The Utah Utes got off to 7-0 lead Saturday afternoon against Colorado State and never looked back, en route to a 77-69 Utah victory in Moby Arena. The Utes led 39-19 at halftime.
Colorado State scored just 19 points in the first half, shooting only 29%, including going 1-6 beyond the arc. They scored just 10 points in the final 15 minutes of the first half, and committed 13 turnovers in the half, leading to 17 Utah points. Utah led by as many as 24 in the first half.
Junior Kim Smith led to Utes with 22 points, who shot 50% from the field. Colorado State junior Melissa Dennett led the Rams with 18 points and 13 boards, her ninth career double-double.
CSU scored 50 points in the second half, closing the gap to seven at one point. Utah?s trio of Smith, Shona Thorburn, and Lana Sitterud turned out to be too much for the Rams though, as the three combined to score 59. CSU scored 50 second-half points after scoring less than 50 total in three of their last five games.
For the game, Colorado State outrebounded Utah 40-30, making this the second straight game CSU has outrebounded an opponent and lost. Melissa Dennett set a new career-high with eight offensive rebounds, and freshman Sara Hunter set a new career-high with eight total rebounds.
Despite outrebounding Utah, Utah won the battle in the paint, scoring 34 points in the paint to Colorado State?s 26. Utah also scored 10 fast-break points, compared to the Rams two.
Sophomore Molly Nohr played key minutes off the bench for the Rams, scoring a career-high 10 points, including 3-3 from the field and 5-6 from the freethrow line.
CSU?s loss marked the first time they?ve experienced back to back home conference losses since 2000. They lost 59-47 to BYU on February 10th.
Today?s loss drops the Rams overall record to 14-11 and its conference record to 5-7. Utah improves to 21-6 overall and 9-2 in conference play.
CSU battles New Mexico next in Moby Arena on March 3rd at 7 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
Utah vs Colorado State
02-26-05 2:00pm at Moby Arena, Fort Collins, CO
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VISITORS: Utah 21-6 10-2 MWC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
04 SMITH, Kim.......... f 6-11 4-6 6-8 3 3 6 5 22 5 1 0 3 36
45 PERRY, Jessica...... f 4-9 0-1 0-0 0 4 4 5 8 2 1 0 1 30
23 HANCHETT, Deanne.... c 2-3 0-0 0-1 1 3 4 3 4 2 1 1 1 24
10 THORBURN, Shona..... g 8-12 2-4 2-4 0 2 2 2 20 9 3 0 1 40
32 SITTERUD, Lana...... g 5-10 2-5 5-6 1 5 6 5 17 6 5 2 1 33
05 CARLSEN, Heidi...... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
12 BROUILLARD, Shauna.. 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 2 0 1 0 0 3
21 WOOD, Julie......... 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 9
24 ALLEN, Camie........ 2-5 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 4 0 0 1 1 17
33 WARNER, Marie....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 4
TEAM................ 2 1 3 1
Totals.............. 28-56 8-19 13-19 8 22 30 22 77 24 15 4 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-31 48.4% 2nd Half: 13-25 52.0% Game: 50.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 6-11 54.5% 2nd Half: 2-8 25.0% Game: 42.1% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-4 75.0% 2nd Half: 10-15 66.7% Game: 68.4% 3
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HOME TEAM: Colorado State 14-11 5-7 MWC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
32 DENNETT, Melissa.... f 6-16 0-0 6-8 8 5 13 3 18 2 4 0 0 33
45 THOMAS, Lindsay..... c 5-9 0-0 3-4 1 3 4 3 13 2 3 0 2 35
04 HUNTER, Sara........ g 6-16 1-10 0-1 2 6 8 3 13 5 1 0 2 35
05 ESPINOZA, Vanessa... g 5-12 2-3 0-0 0 1 1 1 12 1 2 0 1 26
21 WALSETH, Annika..... g 1-2 1-2 0-0 1 3 4 1 3 2 2 0 2 20
15 KRAMER, Liz......... 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 7
20 NOHR, Molly......... 2-2 1-1 5-6 3 1 4 3 10 2 2 0 0 18
31 O'DWYER, Kylee...... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 1 0 1 1 0 0 11
43 TOR-AGBIDYE, Msur... 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 3
51 MOULTON, Marilyn.... 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 1 12
TEAM................ 2 2
Totals.............. 25-62 5-19 14-19 17 23 40 18 69 15 17 2 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 8-27 29.6% 2nd Half: 17-35 48.6% Game: 40.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-6 16.7% 2nd Half: 4-13 30.8% Game: 26.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-4 50.0% 2nd Half: 12-15 80.0% Game: 73.7% 3
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Officials: Robert Strong, Randy Coil, Schel Brown
Technical fouls: Utah-None. Colorado State-None.
Attendance: 1505
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Utah.......................... 39 38 - 77
Colorado State................ 19 50 - 69
Points in the paint-UT 34,CS 26. Points off turnovers-UT 21,CS 16.
2nd chance points-UT 0,CS 14. Fast break points-UT 10,CS 2.
Bench points-UT 6,CS 10. Score tied-2 times. Lead changed-2 times.
Last FG-UT 2nd-01:29, CS 2nd-00:34.
