Montana State junior Marah Dykstra recorded a career-high 22 points, but it wasn’t enough as Utah forced MSU into an uncharacteristic 21 turnovers en route to a 72-53 win at the Jon M. Hunstman Center on Sunday evening.
Dykstra, a product of Vancouver, B.C., Canada, scored Montana State’s (4-1) first eight points as the Bobcats held an 8-7 lead at the 4:56 mark of the opening quarter. Utah (5-1) closed out the frame on a 12-4 run and built its lead to 32-20 at intermission.
“I think the thing I’m most disappointed in was our assist/turnover ratio,” said MSU head coach Tricia Binford. “We pride ourselves in that area, and against Utah, we lost that.
“I liked our defensive effort in the second and third quarters,” she added. “But again, we just made too many mistakes, whether it was defensively or just taking care of the ball.”
The Utes held a double-digit advantage throughout the second half owning a 65-45 lead with 2:34 remaining in the contest. The Bobcats rattled off a 7-0 run as Dykstra’s layup with 1:35 left pulled MSU within 65-52 in the waning moments, but Utah answered with seven points to close out the game.
“I liked our fight at the end,” Binford said. “Offensively, we never got into any kind of flow. We got stuck on one side for most of the game. When you face a team the caliber of Utah, they expose a lot of things, so we have plenty of things to get better at going forward.”
Dykstra finished shooting nine-of-14 from the field, including a three-pointer. Also, in double-figures was Katelynn Martin with 13 points and a team-best eight rebounds.
“Marah and KJ (Martin) were ready to go from the start,” Binford said. “I thought they played very well.”
MSU ended the contest shooting 39.3% from the field, despite going just four-of-23 from beyond the arc. Utah hit at a 51.9% clip while connecting on nine-of-25 from long distance.
Montana State faces East Carolina on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. as part of the UNLV Thanksgiving Classic in Las Vegas. The Bobcats also face Central Florida, Friday at 1 p.m.
