No. 11 Utah hands St. Joe’s its first women’s basketball loss of the season

The Hawks were unable to dig themselves out of a 16-point deficit in the first quarter.

Talya Brugler of St. Joseph's goes up for a shot against Jenna Johnson of Utah during the first half on Dec. 7, 2023.Read moreCharles Fox / Staff Photographer

by Mia Messina

Published Dec. 7, 2023, 9:16 p.m. ET

St. Joseph’s eight-game win streak was snapped Thursday night after a 74-48 loss to No. 11 Utah. The previously undefeated Hawks (8-1) found themselves trailing from tipoff at Hagan Arena, and were unable to fight their way back.

“Today was really good for us, because as much as you can say about a top-25 team, until they experience it, until they sense it, taste it, feel it, compete against it, they won’t know,” St. Joe’s head coach Cindy Griffin said. “We needed to experience this if we want to be there in March.”

Statistical leaders

Junior Talya Brugler paced the Hawks with 16 points, followed by Mackenzie Smith, who put up 10. Sophomore Laura Ziegler had eight boards.

What we saw

Utah (8-1) dominated from the start, going on a 17-2 run to build a sizable lead, which the Utes carried throughout the first half. St. Joe’s trailed by 16 to end the first quarter. The Hawks’ offense came out stronger in the second quarter, with a 9-2 run of their own to end the half, but still trailed 38-26.

St. Joe’s was able to cut the deficit to six in the third quarter, but Utah’s offense quickly responded.

“I thought we had a lot of fight in this. I think we made some key mistakes defensively that I thought really hurt us,” Griffin said. “A team like that can really penalize us for that, which they did.”

Game-changing play

Utah started the fourth quarter with a 14-2 point run to pull away and solidify their lead over St. Joe’s. Forward Alissa Pili scored all 14 of Utah’s points, while guard Inês Vieria bagged three assists.

“We didn’t do enough defensively to stop [Pili], and we’ve gotta learn from that,” Griffin said.

The run gave Utah a 16-point lead, and served as the exclamation point on what was a dominating performance over St. Joe’s.

Up next

The Hawks will close out the week with a home game against Villanova on Saturday (7 p.m., ESPN+).