Utah Utes women's basketball: Bruins blast past Utah

SAN DIEGO — The Utah women's basketball team struggled against UCLA in the JHG Jam Tournament, falling to the Bruins 69-33 on Saturday.

The Utes (1-2) shot just 24-percent as a team. Utah was led in scoring by Halie Sawyer with seven points and six rebounds. Diana Rolniak had a team-high seven rebounds.

"We just struggled early and it was a bad tone to set," head coach Elaine Elliott said. "We struggled with pressure. Everyone took their turn. Our offensive execution was not there in any shape or form."

UCLA (3-1) took a 16-0 lead in the first half before the Utes got on the board with 14:37 remaining on a free-throw from Rolniak. That was the start of an 11-0 run for Utah to cut the lead to five, 16-11 with 10:12 left. However, that was as close as the Utes would get the rest of the way, as UCLA pulled ahead with an 8-0 run to put the score at 24-11 with 6:09. The Bruins led 33-17 at halftime, led by eight points from Darxia Morris. Kalee Whipple had six points at the half for the Utes.

Utah continued to struggle in the second half. The Utes shot just 52.2-percent (12-for-23) from the free-throw line in the game, despite UCLA having an 18 to 12 advantage in fouls.

Rachel Messer tied her career best with six points.

Morris and Markel Walker were each in double figure scoring for UCLA with 10 points. Walker had a team-high seven rebounds.

Utah continues on the road on, and the Uets will face No. 2 Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif., on Friday.