Colorado State University Athletics
Women's Basketball Preview - Utah
1/9/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 9, 2007
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Game 15:
Utah (9-6, 2-0 MWC) vs. Colorado State (6-8, 1-1 MWC)
Thursday, Jan. 11, 2007 • 7 p.m. MT
Fort Collins, Colo. • Moby Arena (8,745)
The Series
Overall Record - Utah Leads 50-13
In Fort Collins - Utah Leads 21-8
In Salt Lake City - Utah Leads, 28-4
At Neutral Sites - Tied, 1-1
Warden vs Utah - 0-2
Radio
Colorado State Sports Network
Play-by-Play: Brian Roth
Color Analyst: Corbu Stathes
Fort Collins: 600 AM KCOL
The Matchup
The Colorado State University women's basketball team (6-8, 1-1 MWC) returns to Moby Arena for the first time since Dec. 17 to take on the Utah Utes (9-6, 2-0 MWC) at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 11.
The Rams tipped off the Mountain West Conference season with a 1-1 showing on the road, defeating Air Forc 65-56, but falling to TCU, 86-36.
The Utes have jumped out to a tie for the conference lead with a 2-0 start in MWC play with wins over San Diego State (51-48) and on the road against preseason favorite New Mexico (49-48).
Utah is led by head coach Elaine Elliott. In her 24th year at the helm of the Utes program, Elliott has ammassed 499 career victories heading into Thursday's matchup with Colorado State.
Elliott returns eight letterwinners and two starters from last season's team which posted a record of 27-7 (12-4 MWC) and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Touranment.
Leading the charge for Utah this season is sophomore guard Morgan Warburton. Warburton ranks as the team's leading scorer (14.4 ppg.) and enters Thursday's matchup eighth in the conference. Sophomore forward Joh-Teena Filipe has also made an impact on the court this season, averaging 11.3 points and leading the team with 6.4 rebounds per contest.
Overall, the Utes offense ranks seventh in the conference, averaging just 59.6 points per game, while giving up a league-fourth-best 57.9 points per contest on the defensive end of the court.
Utah Series
Utah holds an all-time series advantage of 50-13 all-time against the Rams, including a 4-10 mark in the Mountain West Conference. The Utes also hold a decided 21-8 advantage at Moby Arena. The las victory for the Rams against Utah came Feb. 13, 2003, a 56-44 decision in Fort Collins. Since then, Utah has won six straight games in the series, including three consecutive in Fort Collins.
Utah Series Results
13-50, 8-21 Ft. Collins, 4-28 Salt Lake City, 1-1Neutral 2/15/75 L 32-49 Salt Lake City 3/10/75 W 52-46 Flagstaff 2/7/76 L 37-44 Fort Collins 1/29/77 L 46-83 Salt Lake City 2/11/78 L 52-81 Salt Lake City 2/16/79 L 67-71 Fort Collins 1/18/80 L 78-87 Salt Lake City 2/16/80 L 66-77 Fort Collins 1/22/81 L 71-85 Salt Lake City 2/25/81 L 73-79 Fort Collins 1/9/82 W 79-66 Fort Collins 2/5/82 L 59-74 Salt Lake City 1/22/83 W 77-71 Fort Collins 2/19/83 L 71-85 Salt Lake City 2/4/84 L 53-70 Salt Lake City 3/1/84 L 47-69 Fort Collins 1/25/85 L 46-73 Salt Lake City 2/14/85 L 68-80 Fort Collins 1/25/86 L 57-70 Fort Collins 2/18/86 L 39-69 Salt Lake City 1/29/87 L 41-62 Fort Collins 2/10/87 L 60-72 Salt Lake City 2/4/88 L 35-89 Salt Lake City 2/20/88 L 55-65 Fort Collins 1/28/89 L 48-64 Salt Lake City 3/3/89 L 68-74 Fort Collins 3/10/89 L 70-80 Las Cruces 2/9/90 L 70-95 Salt Lake City 2/24/90 L 53-64 Fort Collins 1/26/91 L 49-87 Fort Collins 2/22/91 L 51-66 Salt Lake City 1/16/92 L 70-87 Fort Collins 2/15/92 L 52-78 Salt Lake City 1/23/93 L 54-81 Fort Collins 2/19/93 L 55-71 Salt Lake City 3/10/93 L 48-62 Salt Lake City 1/22/94 L 50-72 Salt Lake City 2/10/94 W 78-69 Fort Collins 3/9/94 W 69-57 Salt Lake City 2/11/95 L 59-76 Fort Collins 2/16/95 L 48-62 Salt Lake City 1/25/96 L 52-66 Salt Lake City 2/17/96 W 78-74 Fort Collins 2/8/87 W 79-68 (3ot) Salt Lake 2/27/97 L 59-68 Fort Collins 1/18/98 L 68-69 Fort Collins 2/14/98 L 53-67 Salt Lake City 12/3/98 W 70-69 Salt Lake City 11/23/99 W 58-47 Fort Collins 1/22/00 L 52-77 Salt Lake City 2/19/00 W 57-56 Fort Collins 1/18/01 L 51-73 Salt Lake City 2/17/01 L 59-67 Fort Collins 1/12/02 W 87-77(3ot) Salt Lake 2/7/02 W 58-53 Fort Collins 1/18/03 L 50-73 Salt Lake 2/13/03 W 56-44 Fort Collins 1/17/04 L 51-55 Fort Collins 2/12/04 L 57-71 Salt Lake 1/13/05 L 50-68 Salt Lake 2/26/05 L 69-77 Fort Collins 1/14/06 L 54-76 Salt Lake 2/15/06 L 56-80 Fort Collins
MWC Home Openers
Colorado State is 7-0 all-time in Mountain West Conference home openers, including a 1-0 mark under Jen Warden. The following is a list of Colorado State's MWC home openers:
1/15/00 Wyoming W, 86-69 1/25/01 Air Force W, 63-50 1/1702 San Diego State W, 81-64 1/23/03 New Mexico W, 56-71 1/15/04 BYU W, 54-52 1/20/05 San Diego State W, 50-68 1/5/05 San Diego State W, 68-65
Mountain West Openers
With the 65-56 victory over the Air Force Falcons on Thursday night to open up Mountain West Conference play, Colorado State improves to 6-2 all-time in Mountain West Conference openers and are now 2-0 in conference-opening contests under Jen Warden. Five times Colorado State has opened MWC action on the road, posting a record of 3-2 in those contests.
