SALT LAKE CITY (Interstat) — Lena Girardi scored 19 points and Utah used a late fourth-quarter surge to beat Eastern Washington 76-67 in a women’s NCAA Division I basketball game Tuesday at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. The Utes improved to 1-0, while the Eagles fell to 0-1. Attendance was 1,754.

Utah took control early. Emily McElmurry opened the scoring for Eastern Washington with a tip-in layup, but Utah responded with a 10-0 run that included a Laia Conesa layup, a Rylee Little driving layup, a Conesa 3-pointer, a Chyra Evans layup and a Filipa Barros 3-pointer. Alyse Aby hit a 3-pointer for the Eagles, but Olivia Bradley answered with a 3-pointer and a layup, and Utah led 19-9 after the first quarter. McElmurry added another layup and Jaecy Eggers scored inside late in the opening period, but Eastern Washington could not close the gap.

The Eagles generated more offense in the second quarter, but Utah kept answering. Peyton Jones made two 3-pointers, Bradley added a 3-pointer and a layup, and Conesa hit another 3-pointer. Eggers kept Eastern Washington within range with layups and free throws, and her 3-pointer trimmed the deficit to 39-22. Madeline Gibbs made a tip-in late in the period, but Utah took a 42-24 lead into halftime. Eastern Washington’s best stretch of the half came when Eggers scored on consecutive possessions and Gibbs followed with a tip-in, but Utah’s perimeter shooting and work at the free-throw line kept the Eagles from mounting a sustained run.

Utah maintained its cushion through the third quarter. Bradley and Evans scored early in the second half, while Barros added a layup and a floating jumper. Conesa and Jones also connected from beyond the arc. Eastern Washington got a driving layup from Aby, a pullup jumper and a 3-pointer from Elyn Bowers, a 3-pointer from Kourtney Grossman and a late driving layup from Nevaeh Parrish. Girardi hit a 3-pointer and two free throws for Utah, which led 59-45 after three quarters. The Utes answered nearly every Eastern Washington basket in the period, and Evans added two free throws and a 3-pointer during a stretch that helped Utah keep its lead in double digits.

Eastern Washington made its strongest push in the fourth. Grossman opened the quarter with a driving layup and a jump shot, Gibbs hit a 3-pointer, and Bowers added a pullup jumper and a stepback jumper. Eggers converted a layup to cut Utah’s lead to 66-60 with 3:51 remaining. Girardi then answered with a 3-pointer and later made four free throws, and Chyra Evans and Rylee Little added free throws to help Utah hold on. Bowers hit a late 3-pointer and Aby scored at the buzzer for the Eagles, but the Utes closed out the win. Girardi’s 3-pointer with 3:12 remaining pushed Utah’s lead to 70-60, and she added two free throws at the 2:20 mark to help secure the outcome.

Girardi, a 5-foot-11 guard from Purchase, N.Y., who attended Grandview Preparatory School, led Utah with 19 points, eight rebounds and one assist in 31 minutes. Eggers, a 6-foot-2 forward from Woodinville High School, paced Eastern Washington with 19 points, 11 rebounds, one assist and four blocks in 36 minutes. Barros, a 5-foot-9 guard, added nine points, seven rebounds, six assists and two blocks in 33 minutes. Jones, a 6-foot guard from Valor Christian High School, scored 17 points in 27 minutes. Grossman, a 6-foot forward from Billings West High School, had 11 points and 10 rebounds in 32 minutes. Bradley, a 6-foot-1 forward from Urrbrae Agricultural High School, finished with 11 points, six rebounds and two assists in 26 minutes. Bowers, a 5-foot-8 guard from Pinedale High School, scored 15 points with four rebounds and three assists in 35 minutes. Evans, a 6-foot-2 forward from Lake Ginninderra Canberra, added nine points, five rebounds, two assists and two blocks in 31 minutes. Conesa, a 5-foot-11 guard from IES Joaquim Blume, had eight points, one rebound, two assists and one block in 20 minutes. Aby, a guard, scored nine points in 22 minutes.

Eastern Washington scored 67 points from 77 possessions, an offensive rating of 86.7, while Utah scored 76 points from 75 possessions, an offensive rating of 101.3. The Eagles shot 27 of 77 from the floor, 7 of 27 from 3-point range and 6 of 9 from the free-throw line. Utah shot 24 of 54 from the floor, 13 of 32 from beyond the arc and 15 of 19 from the free-throw line. Eastern Washington had 13 offensive rebounds to Utah’s six, and the Eagles had nine assists to Utah’s four. Utah blocked seven shots to Eastern Washington’s four, and Eastern Washington committed nine turnovers to Utah’s 18. The Eagles finished with more field-goal attempts and offensive rebounds, but Utah’s advantage from 3-point range and at the free-throw line helped the Utes protect their lead.

Eastern Washington is next scheduled to host UC Davis, while Utah is set to host Colorado State. Interstat’s game simulator had projected Utah 66, Eastern Washington 62, and Interstat’s ELO system had projected Utah with a 92.6 percent probability to win.