The Utah women’s basketball team, which suits up just nine healthy players, was projected to finish fifth in the Mountain West Conference before the season started.
So much for pre-season predictions.
Instead of finishing in the middle of the pack, the Utes have dominated the league and now sit at 14-0 in the conference with two games to go. The No. 16 Utes guaranteed themselves an outright regular season conference championship with a 67-53 win over No. 24 Wyoming on Sunday.
“This season has been a great experience in all,” head coach Elaine Elliott said. “In terms of the kind of games we’ve had, the different ways we’ve competed, we’ve had big leads, come from behind, had last second wins. I mean we’ve pretty much run the gamut in that regard, and I think that’s carrying us forward for more success.”
After the game, the Utes took turns cutting down the net.
“It’s awesome,” Elliott said. “It’s really not an easy thing to do. Ask the programs that haven’t been able to get that notch in their belt. To do it is an amazing accomplishment for your team, and I’m really happy for the players. They always believed.”
Morgan Warburton, who had 12 points and eight rebounds in the win, was a vocal believer from the start. The junior said early in the year that the team’s goal was to go undefeated in the MWC. Considering that last year she headlined a team that went 19-14 and finished fifth in the MWC, it was a rather upbeat outlook.
“Things have kind of fallen into place,” Warburton said. “We’ve been thinking, ‘Hey, let’s go undefeated,’ (and) ‘Hey, this could really happen for us.’ It’s something that we really want, and we’ve come this far, and I think that we’re going to be able to do it.”
The Utes have won 20 straight, and with Colorado State and UNLV — who have a combined conference record of 4-23 — remaining on the schedule, an unscathed season is looking more and more likely. The only other Utah team to go undefeated in conference play was the 2001 group that made it to the Sweet 16.
“All that mattered was what we thought,” said Elliott of preseason predictions. “(My players) didn’t get caught up in any other assessment. They thought they might be pretty good, and they’ve been pretty confident from the start.”
The Utes got off to a quick start. After going down 2-0, Utah went on a 15-2 run to take an early 15-4 lead. The momentum swung back to the Cowgirls as they clawed their way back to within six by halftime thanks to the deft shooting of Wyoming’s Jodi Bolerjack, who made 4-of-4 attempts from 3-point range, including one shot that was more than eight feet behind the arc.
The story of the first half, though, was the play of the speedy Leilani Mitchell, who dished out 10 assists in the first 20 minutes. Mitchell, who finished with 19 points and 13 assists, played a role in nearly every basket the Utes made. Utah finished the game with 26 field goals, and Mitchell either made or assisted 20 of those buckets.
Mitchell wasn’t the only Ute to record a double-double. Sophomore forward Kalee Whipple scored 16 points and pulled down a game-high 10 boards.
The Utes got strong efforts out of a variety of sources. Senior Jessica Perry was one rebound shy of a double-double of her own with 10 points and nine rebounds while junior Katie King made a nice showing with eight points.
So, how did the Utes, who advanced to the Elite Eight two years ago, get so good again so soon after losing two players to the WNBA and four other players who abruptly quit the team last season?
“Let’s just say that we (had) to because I’m not going downhill,” Elliott said matter-of-factly. “I’m not going to hang around and be bad.”
Elliott, who is in her 25th year as head coach of the U women’s basketball team, has coached 24 winning seasons.
“We felt like we could retool and get some good kids,” Elliott said. “We knew that Morgan was a stalwart, and she has become that. She’s a junior now, and she’s starting to carry us. We knew that Kalee Whipple would be a first-team all-conference level player, and obviously the addition of Leilani has been key for us.”
Anna KartashovaUtah Head Coach Elaine Elliott celebrates the Utes Mountain West Conference regular season championship.