Utah's Gianna Kneepkens bounced back from a season-ending injury last year to score 32 points in the Utes' victory over BYU. Kneepkens' performance was crucial in securing the win for Utah, coming off the bench to lead the scoring attack.
Utah's Gianna Kneepkens suffered a season-ending injury the last time she faced BYU; this time, she scored 32 points in the Utes' victory. Ushered straight from the arena to a hospital room, Kneepkens stared in shock as her foot ballooned and doctors hurried around her. By the time she got back to her roommate Kennady McQueen at 1:30 a.m., the severity of her Lisfranc injury sunk in.
But this time, playing the exact same opponent almost exactly a year later, Kneepkens came off the floor being serenaded with the Steph Curry “Night Night” celebration by her teammates. — that she’d come back stronger from a Lisfranc injury came true. Thirty-two points, a career high, on a show-stopping six 3s that kept BYU at bay on Saturday. Utah’s scoring savant, the maestro who can attack from all angles and all crevices on the court, was back. “With all this, it just reminds me how grateful I am for all the staff, teammates, they got me back here. I am feeling good and strong. That’s all I can ask for,” Kneepkens said. With the Utes sputtering on the road, head coach Gavin Peterson turned to his junior to steady the ship. She was coming off a 30-point performance and Utah again needed her offense. After taking just one shot in the first quarter, Kneepkens exploded for 11 points in the second and 16 after the break. Whenever BYU guard Amari Whiting slipped under a screen, Kneepkens rose up and buried a triple. If the Cougars over-helped, she’d slither into the lane for an easy deuce.Former Utah head coach Lynne Roberts used to call Kneepkens a professional scorer. She’d look up at the scoreboard, sometime in the third quarter, and notice Kneepkens had 15 or 20 points. It almost went unnoticed, Roberts said, because it was so smooth. But these buckets were anything but quiet. Every point Kneepkens scored seemed loud, ending a BYU run or extending the advantage in an 81-76 win. “We got caught going under once or twice. And then we started to get tired. We started to mix it up,” as far as who was defending her, BYU coach Amber Whiting said. “And then started getting some calls, so we can’t be as physical. She is a great player. I want to play against her every night. Hats off to her.” It was an attack trademarked by Kneepkens’ almost ruthless efficiency. She went 6 of 7 from 3-point range and shot 50% from the field. Any mistake was quickly punished. With 4:19 left, and Kneepkens almost toying with the Cougars, she sealed her defender at the wing, dribbled out and asked for a ball screen. BYU again went under, and Kneepkens took one more dribble before hitting the dagger three in front of her bench. The “Night Night” celebration came out with Kneepkens smiling back. “I just think Gianna Kneepkens hit some big time third- and fourth-quarter shots that really settled us in,” Peterson said.She took over film sessions, begging her teammates to guard a certain way or take advantage of a certain scheme“I am the most competitive person ever,” she said, with no objection from anyone in the program. As she walked to the locker room, she gave a brief hug to McQueen. Last year, they hugged in tears in the middle of the night — sad about what could have been.
Gianna Kneepkens Utah Utes BYU Cougars Women's Basketball NCAA Basketball Comeback Story Lisfranc Injury
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