Utah celebrates their win against the Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs during the NCAA First Round at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, March 17, 2023. Utah plays Princeton in the NCAA Tournament’s second round.
Laura Seitz, Deseret News
No. 2 seed Utah (26-4) vs. No. 10 seed Princeton (24-5)
NCAA women’s basketball tournament second round
Sunday, 5 p.m. MT
Huntsman Center (Salt Lake City)
TV: ESPN2
Radio: 700 AM
How the Utes got here: Utah, the Pac-12 regular-season co-champions, rolled past Gardner-Webb 103-77 on their home court in the NCAA Tournament’s first round to advance.
How the Tigers got here: Pacific, which earned the Ivy League’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, advanced to the second round by beating NC State 64-63 on a 3-pointer with under five seconds to play in the opening round.
Key players: Alissa Pili, the Pac-12 Player of the Year, scored a career-high 33 points in lifting the Utes to a first-round win, while adding eight rebounds and a career-high eight assists. Gianna Kneepkens added 17 points and nine rebounds.
Grace Stone tied the team high in points with a career-high 22 in Princeton’s first-round win, and that included hitting the game-winning 3-pointer. Kaitlyn Chen also scored 22 and added seven rebounds and four assists.
What’s at stake: The winner of Sunday’s game will play the winner of No. 3 seed LSU and No. seed 6 Michigan in the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 16 next Friday.