of 38 foul shots this season.

"They were fouling Rachel a lot," said Wicijowski, "which is good."

Said Levrets: "… She’s who I want on the free-throw line. I trust all our kids, but Rachel just seems to have the knack for making them at the end of a game."