ANCHORAGE (Nov. 19) – Senior forward Alissa Pili scored 28 points on her way to Most Outstanding Player honors and point guard Ines Vieira had 20 points and seven assists Sunday to propel No. 4 Utah to a 117-72 rout of Eastern Kentucky for the ASRC/ConocoPhillips Great Alaska Shootout at the Alaska Airlines Center.
The Utes (4-1) also got 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting and eight rebounds from junior guard Gianna Kneepkens, who joined Vieira on the all-tournament team. Pili shot 11 of 18 from the field, 6 of 6 on free throws, and added eight rebounds, six assists and two blocks as the former Dimond High School star became just the second Alaska high school player to earn 'MOP' in the women's tournament's 40-year history, joining Nevada's Laura Ingham (East Anchorage) from 2002.
The Colonels (5-1) were led by a tournament-best 29 points from senior guard Antwainette Walker in their first loss of the season.
Guard Reese Ross added 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting for the Utes, who broke the Shootout single-game record with a .657 (44 of 67) team field-goal percentage.
Vieira also claimed a pair of records – among 12 total by Utah in this year's tourney – as the junior from Portugal shot 6 of 6 from the three-point line and wound up with 21 total assists in the two games.
2023 ASRC/ConocoPhillips Great Alaska Shootout All-Tournament Team
Tori Hollingshead, UAA
Gianna Kneepkens, Utah
Mia Moore, UAB
Inês Vieira, Utah
Antwainette Walker, EKU
Most Outstanding Player: Alissa Pili, Utah
Tournament Records
Team (Tournament, 2 games)
Most Points – 218 by Utah (old record: 179 by Ohio State, 2000)
Most Field Goals – 82 by Utah (old record: 67 by Ohio State, 2000)
Field Goal Pct. -- .636 (82-129) by Utah (old record: .554 [67-121] by Ohio State, 2000)
3FGs Made – 29 by Utah (old record: 24 by UAA, 2012)
3FG Pct. -- .558 (29-52) by Utah (old record: .538 [14-26] by UC Riverside, 2006)
Most Assists – 65 by Utah (old record: 49 by Ohio State, 2000)
Team (Game)
Field Goal Pct. -- .657 (44-67) by Utah vs EKU (old record: .648 [46-71] by Northeast Louisiana vs Iona, 1986)
3FGs Made – 18 by Utah vs EKU (old record: 14 by Providence vs Clemson, 1994 & UAA vs North Dakota State, 2012)
Most Assists – 35 by Utah vs UAA (old record: 32 by Memphis vs Radford, 1987)
Individual (Tournament, 2 games)
Most Assists – 21 by Ines Vieira, Utah (old record: 20 by Jamie Lewis, Ohio State, 2000)
Best 3FG Pct. – 1.000 (6-6) by Ines Vieira, Utah vs EKU (old record: 1.000 [5-5] Ashley Sykes, Southeast Louisiana vs UAA, 1992)
Individual (Game)
Best 3FG Pct. – 1.000 (6-6) by Ines Vieira, Utah vs EKU (old record: .750 [6-8] Brittany Waddell, UC Riverside, 2006 & Jessica Madison, UAA, 2012)
