The U women’s basketball team found itself in a tight race with UNLV through 28 minutes of play Wednesday night before switching on its after-burners and blowing past the Rebels to pick up its 14th straight win.
The Utes (19-3, 8-0) pulled out an 82-53 win in Las Vegas, but the game didn’t have that certain blowout feel that the score suggests.
After taking a 33-30 lead into the half, the Utes ran into foul trouble fairly early in the second half. With 14:06 to go, starters Morgan Warburton and Jessica Perry both picked up their fourth fouls. First, Warburton registered her fourth foul, forcing head coach Elaine Elliott to pull her from the game. Still at the 14:06 mark, Perry picked up her fourth foul and joined Warburton on the bench, making for a very long second half.
Not long afterward, another starter, power forward Katie King, also got her fourth foul and was pulled out.
It was a precarious position for the Utes to be in, especially considering they suit up just nine healthy players.
UNLV used the opportunity to pull within two points at 48-46 with 12 minutes remaining.
But Ute point guard Leilani Mitchell — who had her second double-double as a Ute — along with Utah’s lesser-used reserves (Cydney Knight, Deanne Stevenson and Halie Sawyer) stepped up big as the Utes absolutely dominated UNLV down the stretch, finishing the game on a 34-7 run. Mitchell finished with 26 points and 10 assists.
“She’s big,” Elliott said. “You could just see her understand the situation. She just clamps down and you can just see it in her eyes, ‘I’ve got to make some plays now.’ She’s a difference-maker.”
Utah’s deadly tandem on the wings — Morgan Warburton and Kalee Whipple — had a solid night, scoring 21 and 19 points, respectively, but Utah’s bench stole much of the spotlight.
“They came through big time,” Elliott said. “They just owned the boards. That was the big change in the second half. (Deanne Stevenson) and Halie (Sawyer) did an awesome job on the boards, kept the ball alive for us, gave us two, three, four chances.”
Stevenson pulled down seven rebounds, most of them within that key stretch when the game was still up for grabs, in a breakout performance.
“(Deanne Stevenson) has the biggest heart on our team,” Elliott said. “She just epitomizes what you want any contributor to be like. These are the kinds of games that she’s been best for us, when we’ve needed someone out there who really just made plays, because she’s gritty and has heart.”
But don’t think for one moment that Stevenson, who didn’t play the last two seasons because of chronic knee pain, is a delicate flower. In fact, she has the mentality of a linebacker. Stevenson set a punishing screen in the second half that flattened a UNLV player.
“Just to feel that contact and just look down at the guard who I’d just laid out is pretty exhilarating,” Stevenson said.
The Utes had 13 turnovers in the game, but only four in the second half.
“This is a small team of nine, but we’re deep in heart and talent,” Stevenson said.
With the win, the Utes remains perfect (8-0) in MWC play.