Utes halt Lady Frog win streak
2/27/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 27, 2008
SALT LAKE CITY--TCU dropped its first contest for the month of February, as well as its first road matchup in six games, during a 68-53 setback to No. 16/15 Utah Wednesday evening at the Utes' Huntman Center.The loss dropped the Lady Frogs' season record to 17-10 and 10-3 in Mountain West Conference play. Utah, which can clinch the MWC regular-season title with its next win, moved to 24-3 overall and 13-0 in the league.
The Frogs trailed during a large portion of the game, as Utah ran out to a 14-point advantage at one point of the first half.
Facing a 10-point deficit at the half, 35-25, TCU fired out of the locker room and cut the lead in half in less than one minute of action. Micah Garoutte recorded a basket and was fouled for a 3-point play before Adrianne Ross drove coast-to-coast for a layup following a Ute turnover.
The Frog momentum would be short lived, as Utah responded by scoring 16 of the game's next 20 points to gain its largest lead of the evening, 51-34. TCU was able to cut the advantage to single digits with a 7-0 spurt that concluded with 3:30 remaining, but the Frogs could not close the gap further than nine points the rest of the way.
Lorie Butler-Rayford paced TCU with 14 points and six rebounds, as she shot 7-of-13 from the field in addition to adding four offensive boards. Ross also reached double figures with 13 points and tied a TCU-season high with five steals. Knight added seven points and dished out a team-high six assists.
Four players did nearly all the damage for Utah, as Kalee Whipple (19 points), Morgan Warburton (19 points), Leilani Mitchell (14 points) and Jessica Perry (14 points) each posted double-digit scoring figures. Whipple had her second double-double of the season against the Frogs, adding 10 rebounds, while Mitchell chipped in seven assists. Each of Perry's 14 points came in the first half.
The Utes controlled the first half of play and posted significant advantages in several areas. They posted a 50.0 to 39.3 percent shooting advantage from the floor while nearly doubling the Frogs' rebound total (23-12). Utah grabbed nine offensive boards in the period and also scored 12 points off nine TCU turnovers.
Utah raced out to a double-digit lead, 20-10, in the game's opening 11 minutes. An 11-0 run over a three-minute stretch keyed the advantage. Perry scored the first eight points of the run before Whipple added a dagger from beyond the 3-point arc to finish off the stretch.
TCU found itself trailing by as many as 14 points in the first period following a Warburton jumper in the lane with 6:12 remaining. TCU cut the deficit to 10 points with layups by Butler-Rayford and Knight in the closing minute of the half.
Butler-Rayford proved to be one of TCU's lone bright spots in the first half, as she scored 10 points in the frame of 5-of-7 shooting.
TCU next returns to Fort Worth to take on UNLV Saturday for a 2 p.m. tip-off at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.
