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LAS VEGAS — Following a first-round bye, fourth-seeded Utah Tech took an early exit from the WAC Tournament Thursday afternoon.
UT Arlington, who knocked out Southern Utah on Wednesday, topped Utah Tech 72-57.
"I'm so proud of this group. We played a really, really good Utah Tech team that beat us by double digits in our first two meetings," Mavericks head coach Shereka Wright said. "I thought our kids accepted the challenge. I'm so incredibly proud of them. I'm proud of the toughness, and we gotta continue to add that on as we move forward."
Following her 21-point performance against Southern Utah, Avery Brittingham scored 14 first-quarter points, accounting for the entirety of her first-half scoring. Her hot start, along with eight rebounds, led all players in the half; the rest of the Mavericks players put up a collective 6 points.
The Trailblazers were held to just 6 points in the first quarter with an 18.2% field-goal percentage. And in the 10 minutes that followed, they looked like an entirely new team.
Freshman Calyn Dallas contributed 9 of the team's 21 points, followed by Alyson Deaver's 7. They each made a 3-pointer, and Deaver went a perfect 3-of-3 from the field. Utah Tech allowed just 8 points in the second quarter while managing to hold Brittingham scoreless.
"At the break, we just recollected and said, 'Let's do us, let's get back to us,'" Dallas said. "We kept shooting, and that's kind of been our motto is to just keep shooting."
In the opening frame, it took the Trailblazers nearly four full minutes for them to get on the board. And that was followed by a five-minute stretch where they went scoreless.
The Trailblazers landed the first jab in the second quarter, and started the period on an 8-2 run. The team went 8-of-15 from the field and played clean defense, holding UT Arlington to 25% shooting without committing a foul. Though they never saw the lead in the first half, Utah Tech entered the break trailing just 28-27.
"People were having to do different things that they haven't done since we're missing people, and we were a little out of sorts in that first quarter. We just got back to our concepts, our principles, and settled in," Utah Tech head coach JD Gustin said. "We just got a little more comfortable and played more like the way that we play."
Fresh out of the locker room, UT Arlington's Nya Threatt found a spark and forgot how to miss. She went 5-of-5 from the field through the remainder of the game to post 10 second-half points.
Brittingham then led the Mavericks once again, this time with 13 points and seven rebounds. She finished with 27 points and 15 rebounds, both season highs.
Dallas continued her big night and ended just 1 point shy of her career high with 21. Breaunna Gillen, a standout for Utah Tech all year, woke up to post 16 points after scoring just 5 in the first half. The Trailblazers committed only two fouls in the half while capitalizing on all eight of their free-throw attempts.
Utah Tech outscored UT Arlington in the third quarter, though only by 2 points. They got their first taste of the lead about a minute in and built their advantage to as many as 7 points before it started to slip. They tried to hold on and carried a 1-point edge heading into the final 10 minutes of play.
The fourth quarter was all Mavericks, though. They shot an impressive 61% and allowed Utah Tech to hit just four field goals for the remainder of the game. The Trailblazers stayed close for the first three minutes, but the Mavericks ended the game, and Utah Tech's season, with a 20-6 run.
"All I asked (the team) and myself to do was to go out there and have no regrets at the end of this, and I can say that I don't. I hope they all feel that way, as well. We just competed and fought as hard as we could and that's all I could ask," Gillen said to conclude her five-year career at Utah Tech, ending as the program's all-time leading scorer.
The Trailblazers were injury-ridden for the better part of the season and entered the WAC Tournament with just seven available players.
"You do your best to turn negative into positive, but I don't think there's a bright side," Gustin said. "It's great that the young kids stepped up and got great experience; they're amazing players, amazing kids, but there's no bright side."
Utah Tech finished the regular season with an 18-12 overall record and a 12-8 conference record. They exited the WAC Tournament in the second round last year to California Baptist, who will take on UT Arlington in the semifinals on Friday.
