There are blowouts in college basketball. And sometimes a blowout has a lot more meaning. Especially when that blowout took place against an in-state foe.
Well, on Tuesday night at the Burns Arena, the Utah Tech women’s basketball team won in blowout fashion.
Breaunna Gillen and Macie Warren combined for 51 points to lead Utah Tech to a 95-57 dismantling of Utah State.
Player of the Game
At the end of every Utah Tech women’s basketball game the Stampede student section selects a player of the game and presents them with a WWE style championship belt.
Sophomore guard Macie Warren was awarded with the belt. But there may as well have been a co-winner with senior Breaunna Gillen. The two combined for more than half of the team’s points in their 95-57 win over in-state foe, Utah State.
Game Recap
What was a close game after one quarter, turned into a rout in the second quarter. Utah Tech held Utah State to just nine points in the second quarter to lead by 14 at the break. And the onslaught continued throughout the second half.
The first quarter was fairly back and forth. Utah Tech’s largest lead in the period was six on a Macie Warren 3-pointer. Warren finished the quarter with seven points to lead the Trailblazers to a 20-17 first quarter lead.
The second quarter is where Utah Tech took over. Warren had another seven and Gillen scored five on the way to a 20-point quarter and a 40-26 lead headed into the half.
Warren and Gillen both scored nine in the third with some help from Maggie McCord who drained two 3-pointers in the period. The Trailblazers scored 28 points in the third quarter to carry a 24-point lead into the final frame. It was more of the same in the fourth as Utah Tech scored another 27 points. The Trailblazers outscored Utah State 55-31 after halftime en route to a final 38-point victory over the visiting Aggies.
Gillen had 26 points, five assists and three rebounds. And Warren had 25 points and knocked down four 3-pointers. Maggie McCord and Taylia Stimpson were also in double figures with 16 and 11 points, respectively.
Takeaways
This game really seemed like the coming out party for this squad. Last year, we saw shades of how good this team could be. But there was a lack of consistency even just throughout the course of a game. Tuesday was a complete victory from start to finish.
Obviously the offense was firing on all cylinders. But it’s the defense that was most impressive. Utah Tech forced 18 Aggie turnovers and 15 of those were steals. Head coach JD Gustin and his staff have clearly gotten the team to buy into a system that is designed to cause chaos for opponents.
Looking Ahead
Utah Tech takes a trip to the ‘flyover states’, heading to Kansas City to take on a Kangaroos team that beat them by 14 at home last year. The Trailblazers will then head to Manhattan, Kansas for a huge test against Kansas State that will prove to be a huge opportunity to put the conference on notice.
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