Whyte, UA women overcome by Utah in OT

Published Jan. 19, 2012 10:25 p.m. ET

foxsports

Junior guard Davellyn Whyte’s 32 points weren’t enough Thursday night as the Arizona women’s basketball team fell to Utah 65-60 in overtime.

Arizona moved to 13-5 overall and 2-4 in Pac-12 play, while Utah moved above .500 with an overall record of 9-8 and a conference record of 2-4.

"I’m disappointed," head coach Niya Butts said. "I don’t think I’ve ever been this disappointed as a coach. We allowed the game to slip away.

"We had a five-point lead and then let them get a pair of shots. Utah isn’t a rebounding team, but they got 19 offensive rebounds tonight. We only shot 14 free throws, and that tells me we weren’t nearly aggressive enough. We just have to bounce back because we have a game to prepare for on Sunday.”

Whyte led all scorers with 32 points by going 10 of 22 from the field and 4 o 10 from behind the arc. She collected her fourth career game with 30 or more points. Her stat line also included five rebounds, one assist and five steals in 44 minutes of play.

Senior guard Shanita Arnold had 15 points, going 7 for 16 from the field. She also had five rebounds, four assists and two steals in 44 minutes of play. Freshman center Aley Rohde paced Arizona on the glass with 12 boards.

“We didn’t have any energy,” Butts said. “We didn’t do anything in the
first half, but thankfully Utah was shooting as badly as we were. We
were capable of playing so much better than we did, but Utah’s players
made plays, made the shots they needed to make down the stretch.”

Arizona shot 39.7 percent from the field (23 for 58), 35.3 percent from 3-point range (6 for 17) and 57.1 percent from the charity stripe (8 for 14). The Utes outrebounded the Wildcats 46-37 and had 19 rebounds on the offensive end. Utah scored 17 of its points on second-chance attempts.

Thursday’s game saw five lead changes and nine ties.

The starting five for Arizona included Arnold, sophomore forward Erica Barnes, Rohde, senior guard Reiko Thomas and Whyte. Sophomore guard Candice Warthen, playing in her first game since Dec. 3, 2011, had the most minutes off the bench with 15. She had two rebounds.

For Utah, Janita Badon was the leading scorer with 22 points, going 8 for 18 from the field. The Utes, with three players scoring in double figures, shot 36.2 percent from the field (25 for 69), 23.8 percent from 3-point range (5 for 21) and 71.4 percent from the free-throw line.