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Utah Women Narrowly Miss Upset of No. 14 Michigan State
11/26/2004 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 26, 2004
HONOLULU, Hawaii -- For the second time in three games, the University of Utah women's basketball team led a nationally-ranked team in the second half. But once again, the Utes couldn't hang on.
After dropping a six-point decision to Stanford in the season-opener, Utah fell to No. 14 Michigan State by a tally of 56-54 Friday night at the Rainbow Wahine Classic. The Utes (1-2) will face the loser of the late matchup between the host school, Hawaii, and Santa Clara.
Utah trailed by 12 points early in the second half. Michigan State led by just five, 24-19, at halftime. The Spartans put together an 11-4 run over the first 5:20 of the second stanza to take a 35-23 advantage.
"The biggest negative was we just didn't come to compete early," Utah head coach Elaine Elliott said. "It's amazing to say that, after a two-point game. We finally got there in the second half. But it was lost early in terms of competitive toughness."
A Lana Sitterud three-pointer sparked the Utah offense. The Utes rattled off a 15-4 spurt on the strength of three treys, two by Sitterud and a third by Shauna Brouillard. Brouillard's three pulled Utah within one, 39-38, with nine minutes left to play.
Utah trailed by three, 46-43, with 6:22 remaining when Shona Thorburn hit a three-pointer to knot the contest at 46-46. Marie Warner scored on the Utes' ensuing possession and gave them their first lead with 5:26 to go. Kim Smith, who recorded her second double-double of the season, hit one of two free throws with 2:57 remaining to push the Utes' lead to three, 51-48.
"We got more aggressive on offense," Elliott said of the comeback. "We went to nothing but a pick on the ball and penetrate against their zone. We were really tentative on offense until then."
Michigan State answered with a 6-0 run. Kristin Haynie scored four of those six points, putting the Spartans on top, 54-51. Warner hit her second three-pointer of the second half with eight seconds left to pull Utah even, 54-54. Haynie took the inbound pass the length of the floor and hit a layup with two seconds remaining to give MSU the 56-54 victory.
Warner scored 12 points in 15 minutes off the bench for Utah. Thorburn scored 11, while Smith scored 10 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Liz Shimek scored 15 off the bench for Michigan State to lead all scorers.
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