ST. GEORGE — Utah Tech women’s basketball team came from behind and dominated the second half to drive the Trailblazers to a 69-65 victory over host Weber State on Saturday afternoon.
Breaunna Gillen paced Utah Tech with 19 points, 11 of which came from the free-throw line. Emily Isaacson also posted double figures with 16 points as the Trailblazers improved to 7-2.
But Utah Tech will be without sophomore point guard Macie Warren for the rest of the season. Steve Johnson, UT’s director of media relations, confirmed that Warren suffered a season-ending injury. No further information was available about the specifics of the injury due to UT’s adherence to medical privacy laws.
“This win is for Macie,” Tralblazers head coach JD Gustin said on the Utah Tech Athletics website. “To lose a player like her for the year is significant. But our players rallied around her and found a way.”
Warren, a 5-foot10 guard, was averaging 18.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.
Weber State was able to get a narrow lead on Utah Tech in the first quarter and the Trailblazers chipped away to keep it within two as the quarter ended at 17-15.
The Trailblazers weren’t able to get the lead in the second quarter thanks to a four-minute scoring drought when the Wildcats went on a 9-0 run. Utah Tech’s drought was broken by a pair of free throws by Gillen, and as the half wound down, UT trailed 33-24.
Utah Tech came into the second half with a newfound motivation The Trailblazers went on a 10-0 run and later pushed it to a 13-2 run. The Wildcat offense broke down as Utah Tech outscored WSU 15-4 in the third quarter and Utah Tecch managed the 39-37 lead going into the final quarter of play.
To start the fourth quarter and capture the momentum in favor of the Trailblazers, Isaacson sunk a three-pointer from the corner and drew the foul to execute a four-point play. Utah Tech picked up the tempo and went on a 7-0 run over one minute of play.
“To play as poorly as we did on the road and still win is a credit to our senior leadership and will hopefully continue to help with our overall confidence as a team,” Gustin said.
Averi Papa returned to action for UT and posted nine boards. Gillen tied for the game high with nine boards as well.
Utah Tech ended the game shooting 33.9 percent from the field,15.4 percent from the 3-point range and 61 percent from the free throw line.
The Trailblazers will head to the Holiday Hoops Classic in Las Vegas, Nevada, to take on Jacksonville State and Lindenwood before the holiday break.