Katie King finishes with 17 points and 14 rebounds for the Utes
Nov. 18, 2007
SALT LAKE CITY - It was a heavyweight tussle on the Huntsman Center hardwood here today as the University of Utah women's basketball team (1-1 overall) went toe-to-toe with the No. 5/5-ranked Stanford Cardinal here this afternoon. However, it was the Cardinal who dealt the final blow, winning by four, 81-77, in double overtime.
It looked liked Utah was going to upend the national power as a Kalee Whipple's free throw gave the Utes the 62-59 lead with 12 ticks left on the clock. However, Stanford (3-0 overall) raced down the court and Melanie Murphy hit a high-arching three-pointer from the wing to tie it up with one second left. It went into overtime tied at 62-62.
Stanford lead by as many as four in the first overtime, but Morgan Warburton was fouled by Jillian Harmon with 45 seconds left. Warburton converted on both freebies to cut the Stanford lead to 71-69. The visitors had two chances to push their lead back to four but Harmon got fouled on her second-chance layup, and she missed both free throws. Kalee Whipple got the rebound and got the ball to Leilani Mitchell who hit a running layup with two-tenths of a second left in the first extra frame. That knotted it up at 71-71.
A short bench and tired legs plagued the Utes in the second overtime as Stanford was finally able to pull away. The Cardinal opened the second OT with a 6-2 run and held a seven-point cushion with 2:10 to go. That turned out to be Stanford's biggest lead of the game as it held on the for the four-point victory.
For the entire game, there were 10 ties and 10 lead changes.
Utah got several big-time performances today, as Morgan Warburton poured in 20 points on 7-for-15 shooting. Mitchell added 18 points, and she held Stanford's All-American Candice Wiggins to just 4-for-17 shooting from the field.
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Katie King came up huge in the paint. She tallied her first collegiate double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds. King grabbed 12 boards on the defensive end of the court. Whipple also added 17 points to the fray.
Utah shot 41.8 percent (29-for-67) from the field but was out-rebounded 57-27. The Utes held Stanford to a meager 35.8 shooting (29-for-81).
The Cardinal's Jayne Appell led all scorers and rebounders as she amassed 30 points and 20 boards today.
The game got off to a rocky start for the Utes as Stanford tallied the first two scores and had an early two-possession lead, 4-0. However, Utah didn't back down, and it engineered a 9-0 run to take the 9-4 lead with 15:43 left. The Utes would preserve their lead for nearly eight minutes, seeing it swell to as much as seven points (13-6 with 13:42 left). But, Stanford chiseled away at Utah's lead and out-scored the home team 10-3 in the last four minutes. Stanford went into the break with a scant 33-32 lead.
The Utes only trailed for 20 seconds in the second half, when an Appell jumper gave Stanford a 35-34 lead at the 18:26 mark. However, Utah was never able to fully pull away, and build the insurmountable cushion. The Utes led by as much as six points, the last such lead at 1:27, 60-54. But, Stanford had another strong push to end the second half, going on an 8-2 run to tie it, 62-62, at the end of regulation.
Utah heads off to the Hawaiian Islands for the Oahu Classic on Nov. 22-24. The Utes will play Marist (Nov. 22), Akron (Nov. 23) and Nebraska (Nov. 24) before it returns home to host South Dakota State on Nov. 28.
