Waco, Texas • Sarah Andrews scored 18 points, Aijha Blackwell had 13 points with eight rebounds and 21st-ranked Baylor beat future conference foe and fourth-ranked Utah 84-77 on Tuesday night.
The Bears (2-0) never trailed, building an early 10-point lead and then responding with a 12-3 run over the final 4 minutes of the third quarter after Utah’s Gianna Kneepkens made a jumper to make it 51-all. That was the second and last time the game was tied. The other was 2-2 in the opening minute.
Alissa Pili, the Pac-12′s top player last season, had 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting to lead Utah (2-1), even after playing less than 2 minutes in the first half after two early fouls. Kneepkens had 18 points and Isabel Palmer 11. Jenna Johnson had 10 rebounds.
“Baylor beat us. There’s a lot that goes into that. I thought they played really well,” Utah coach Lynne Roberts said. “I think they played a little more inspired than we did. You know, maybe some of that was because we lost Pili (early). She kind of makes us go, especially on the road.”
The Utes, who returned all five starters after winning 27 games and Pac-12 regular-season title last season, will be joining Baylor in the Big 12 next year.
“Our game plan was to get Pili in foul trouble,” Baylor coach Nicki Collen said. “We thought the best way to defend her was her sitting on the bench. So that worked really well early, it worked a little bit faster than I anticipated.”
Andrews, the senior guard and only Bear to play more than two seasons at Baylor, made six free throws in the final 55 seconds. Dre’Una Edwards finished with 14 points and Bella Fontleroy 12.
Blackwell put Baylor ahead to stay with a jumper that made it 53-51. Darianna Littlepage-Buggs then blocked a shot that was rebounded by Blackwell, and at the other end had a putback jumper after an offense board, one of 10 rebounds by Littlepage-Buggs.
The Bears led 63-54 on Fontleroy’s 3-pointer that beat the buzzer at the end of the third quarter.
Big picture
After scoring more than 100 points in each of its first two games, against overmatched opponents, Utah got its first real test of the season. So did Baylor, though the Bears played for the first time since their opener eight nights earlier. After 34 made 3-pointers in their first two games, the Utes were 6-of-24 (25%) from long range. They also had 18 turnovers that led to 27 points for Baylor.
Up next
Utah plays Alaska Anchorage on Saturday night in the Great Alaska Shootout. Pili is from Anchorage.