Fairfield Fairfield/Utah Utah Women's College Basketball recap on ESPN

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Kristina Andersen scored a career-high 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds as Utah whipped Fairfield 79-57 Saturday night in the first round of the NCAA Midwest regional tournament.

Amy Ewert had 15 points, seven assists and five steals for the Utes, who advanced past the first round for just the second time in 11 NCAA appearances. Lindsay Herbert added 14 points for Utah.

Utah (27-3), which leads the nation in scoring defense, stood out on the offensive end with 56 percent shooting, including 64 percent in the second half. The Ute starters shot 27-of-39 from the field and Utah outscored the Stags 44-22 in the paint.

Holli Tapley and Gail Strumpf each scored 15 points for Fairfield (25-6), which lost a first-round NCAA tournament match for the fourth straight time.

Utah, hosting the postseason tournament for the first time, led 49-38 when Andersen scored nine points in a 20-4 run that gave the Utes a 69-42 advantage with 6:51 remaining.

After Fairfield made the opening basket, the Utes led the rest of the way to earn a second-round matchup with Iowa, which defeated Oregon 89-82 in overtime.

Utah went undefeated in Mountain West Conference play but, lost to BYU in the league tournament to snap its 15-game winning streak.

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Amy Ewert gets the steal and finds Kelsy Stireman for the easy two.
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Utah's Amy Ewert scores the basket and is fouled n the inbounds pass.
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Fairfield's Holli Tapley scores a difficult, off-balanced shot in the first half.
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Utah's Lori Red-Castagnetto knocks down a three in the second half.
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Amy Ewert gets another steal and takes it in alone for a Utah basket.
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