Toure has 22 points, 12 rebounds, No. 22 Utah women roll past Houston 69-42

Audio By Carbonatix

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Maye Toure scored 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and No. 22 Utah pulled away in the second half for a 69-42 win over Houston on Saturday.

Gianna Kneepkens added 15 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for the Utes (13-3, 4-1 Big 12 Conference). Maty Wilke scored 11 points.

Laila Blair scored 16 points for Houston (4-12, 0-5), which has lost five straight.

Utah dominated the boards 56-26 and turned 19 offensive rebounds into 12 second-chance points while outscoring the Cougars 48-12 in the paint.

Toure scored the first five points of the game and the Utes never trailed. Their lead reached double figures when Kneepkens hit a 3-pointer with three minutes left in the third quarter for a 44-34 lead. Toure added a free throw to cap an 8-0 run that made it 45-34 entering the fourth.

Houston got a free throw nine seconds into the fourth quarter and then the Utes reeled off 13 straight points. They outscored the Cougars 24-8 in the period.

Houston was 2 of 17 in the fourth quarter and finished the game at 26%. The Cougars were 7 of 16 on 3-pointers (43.8%) and 8 of 42 (19%) inside the arc.

Utah plays at Baylor on Tuesday when Oklahoma State visits Houston.

___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball