Utah women's basketball completes comeback, pulls away from Colorado State at home

SALT LAKE CITY — Facing a 6-point deficit at the halftime break on their home court, Utah women's basketball coach Gavin Petersen had a simple message for his team.

"Don't freak out and just trust each other, trust what we're trying to do and then play together, and we did that," Petersen said.

The message was well received.

Midway through the third quarter, Utah erased Colorado State's lead on a 7-0 run that included a pair of buckets by freshman Peyton Jones, and then sophomore transfer Lena Girardi took the game over in the fourth quarter.

The Oklahoma State transfer exploded for a 16-point quarter to lead the Utes as the home team pulled away for a 72-63 win over a quality Colorado State team projected to be at the top of the Pac-12 this season.

Girardi finished with a team-high 26 points and eight rebounds for a Utah team that shot 48% from the field after a slow-starting first half on the offensive side of the ball. Laia Conesa and Jones both supplied an additional 11 points apiece, with Conesa also pulling down seven rebounds.

"This is going to be a good win when we reflect back on it, I think, at the end of the year," Petersen said.

Girardi said the comeback was largely due to Utah "staying aggressive" and playing "smart basketball" late with Colorado State (1-1) facing foul trouble. And from there, it was converting free throws after attacking the rim.

The Rams were led by Camryn Runner, who exploded for 23 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including two made 3-pointers, to put pressure on the Utes throughout the game.

"She had a great career at Evansville, but man, she's good with that basketball," Petersen said. "She can shoot the three. ... It's sometimes hard to stop those type of players, but we've got to probably do a better job early on, like in that second and third quarter, to slow her down a little bit."

Utah (2-0) and Colorado State started out the game in a low-scoring affair, with Utah's defense carrying the team and keeping the game close. Colorado State finally got into a rhythm in the second quarter, with a transition 3-pointer capping off an 8-0 run over 1:03 to force a Utah timeout to stop the bleeding.

But the Rams didn't relent and pushed the run to 12-2 before Utah stabilized with a stingy defense that forced Colorado State into tough shots. The Rams continued to fight, but Utah's defense helped make up for the short-lived deficit before making their own run in the second half.