PROVO8212;Utah knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but the women’s basketball team was able to gut out its ninth straight victory at the hands of its biggest rival.
Morgan Warburton scored 17 points, including two clutch free throws with 38 seconds left, to lead Utah to a 63-55 win against BYU to make a perfect 6-0 in conference play.
Warburton’s free throws came with Utah owning a 58-55 lead. Janita Badon turned a steal into a breakaway layup on BYU’s following possession to put the Utes up by seven and the game out of reach with 13 seconds left. Warburton led all scorers and Katie King turned in a double-double as she controlled the paint on her way to 16 points and a 13&-rebound performance.
“I’m so pleased with this team,” said head coach Elaine Elliott. “Things can never come easy; it just doesn’t work out that way. This was a real meat grinder, and a great experience for us and these kids really toughened it up.”
The Cougars stormed out of the gates, scoring the first six points of the game. The Utes were able to calm things down a bit after the rough start, but no matter what they did, BYU was quicker to the ball.
Finally, with 1.4 seconds left in the first half, and the Utes trailing by two, Kaylee Whipple stole a BYU inbound pass and drew a foul. She went on to sink both free throws to send the teams into the locker room tied at 27.
“It was huge,” Elliot said. “We were at that three-to four-point deficit and struggling through, but in those last 45 seconds, we made it up and go into the half tied. That was a really good mental boost.”
Despite the Cougars getting 17 points from their bench, Utah still found itself right in the thick of things and managed to carry some of the momentum from Whipple’s play into the second half.
Utah opened up the second half on a 10-0 run and the game looked to be in control but the Cougars refused to go away. BYU went on a series of mini-runs to get the game back within striking distance. In the final few minutes, BYU got the gap down to three at 58-55, before Warburton and Badon cinched up the win for the Utes.
“On that last play, I was just thinking get to the rim,” Warburton said. “They had to foul pretty much. But that’s what we work on in practice, just reading defenses.”
Where Utah really took control was winning the battle inside during the second half. Utah outscored BYU 22-8 in the paint during the second half, and ended up winning the battle of the boards 40-36, thanks in large part to King’s presence around the basket.
“Our guards are really comfortable with giving us the ball inside,” King said. “We always work really hard to get that post up. So when they give it to you, they expect you to finish. It’s a real mentality thing and you need to know that you got the ball for a reason.”
The win makes Utah 12-6 overall and is now a game and a half ahead of New Mexico going into that pivotal matchup on the road Saturday.
Lennie MahlerKatie King had her fourth double-double of the season, helping the Utes beat BYU 63-55 Wednesday. With the victory the Utes improved to 5-0 in conference play.