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It was a historic day in Salt Lake City as the Utah women's basketball team clinched a share of the program's first Pac-12 regular-season title Saturday with an 84-78 victory over the Stanford Cardinal.
It came before 9,tỷ lệ cược malay611 fans, the biggest home crowd that Utah's women team have had since 1993. Utah joined the Pac-12 in 2011.
"The atmosphere was incredible," Utah coach Lynne Roberts said. "That's been my dream and vision since I got here. 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 so much respect for them and the way they play and the way they compete."
The shared title is the 26th for three-time NCAA champion Stanford; the Cardinal secured that Thursday with a double-overtime win at Colorado. But they weren't able to win the championship outright.
It was just the second Utah victory in 33 meetings with Stanford; the first was in 2019. In their first meeting this season, at Stanford on Jan. 20, the Cardinal won 74-62. But Saturday the No. 8 Utes won were led by sophomore guard Gianna Kneepkens' 28 points, while No. 3 Stanford got 24 from Hannah Jump.
"I'm incredibly proud of my team. We battled through a tough game," Roberts said. "In years past, we would have folded when they went on some runs, and we just kept answering. That's what good teams do and that's what great players do."
Both teams finished 15-3 in conference; Stanford (27-4) has the tiebreaker and will be the No. 1 seed in the Pac-12 tournament starting Wednesday in Las Vegas. Stanford and Utah (25-3) will begin play Thursday.
Both Stanford and Utah were projected as No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament by the selection committee in Thursday's top-16 seed reveal, with the Cardinal at No. 3 overall and Utes at No. 4.
The Utes' previous best seed in 18 NCAA tournament appearances was No. 5. They are seeking their first women's Final Four appearance and have made it as far as the Elite Eight, in 2006.
