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BYU senior guard Paisley Harding dribbles the ball during the Cougar win over Utah at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Dec. 4, 2021. (Courtesy BYU Photo)

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BYU senior guard Paisley Harding goes up for a shot during the Cougar win over Utah at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Dec. 4, 2021. (Courtesy BYU Photo)

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BYU players cheer after a good play during the Cougar win over Utah at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Dec. 4, 2021. (Courtesy BYU Photo)

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BYU senior forward Tegan Graham looks to pass the ball during the Cougar win over Utah at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Dec. 4, 2021. (Courtesy BYU Photo)

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BYU senior center Sara Hamson blocks a shot during the Cougar win over Utah at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Dec. 4, 2021. (Courtesy BYU Photo)

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Never. Stop. Battling.

That was the clear message in Saturday’s rivalry women’s basketball game between No. 21-ranked BYU and Utah as what appeared to be a blowout required some key plays down the stretch.

The Cougars led by as many as 21 points in the second half, only to see the Utes get hot from the 3-point line late and put together a furious rally.

With under 15 seconds to play, a 3-pointer by Utah freshman guard Gianna Kneepkens cut the BYU lead to just three points and gave the home supporters hope that the Utes might somehow complete the improbable comeback.

But on the ensuing inbounds pass, the Cougars moved the ball beautifully and ran seven big seconds off the clock before Utah could finally foul.

BYU sophomore guard Shaylee Gonzales, who had been in this position before, drained both free throws and the Utes finally missed, allowing the Cougars to secure the 85-80 victory.

“Utah didn’t quit,” BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. “I’ll give them a lot of credit. They didn’t quit. They kept fighting. That’s how (Utah head coach Lynne Roberts) teams play. That’s how she coaches them. If there had been five more minutes, maybe they could have caught us. Utah is good. This is one of the best teams she has had.”

Judkins just returned from a COVID-19 quarantine, only to have four members of his team be required to sit out for this game because of the virus. That included two players who get a lot of time on the floor, particularly starting forward Lauren Gustin.

“Tonight Lauren would’ve hurt them because she is so strong,” Judkins said. “They made a lot of baskets off of rebounds that they wouldn’t have got with her in there. But Utah was missing a good player and that’s how the season goes.”

Being down so many players, however, meant that BYU had to rely heavily on the ones who were available. Four Cougars played more than 33 minutes and Judkins said he felt like they got worn out by the end.

“I think what happened to us in the game — we had a good lead, thank goodness, but then we got tired,” Judkins said. “We got tired mentally and physically.”

BYU senior guard Paisley Harding explained that although the exhaustion played a factor in how the Cougars played at both ends of the court down the stretch, the Utes also deserved a lot of credit.

“Utah played really good defense there at the end,” Harding said. “I was actually really impressed. I think it’s the best. late defense anyone’s played on us so far. But the whole time I knew we were going to win. With 22 seconds left, it was just time to run down the clock. We’re going to hit free throws. They’re going to foul us. We’re going to be moving and it’s going to be fine.”

Part of the reason BYU had such a big lead was because of the performance of Harding, who tallied a career-high 33 points.

“Paisley is a hard matchup,” Judkins said. “She had it tonight. If she is hitting her jumper like she was tonight, she’s tough to guard because you want to get up on her but then she’ll drive around you. She wanted to play well. It’s her last time here and she took it on her shoulders. She knew she had to step up offensively. What a great performance. The kid is amazing.”

Roberts said in the Utah postgame press conference that it felt like she had been trying to find ways to slow Harding for “like 17 years now” and added that she “will be glad to see her graduate.”

Harding got things going early, scoring 10 of BYU’s 24 first-quarter points as the Cougars went up by as many as 14 in the early going.

Like they did later in the game, however, Utah charged back and got to within three points at 29-26 before BYU pulled away to lead by 11 points at halftime.

The Cougars started the third quarter on a 16-6 run to create the biggest lead of the game, but Utah fought back and forced BYU to make the key plays down the stretch.

“We won my freshman year and then now did it again my senior year,” Harding said. “That was a big thing for us, especially me. I really wanted to beat these guys again. We’re a big veteran team. We have a lot of new freshmen but at the same time, we have pretty much everyone back from last year. We’ve played with each other and have great chemistry. It was just all flowing for us. It’s been flowing for us all season so far. So it was just exciting.”

The Cougars also got 22 points from Gonzales, while senior Tegan Graham led BYU with eight assists and six rebounds.

Utah was paced by Kneepkens, who scored 29 points off the bench.

With the win, the Cougars remain unbeaten on the season (8-0) while the Utes dropped to 6-2.

Judkins hopes to get some players back by Thursday, which will be good since BYU plays at Oklahoma on Dec. 10 at 6 p.m.

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