Words like “blowout” and “shellacking” don’t quite capture how brutally the U women’s basketball team beat Colorado State Saturday afternoon at the Huntsman Center.
The Utes demolished the Rams 68-28 in a game that was essentially over after five-and-a-half minutes of play, maybe sooner. It was at the 14:26 mark when Katie King made a layup that gave the Utes their first 10-point lead of the afternoon. The Utes extended their lead in chunks after that.
By halftime, Utah (18-3, 7-0 in MWC) had pushed its lead to 29 points over the lackluster Rams (2-18, 0-7 in MWC).
Utah’s Morgan Warburton led all scorers with 18 points. The junior from Helper also pulled down eight rebounds.
“This is (Morgan’s) best year,” said head coach Elaine Elliott. “She’s done a good job to be at her best physically. She’s showed maturation this year emotionally and that’s made a huge difference in her consistency of play.”
The win capped a successful week for Warburton and the Utes, who beat No. 15 Wyoming on Wednesday.
Senior Leilani Mitchell scored 10 points while Kalee Whipple added another 13 in the rout. Colorado State’s leading scorer, Lauren Young, led the Ram’s anemic offensive effort with seven points.
It didn’t seem like the situation could get any worse for the Rams after shooting 23 percent from the field in the first half, but somehow the Rams’ fortunes worsened as their shot attempts continued to ricochet off the iron, one after another. The Rams shot just 17.9 percent from the field in the second half.
Meanwhile, the Utes — the best shooting team in the MWC — shot 48 percent from the field.
“It’s a little bit difficult to stay in a game like this but we’ve just got to maintain our focus,” Warburton said. “A couple times in the game we didn’t and we just have to make sure that no matter who it is, we’ve got to play our same game.”
Warburton couldn’t think of too many shortcomings in the Utes’ play, but she managed to find one.
“We kind of turned the ball over a little too much tonight,” Warburton said. The Utes had 17 turnovers.
The Utes are in prime position to crack the Top 25 when the rankings come out on Monday, although Elliott doesn’t like to talk about the rankings specifically, citing that she doesn’t have a vote.
“Those are good things for your program because of the notoriety,” said Elliott of the prospect of landing a spot in the national spotlight. “So if that happens, it’s a good thing for all of us.”
Although Elliott stays away from addressing the rankings specifically, even she had to admit that the Utes have compiled a pretty impressive record this season.
“There’s not a lot of teams that are 18-3,” Elliott said. “So we feel pretty good about our success.”
As for Warburton, the 2006-2007 first team all-MWC player is slightly more open about her feelings about the rankings. Does she think the Utes will make their Top-25 debut Monday?
“I really do hope so,” Warburton said.
Notes: Utah celebrated Elliot’s 25 years of coaching before the game. Utah Athletic Director Chris Hill presented a ball to Elliot before the game. Towels commemorating Elliot’s achievement were passed out before the game. All of Utah’s women sports teams were honored with a halftime ceremony.