While the youth and inexperience of the supporting cast had been a bane of the U women’s hoops team all year long, it was just as often the inconsistent and uneven effort of the entire roster?the quad of ballyhooed seniors included?that detonated the Utes’ season into mediocrity.
And with one such lackluster performance on Wednesday night, the U fumbled its way to a 57-38 defeat at the hands of UNLV at the MWC Tournament, and, in the course of one year’s time, went from NCAA Sweet 16 entrant to first round conference tourney casualty.
Now, with that ignominious loss, comes the end of the season.
After winning five of its last six games to conclude the regular season (including a 69 65 victory over the Rebs in Vegas in the finale), the U appeared poised to pose problems for all comers in the tourney.
The swagger, apparently, stayed home in Salt Lake City.
The difference between this week and last?
“We didn’t shoot well and we turned the ball over. That’s pretty different,” said U coach Elaine Elliott.
The Utes were awful from the outset, hitting just 2-of-10 field goals over the game’s first 13:50, and notching a season-low 14 first-half points to trail 21-14 at the break.
It didn’t get a whole lot better from there.
Utah was game for a time, using a 12-2 surge to reduce a 25-14 deficit to a mere one point hurdle, at 27-26 with a marathon 14 minutes to go.
But then the Utes got whomped like a French figure skating judge vacationing in Montral. UNLV answered the bell with a decisive 21-3 run of its own in the next 6:30 to extend to 48-29, and it was turn out the lights and say good night.
“It just got away from us. We handled them up until that point, then all of a sudden, we have three or four possessions in a row they just got second chances,” Elliott said. “That’s a stretch we just never recovered from.”
After all, though they did manage an improved 24 points in the telltale final 20 minutes, the Utes were outscored by another dozen in the half and committed 24 turnovers on the night.
The shooting, on all levels, was abysmal. Utah connected on just 12-of-43 field goals (27.9 percent), and was a laughable 11-for-21 (52.4 percent) from the charity stripe. Even dialing from long distance?the weapon of choice last Saturday versus Vegas, when the team collectively nailed 13 treys in 22 attempts?didn’t result in any offensive connection. The Utes were a mere 3-of-11 (27.3 percent) from the parking lot this time around.
And as is generally the case, a failure to put the biscuit in the basket resulted in a lack of points. The high-octane trio of Lauren Beckman, Lindsay Herbert and Erin Gibbons?each named to the All-MWC Team earlier this week?shot 1-for-10, 3-for-12 and 3-for-7 respectively and totaled 7, 9 and 6 points apiece.
The only Ute to reach the double-figure plateau was reserve post-manner Carley Marshall, who notched an even 10 in 24 minutes off the bench.
It was not a masterful performance for the Rebels either, as they shot just 36.8 percent overall, and All-MWC First Teamer Constance Jinks limped her way to 4 points on a 2-for-12 spree. Still, the 17 point, 14-board effort of Conference Player of the Year Linda Frhlich was more than enough to make up for it.
Now, Vegas advances to the semifinals to battle Colorado State?which defeated Air Force 79-68?on Friday.
And the Utes?
Their year is over.