Melgoza's 30 Not Enough For Huskies To Knock Off Utes

Thursday, March 5

Las Vegas, NV

2:00 PM

University of Washington

13-17,5-13Pac12

Utah

14-16,6-12Pac12

Washington

Utah

Photo by: Brian Morse / Washington Athletics

March 05, 2020 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

LAS VEGAS --- Amber Melgoza capped off an incredible career at Washington pouring in 30 points, but the Huskies fell 72-63 to the No. 8 seed Utah Thursday afternoon in the first round of the 2020 Pac-12 Tournament at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Washington finishes the season with a 13-17 record after finishing ninth in the Pac-12 with a 5-13 conference mark. Both win totals were improvements on the last two years as the Huskies had won just three total Pac-12 games over that span.

Melgoza closed out her Husky career by doing what she had done much of the year: carrying the team on her shoulders. The senior scored 30+ points for the fourth time this season and became the first player to score 30+ points in three times in the Pac-12 Tournament. She was a perfect 11-of-11 from the free throw line and 9-of-20 from the field, adding four assists and four rebounds.

Melgoza finishes her career as the eighth-leading scorer in program history with 1,717 career points—1,664 of which came over her last three seasons on Montlake.

The game was a back and forth affair with each team holding a lead in the first half. Utah took advantage early in the third with a 21-4 run before the Huskies reeled them back in to two with a quick 8-1 run to end the third and start the fourth. But the Utes would pull ahead for good with a final push, outscoring Washington 10-4 to take their largest lead of the game at 64-54 with 6:08 left and never looked back.

Alexis Griggsby made her first start of the season for the Huskies and matched a season-high with 11 points and adding a team-high four steals. She scored 22 points over the last two games of the season.

Senior Mai-Loni Henson added four points, six rebounds and three assists while Missy Peterson had five points and a team-high seven rebounds. Freshman Quay Miller scored six points and had five rebounds and two assists.

After the Huskies opened a quick 4-3 lead, Utah went off, using a 13-5 run over the next five minutes to go up 16-8 at the 3:34 mark. Melgoza ended the run with a bucket followed by a three-pointer by Griggsby to quickly make it a three-point game again with 2:58 left. The teams would trade buckets the rest of the way with Melgoza getting a bucket at the buzzer to make it a 21-17 Utah lead after one.

Melgoza kept her scoring run going to start the second quarter, scoring Washington's first six point to ignite a 12-2 Husky run which saw UW go up 29-23 on a Mai-Loni Henson three-pointer at the 6:02 mark. Utah would respond with a 7-2 run to close back to within two, but Melgoza would score the final six points of the quarter to give Washington a 36-30 lead at the half.

Quay Miller would open the second half with a bucket to give the Huskies their largest lead of the game at 38-30, but Utah would respond in a big way. The Utes would score seven-straight points to make it a one-point game at 38-37 at the 7:51 mark, but Melgoza and Peterson would score on back-to-back possessions to stretch the lead back to five two minutes later. But Utah again went on a quick run, scoring 14-straight over a three-minute stretch to go up 51-42 with 2:30 to go in the quarter.

Griggsby broke the run with a back-door basket from Miller, then after a turnover on the other end, hit a mid-range pullup to make it a five-point game again with 1:35. Utah would convert a free throw but Melgoza converted a pair from the charity stripe on the other end as the Huskies made it a 52-48 game at the end of the of three.

Melgoza made it a two-point game to open the fourth, hitting a pair of free throws one-minute in. However, Utah caught fire again and stretched the lead back up to eight with an 12-4 run over the next three minutes to go up 64-54 with 6:08 left. The Huskies mounted one final push as Khayla Rooks drained a three followed by a layup by Griggsby to make it a five-point game. The Utes answered with a quick layup before Melgoza recorded a three-point play to close the gap to four at 66-62 with 4:58 left.

But Washington was only able to score one final point the rest of the way as Utah pulled away for the win.