The University of Utah women’s basketball team made history Saturday afternoon when it upset Stanford to claim a share of the Pac-12 title for the first time ever.
Less than 48 hours later, the Utes made history again.
Utah came in at No. 3 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll for women’s college basketball, which was released Monday morning. It’s the highest ranking ever in the program’s history. Utah’s previous high was No. 4, which it reached earlier this season.
Utah finished the season at 25-3 overall with a 14-0 home record. In the Pac-12 Conference, the Utes were 15-3, the same mark as Stanford.
“That’s been my dream and vision since I got here,” Utah coach Lynne Roberts said Saturday. “I think the reason it means so much to us is that we did it by beating Stanford. They’ve been just the elite program, not only in our conference but in the country, for years and [we have] so much respect for them and the way they play and the way they compete. It’s fair to say it means more to do this by beating them.”
Utah’s announced attendance of 9,611 fans for Saturday’s game was the program’s highest recorded attendance since 1993. And the Utes could very well be hosting games at the Huntsman Center soon. The Utes are currently projected to be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, per ESPN’s latest bracketology, which would let them host the first two rounds of the tournament.
First, Utah will head to Las Vegas for the Pac-12 tournament. The No. 2 seeded Utes are scheduled to play Thursday at 7 p.m. MT, taking on the winner of No. 7 Washington State and No. 10 California.
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