Las Vegas • The unbeaten Utah women’s basketball team improved to 10-0 Thursday after routing Florida 74-58 in its Duel In The Desert Tournament opener here.
The Utes advance to play Hawaii on Friday at 3:30 p.m. MST.
The Utes have now scored 70-plus points in all 10 games this season, but it was their defense that made the difference against the Gators. The Utes held Florida to just a three 3-pointers after Florida came in averaging over eight per game.
“I thought our defense won the game,” Utah coach Lynne Roberts said. “Offensively, our execution wasn’t exactly sharp at all times, but defensively we were good. Florida is a three-point shooting team and rely on it heavily. We held them to three and they were all in the fourth quarter, so defensively I thought we were pretty dang good.”
Utah put four players in double figures Thursday, with Megan Huff pouring in a game-high 21 points to go with seven rebounds, and Daneesha Provo adding 18. Dre’Una Edwards chipped in 12 points, eight rebounds and two blocks, with Erika Bean scoring 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting.