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Women's Basketball
vs Western Colorado (EXHIBITION)
Saturday, February 6
Salt Lake City, UT
TBA
University of Utah
53
at
51
BYU
Women's Basketball Defeats BYU, 53-51
6/21/1999 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
February 6, 1999
SALT LAKE CITY - Utah surged out to a 14-point first half lead and held off a second-half comeback by Brigham Young as the Utes beat their cross-state rivals, 53-51, on Saturday afternoon at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. A season-best crowd of 5,456 - the third largest ever to see a Ute women's basketball home game-witnessed the Western Athletic Conference Pacific Division showdown for first place.
Lori Red scored a game-high 11 points-nine of which came in the first half-to lead the Utes. Kristi Rose had a game-high nine boards. Amy Ewert, getting her second career start, had eight points and eight rebounds. Lauren Beckman contributed eight points and five rebounds.
Lori Henry-Cuff came off the bench to score 10 points and grab seven rebounds to lead BYU. Alisha Girffeth also played a reserve role and got nine points. Stacy Jensen had seven points and seven rebounds.
The win moved Utah into sole possession of first place in the WAC Pacific Division with a 7-1 record in league play and a 16-4 overall mark. BYU dropped a game back of the Utes at 6-2 in WAC play and a 12-8 overall.
Neither team played textbook basketball in a knock-down drag-out affair in which the two teams combined to commit 45 turnovers. The Cougars outshot the Utes 39.2 to 34.7 percent from the field. The U. also made just 2-of-10 three-pointers while the Y. made 6-of-18.
The difference for Utah was a 38 to 31 edge on the boards and free throws. The Utes made 17 of 28 charity shots while the Cougars attempted just eight free throws and made five.
Utah never trailed in the game and built a 19-5 lead with 8:51 left in the first half after scoring 12 unanswered points over a five and half minute stretch. Brigham Young came back to make it 30-25 game at the break and tied the Utes on three occasions in the second half. The last tie came at 49-all after two free throws by Cady Williams with 2:22 to play. Katherine McColl and Tiana Fuertes then each made two free throws to build the Utah lead back to four points.
Amanda Covington got a layup with five seconds left to bring BYU back within 53-51. Then after two missed free throws by Erin Gibbons, Covington missed the potential game-winning three-pointer from 25 feet away at the buzzer.
The Ute win broke a three-game losing streak to the Cougars.
"That was one of those games where you just hold on and hope you find a way to win it," said Ute head coach Elaine Elliott. "We just kept making turnovers and the shots just would not go down. You just hope you get something at some point and we just stayed with it."
The Utes limited BYU's top scores, Williams and Jill Adams to four and six points, respectively.
"Amy Ewert was the key to our defense," said Elliott. "We put her on Williams and she really did a nice job on her. Our four (position) players also did a nice job on Adams. We just told them to stay in front of her and not to let her drive by you."
Utah 53, Brigham Young 51
BYU MP FG-A FT-A O-RB A PF TP Van Komen 13 1-7 0-0 0-0 0 3 2 Williams 33 0-4 4-4 1-6 0 4 4 Adams 38 3-5 0-0 1-2 1 3 6 Covington 28 2-3 0-0 1-1 3 2 5 Jensen, S. 32 3-7 0-0 3-7 1 2 7 Hayes 2 0-1 0-0 1-1 0 0 0 Griffeth 16 3-10 0-0 0-2 0 3 9 Osguthorpe 11 1-1 0-0 0-2 1 0 3 Henry-Cuff 20 5-8 0-2 2-7 4 3 10 Burgess 7 2-5 1-2 0-0 0 3 5 TOTALS 200 20-51 5-8 12-31 10 22 51Percentages: FG-.392, FT-.625. 3-Point FG: 6-18, .333 (Van Komen 0-1, Williams 0-2, Adams 0-1, Covington 1-2, Jensen 1-3, Griffeth 3-8, Osguthorpe 1-1).
Team Rebounds: 3.
Blocked Shots: 3.
Turnovers: 22.
Steals: 15.
UTAH MP FG-A FT-A O-RB A PF TP Andersen 22 2-6 0-0 1-2 1 3 5 Red 33 4-10 3-4 2-3 1 0 11 Rose 15 1-3 1-2 6-9 0 2 3 Fuertes 30 1-5 2-2 1-2 3 2 4 Ewert 28 3-9 2-5 3-8 0 1 8 McColl 18 2-4 3-4 1-4 2 2 7 Gibbons 14 1-5 2-4 0-1 2 0 5 Sodja 7 1-2 0-2 0-0 1 1 2 Herbert 8 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 Beckman 25 2-5 4-5 2-5 1 0 8 TOTALS 200 17-49 17-28 18-38 11 11 53
Percentages: FG-.347, FT-.607. 3-Point FG: 2-10, .200 (Andersen 1-2, Red 0-1, Fuertes 0-2, Gibbons 1-4, Sodja 0-1).
Team Rebounds: 3.
Blocked Shots: 3.
Turnovers: 23.
Steals: 12.
BYU (12-8, 6-2 WAC) 25 26 - 51 Utah (16-4, 7-1 WAC) 30 23 - 53
Technical Fouls: None.
A: 5,456.
Officials: Rick Morris, Tanya Porter, John Weeks.
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