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Critics might say it was just another loss in a Pac-12 schedule that hasn't really gone very well for the Utah women's basketball team this year.

On the other hand, the Utes' home game against 11th-ranked Oregon State was a far cry from a blowout loss in Corvallis almost exactly a month before.

This time, in the last contest of the year at the Huntsman Center, the game with the Beavers was almost dead-even through the early moments of the fourth-quarter before Oregon State surged ahead for a 63-49 victory.

"I think these guys bought in and played their tails off. They played extremely hard," Utah coach Lynne Roberts said. "We just didn't score enough baskets, silly as that sounds."

"I thought in the third quarter, we had it going, but we just had some miffs in transition," she added. "We could've pulled ahead a little bit and put some pressure on them."

On Jan. 20, Oregon State had its ultimate winning margin — a 26-point spread — at the end of the third quarter.

Heading into the fourth period on Sunday, the Beavers were up 44-40. Paige Crozon, the only senior for Utah (15-12, 4-12), hit a pair of free throws to open the final stanza.

But Oregon State (25-3, 14-2), the Pac-12 leader, got a long 3-pointer from reserve Kat Tudor and that kicked off a 15-0 run. Sydney Wiese and Mikayla Pivec had 14 points apiece to lead the visitors while Emily Potter scored 17 to pace Utah.

Crozon, whose career for the Utes included a neck injury and missing the entire 2013-14 season, had 13 points in her last appearance before the home fans.

"I thought our team did a great job responding from the Oregon game (a 73-61 loss on Thursday)," Crozon said. "We talked about how the end of our season could go one of two ways, so let's make it go the latter with a great finish."

The Beavers shot out to a 12-2 lead early as a repeat blowout loss for the Utes seemed to be a possibility.

But Roberts shuttled players in and off the bench without hesitation and one of the backups, junior guard Tilar Clark, connected on a basket, hit a pair of free throws and found Potter for a jumper as Utah clawed back within four points two minutes before the end of the first.

Clark started her collegiate career as a 23-game freshman starter for Utah State before playing last year at Salt Lake Community College.

"I think she's done a really nice job. It's hard to sit there through the course of the season and not know if you're going to get in," Roberts said of Clark. "I think she's gotten better through the course of the season."

The last two games of the regular season for Utah will be at Washington State on Thursday and at Washington on Saturday. Both of those schools beat Utah in Salt Lake City in early February, but Crozon said the Utes are not dissuaded heading toward the Pac-12 tournament.

"We're not playing just to finish the season, we're playing to have a great end," she said. —

No. 11 Oregon St. 63, Utah 49

Oregon St. (25-3)

Brown 1-4 0-2 2, Gulich 2-5 0-0 4, Hanson 3-5 1-4 8, Pivec 5-6 4-6 14, Wiese 4-9 2-2 14, Orum 3-6 0-0 6, Kalmer 0-3 0-0 0, McWilliams 2-5 2-2 6, Tudor 3-4 0-0 9, Totals 23-47 9-16 63.

Utah (15-12)

Potter 6-11 5-6 17, Bean 0-4 1-2 1, Boclair 1-6 0-0 2, Crozon 3-13 5-5 13, Nawahine 1-7 4-6 6, Anae 0-1 0-0 0, Clark 1-1 3-4 5, Jacobs 1-4 2-2 5, Moore 0-1 0-0 0, Provo 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 13-49 20-25 49.

Oregon St. 18 12 14 19 — 63

Utah 11 15 14 9 — 49

3-Point Goals—Oregon St. 8-17 (Hanson 1-3, Wiese 4-8, McWilliams 0-2, Tudor 3-4), Utah 3-12 (Bean 0-2, Crozon 2-6, Nawahine 0-3, Jacobs 1-1). Assists—Oregon St. 11 (Hanson 3), Utah 7 (Bean 5). Fouled Out—Oregon St. Gulich, Rebounds—Oregon St. 34 (Wiese 7), Utah 32 (Potter 6). Total Fouls—Oregon St. 18, Utah 16. A—1,949.