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Pac-12 Conference Tournament First Round Recap

By Ben Dull

via Pac-12 Network
via Pac-12 Network /
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The higher seed prevailed in three of the four opening round games of the Pac-12 Conference Tournament Thursday at KeyArena in Seattle. The ninth-seeded Colorado Buffaloes topped short-handed Utah to start the day. USC and Cal each managed to come away with narrow three point victories, then Arizona State cruised to defeat 11 seed Arizona.

Here are more notes and observations from the opening round, things to watch in round two, and info on how you can watch Friday’s quarterfinals:

No. 9 Colorado 66, No. 8 Utah 56

The Buffaloes emerged victorious over the Utes to start the day, led by All-Pac-12 guard Kennedy Leonard. Leonard played 39 minutes and finished with 15 points, eight rebounds, four assists and five steals.

The Utes were without Daneesha Provo, who had missed each of the past three games (foot). Leading scorer and All-Pac-12 selection Megan Huff had missed the last two — she scored nine points in 18 minutes off the bench.

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Tori Williams, Tilar Clark and Tanaeya BoClair each hit two three-pointers for the Utes, but the team shot just 37.5% from the field and turned the ball over 19 times. In her postgame remarks, Utah head coach Lynne Roberts noted the team’s struggles to score and explained how it affected her team on the other side of the ball.

“We were out of sorts and didn’t make shots we’ve been making,” Roberts said. “We put way too much pressure on our defense to get stops because we weren’t scoring.”

No. 5 Cal 71, No. 12 Washington 68

Though the Golden Bears took a five point lead into halftime, the Huskies fought admirably to the final buzzer. Washington rallied behind All-Pac-12 performer Amber Melgoza (30 points, 4-8 3PT) to enter the final stanza with a one point lead.

Cal went on a 9-0 run to start the fourth. Mikayla Cowling, who guarded Melgoza for much of the game, fouled out with 4:05 to play. The Golden Bears still held a nine point lead with three minutes remaining.

Melgoza ignited a 8-1 run as the Huskies made one final push. Trailing by two points with less than 20 seconds to play, Washington was forced to foul. Cal point guard Asha Thomas (22 points, three assists, three steals) stepped to the line and sunk both free throws, and her team held on for the win.

Cal shot 48% from the field and got 14 points from Jaelyn Brown off the bench, but shot just 3-17 from three-point range.

Cal head coach Lindsay Gottlieb broke down the themes of the game afterwards and noted the differences between their regular season meetings:

"Well, we have such a contrast in style. They play a five-out motion, which forces our post players to have to guard on the perimeter, and we know that’s a challenge playing them.They have an elite scorer in Amber Melgoza. So I think we focused on trying to defend them really well and consistently, and at the same time, I thought a great adjustment they made, and we just annihilated them in the paint the first two times we played them, and if you look, they tried to take that away. Our three leading scorers were guards.Maybe it speaks to our growth that we don’t have to put all our eggs in one basket, but I think they did a nice job adjusting and saying we’re going to play you a little differently. They still did what they do on offense, which is try to spread you out and get the court wide, so Melgoza has driving lanes and their bigs can shoot threes."

No. 7 USC 47, No. 10 Washington State 44

The Women of Troy scored 32 of their 47 points in the paint to edge the Cougars in the third game of the day in Seattle. Both teams shot 31%, but USC managed to double Washington State up on the offensive glass (14 to seven).

Just six players saw the floor for head coach Mark Trakh — four of them logged 38+ minutes. Minyon Moore led the way with 16 points, five rebounds and five steals.

All-Pac-12 selections Kristen Simon and Aliyah Mazyck shot a combined 9-35 from the field. Nike McClure was the only player to score in double figures for the Cougars.

This season has been difficult for Washington State. Head coach June Daugherty has been on a medical leave of absence since late January. Just last week, the Cougars canceled their final regular season game after the sudden passing of strength and conditioning coach David Lang.

“The whole goal of that game was to play for each other and play for David Lang,” said McClure. “What he’s really preached to a lot of us for a while is put a lot of effort into our games. So I think that’s one of the reasons why our team was able to go out and play today was because that’s what he taught us.”

The conference recognized Washington State’s seniors prior to the game. Last week’s finale against the Cardinal had been slated to be their senior day.

No. 6 Arizona State 76, No. 11 Arizona 47

Turnovers doomed the Wildcats early as the Sun Devils led 17-2 after the first period. Arizona could not keep ASU out of the lane as they gave up 48 points in the paint.

Starting guards Reili Richardson and Robbi Ryan each had four assists, and Kiara Russell added nine points and nine assists off the bench.

Sam Thomas and JaLea Bennett each scored 11 points for the Wildcats.

All four games will be aired on the Pac-12 Network. You can also login online on the Pac-12 website or app through your cable provider to stream all four games live.

Note: Header image via Pac-12 Network. 

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