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The Utah Utes women's team used a 21-0 run to overwhelm Southern Utah on their way to a 69-43 victory at the Huntsman Center on Wednesday night.

The game was still close early in the second quarter when Tiarra McDonald scored a 3-pointer for the visiting Thunderbirds and make the score 19-13 with 8:41 left in the period.

Southern Utah (3-2) didn't score again until the third period.

In the meantime, Utah (6-0) cruised. During the 21-0 stretch, Emily Potter scored a bucket — part of her game-high 20 points — while reserve Daneesha Provo tallied a regular field goal along with a 3-pointer.

Up 48-17 a couple of minutes into the third quarter was more than enough, although the T-Birds outscored the Utes 23-21 for the remainder of the game.

"Southern Utah's a good team and I think you saw that in the second half," Utah coach Lynne Roberts said. "But our size and athleticism, our players were dialed in the first half, they really struggled to score."

"Credit Utah for good, physical defense and a good game-plan. It took us out of our rhythm a little bit," Southern Utah coach Chris Boettcher said. "Emotionally, when you're not hitting shots, you let them get some easy putbacks. And obviously their size — we've been able to out-rebound most of our opponents, but they were just too big for us tonight."

The six-foot, 6-inch Potter, in addition to her point production, also snagged 15 rebounds.

Former Panguitch High product Darri Frandsen paced the Thunderbirds with nine points. Utah had its own in-state contribution with Springville's Malia Nawahine getting into double figures with 16.

After the game, Roberts noted that the Utes have games scheduled against all the Division One opponents within the state border. Utah blew out Utah Valley earlier in November by a 100-52 count.

"I've been on that side, where you're going to play the big sister and I knew they were going to come in competing," Roberts said. "We've got to play Utah State on Saturday and then the next Saturday we've got to play BYU.

"Yeah, we know the target is on our backs. That's what we talked about tonight — wanting to beat these guys more than they want to beat us," she said.

At the end of this game, Roberts felt her team had taken the "foot off the gas" and she wasn't happy about that.

"I thought we did a great job defensively in that first half and then we pretty much played them even in the second half," Roberts said. "We didn't play a complete game and that frustrates me. If we want to win big games in the Pac-12, we've got to put 40 minutes together." __

Storylines

• Utah tear off a 21-0 run that lasts from early in the second quarter to early in the third.

• Emily Potter finishes with 20 points and 5 rebounds for Utah.

• Southern Utah is led by Darri Frandsen's nine points and Whitney Johnson's seven.