The Utah women’s basketball team entered the season with a lot of hype. After what could be described as a rough start8212;Utah saw itself open the season 1-48212;the Utes finally seem to have turned a corner and started to live up to their high expectations.
Utah goes into its game tonight against Air Force with a five-game winning streak. Included in that run are victories against Pac-10 powers USC and Oregon, and a talented San Diego State team. There might have been doubts in the early months of the season whether Utah would be repeat Mountain West Champions. With the team now as hot as it’s ever been this year, those doubts seem to be quickly subsiding.
Coach Elaine Elliott is pleased with her team’s recent play. However, she isn’t about to let herself or her team get complacent due to its recent success.
“Every game’s a new one,” Elliott said. “We just start up again.”
While having the win streak and starting the conference season 2-0 is nice, there is clearly some unfinished business8212;another conference championship and getting a better run in the postseason. As of now, those two goals seem very much in reach.
What might have been the best indication of how good this team can be was its impressive win over San Diego State. The wins over Pac-10 schools Oregon and USC were good, but San Diego State came into the Huntsman Center this past weekend playing arguably the best basketball team out of all the Mountain West teams. The Aztecs were riding a six-game winning streak and were only a few days removed from beating a highly ranked Texas team. Elliott was particularly impressed with how her team was able to show its determination against the Aztecs and comfortably beat one of the better teams in the conference.
“This was a grind-out game for both sides,” Elliot said. “And that was because it was two good teams getting after each other. “Yeah, we wish we had done some things better (against San Diego State), and I’m sure that they are saying the same thing. But most of that has to do with who we were going against. That was a grind- it- out competition against two good teams in our league.”
Tonight, Utah faces Air Force (4-11) at the Huntsman Center. The Falcons have started conference play 0-2 and neither of the two games were competitive. Air Force lost to San Diego State 79-28, and followed up that loss with another one to New Mexico, 73-39. The Falcons are ranked at or near the bottom in almost every major statistical category in the MWC.
Sophomore guard Raimee Beck does present some challenges for the Utes with her outside shooting ability. She is averaging a little more than 13 points a contest and is shooting 41 percent from the 3-point line. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. and is free for students who show their UCards.