When players said that the Colorado State game from last year was still lingering in the back of their minds, they weren’t kidding.
Utah got revenge for being ousted in the first round of the Mountain West Tournament last season by the Rams, who were winless in conference play, as it destroyed Colorado State 74-48 on Saturday afternoon. Kalee Whipple led all scorers with 20. Morgan Warburton poured in 16 for the Utes, and Halie Sawyer recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards. The win pushes Utah’s record to 11-6, and 4-0 in conference. It also extended Utah’s winning streak to seven games.
Last season, Colorado State surprised the No. 1 seeded Utes in the first round of the tournament, 60-52. Utah was plagued by cold shooting from the field in that contest and Colorado State was able to pull out the victory because of it. This time around, Utah made sure Colorado State wasn’t going to hang around.
Utah scored 23 unanswered points to begin the game, putting the game pretty much out of reach after the first 10 minutes. Colorado State didn’t register a point on the scoreboard until the 11:25 mark in the first half. The Rams went into the half down 42-16. Utah shot 59 percent from the floor, while Colorado State only made six field goals on 30 attempts in the opening half. The Rams shot 30 percent from the floor for the entire game. Another defensive highlight for the Utes in this game was their ability to steal the ball as they finished with a season-high 14 steals on the game.
By the second half, with Utah already comfortably ahead, the bench started to rotate in. Josi McDermott was able to record her first points ever in her Ute career. The rest of the bench, Janita Badon, Cydney Knight and Mandy Munns, all logged more than 10 minutes each.
Inside the paint is where Utah did most of its damage. Although Warburton and Whipple, Utah’s two most prolific scorers, are known for their jump-shooting ability, the Utes have been just as good getting points around the basket recently as they have been hitting from the outside. Utah doubled Colorado State’s points in the paint production, outscoring Colorado 32-16. Utah also won the battle of the boards again, beating the Rams 40-32. The recent outstanding play of Sawyer and Katie King has given the Utes a new dimension to their offense, and Utah has been very hard to defend recently because of their emergence.
Utah will have a bye this week before it takes on the UNLV Running Rebels, Saturday, at 3 p.m. in the Huntsman Center. UNLV has struggled some this year. The team comes into Salt Lake City having won only one conference game, and is 8-9 overall.
Erik DaenitzMorgan Warburton scored 16 points as Utah defeated Colorado State 74-48. Warburton also earned Mountain West Conference player of the week honors.