1/15/00 Wyoming W, 86-69 1/13/01 at Wyoming W, 76-51 1/10/02 at BYU W, 81-64 1/16/03 at BYU L, 56-71 1/15/04 BYU W, 54-52 1/13/05 at Utah L, 50-68 1/5/05 San Diego State W, 68-65 1/4/06 at Air Force W, 65-56
Magic Number: 60
The Rams are 5-0 this season when reaching the 60-point mark, but 1-8 when scoring less that 60.
Road Warriors
Colorado State posted a record of 1-3 on a four-game road swing that ended Saturday at TCU. The Rams fell at No. 6/6 UConn, 93-58 on Dec. 21, and stumbled at New Mexico State, 71-55 on Dec. 29 before defeating the Falcons, 65-56, to open up Mountain West Conference play on Jan. 4. The Rams wrapped up their road swimg at TCU on Saturday, falling by a final of 86-36. The last time that Colorado State played more than four-consecutive games on the road was a five-game road swing that spanned from Jan. 4, 2003 trough Jan. 18, 2003. During that stretch, the Rams defeated St. Mary's (64-46) and Holy Cross (73-69), but fell in three straight to Boston College (60-75), BYU (56-71) and Utah (50-73). That season, Colorado State rebounded from that pair of Mountain West Conferece-opening losses to BYU and Utah to finish with a record of 8-6, eventually making it to the semi-final round of the WNIT.
Rams vs. MWC
Colorado State women's basketball is 56-46 (.549) all-time in Mountain West Conference action.
Nohr Notches Career-High
Senior guard Molly Nohr set a career-high for scoring with 22 points in the Rams 65-56 victory at Air Force on Saturday. Nohr, who scored four of the team's first eight points was held scorless for the final 17 minutes of the first half before exploding for 18 points in the second half of the contest. During the second half, Nohr was near perfect from the field, hitting eight of her nine attempts to close the game and finished 10-for-14 from the field.
Neal Gets First Career Starts
Freshman guard Emily Neal earned her the first start of her career in the Rams' 65-56 over Air Force on Thursday, and also received the starting nod on Satruday at TCU. Neal responded against the Horned Frogs by scoring a team-best eight points to go along with three rebounds and one block.
Finley Fitting Right In
Playing in just her third game at Colorado State and only her third game since the 2004-05 season at Northwestern, sophomore transfer Kelly Finley led the team with a career-high 16 points and tied her career-high with seven rebounds in just 23 minutes off of the Rams' bench at New Mexico State. It was the second consecutive game in which Finley led the Rams in rebounding, after posting six boards against the UConn Huskies on Dec. 21. This marked the first time this season that someone other than Marilyn Moulton or Juanise Cornell led the Rams in rebounding in a game. In three games off the bench for the Rams, Finley has posted some solid numbers, averaging 10.7 points and 6.0 rebounds per game in 19.3 minutes per contest off the Rams' bench.
On Guard
The Rams backcourt continues to impress this season. Colorado State's starting three-guard set of Kelly Jo Mullaney (14.5 ppg.), Sara Hunter (10.2 ppg.) and Molly Nohr (12.5 ppg.) has accounted for 57.8 percent of the team's scoring, or 37.2 points per contest through 14 games.
The Turnover Story
Colorado State is 5-0 this season when giving away fewer turnovers than opponents. In those five victories, the team is averaging 12.4 turnovers per game and opponent's are giving the ball up at a rate of 19.0 times per contest. In eight losses, however the roles are reversed as the Rams' average rockets to 20.0 turnovers per game, compared with 14.0 for opponents.
Head of the Class
Two Rams freshman, Juanise Cornell and Kelly Jo Mullaney have emerged as leaders in the Mountain West Conference among both freshman and all classes. Cornell ranks first in the conference among freshman, pulling down an average of 6.4 rebounds per contest. This also ranks tied for seventh among all players in the Mountain West Conference. Mullaney leads all freshman in scoring, averaging 14.5 points per contest. This also ranks seventh among all players in the Mountain West.
