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Women's Basketball
vs Western Colorado (EXHIBITION)
Sunday, March 22
College Park, Md.
10:00 AM
University of Utah
60
vs
30
Villanova
Utes Rout Villanova, 60-30
3/22/2009 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 22, 2009
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) -Sent clear across the country to play in the NCAA tournament, Kalee Whipple and Utah figured they might as well extend their stay.
Whipple contributed 15 points and eight rebounds, all the while playing tough defense on Villanova star Laura Kurz, and the Utes overwhelmed the poor-shooting Wildcats 60-30 Sunday in a first-round game of the Raleigh Regional.
Morgan Warburton - like Kurz, a finalist for the Naismith Trophy as national player of the year - scored 14 for ninth-seeded Utah (23-9). The Utes will play No. 1 Maryland or No. 16 Dartmouth on Tuesday.
Kurz led eighth-seeded Villanova (19-14) with 11 points, going 0-for-7 on 3-point attempts.
Utah held Villanova without a point for about 4 minutes at the start, then almost 5 minutes to close the first half. When Villanova missed its first 10 shots to open the second half, Utah pulled away.
Villanova, making its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2004, shot 11-for-58 (19 percent) for the game - and 4-for-30 (13 percent) during the second half.
Katie King scored 18 for Utah, which reached the NCAA round of eight in 2006 before losing to eventual champion Maryland.
Whipple and the rest of the Mountain West Conference tournament champions were disappointed to learn they would be playing so far from home this time. The lengthy trip and the rough economy meant only one player's parent made the trek to watch in person.
Utah coach Elaine Elliott called it "just an unfortunate reality of the women's tournament" - and she also said her team would deal with it.
That they did, scoring the game's first 10 points en route to a 26-16 halftime lead. In the second half, that gap quickly widened.
Kurz was Villanova's only player to make more than one field goal over the first 20 minutes. She scored eight points in the half on 4-for-9 shooting - and was 1-for-10 after halftime.
Whipple, meanwhile, went 5-for-6, including 3-for-3 on 3-pointers in the first half en route to 13 points.
When Whipple hit a 3 to put Utah ahead 21-14, she wheeled and let out a yell. Then she got right back to work at the defensive end, holding off the bigger Kurz on the low post.
Moments later, with Kurz on the sideline with two fouls, Whipple blocked Lisa Karcic's shot at one end, then assisted on King's layup at the other.
Utah will face the winner of No. 1 seed Maryland and No. 16 seed Dartmouth on Tuesday, March 24 at 7:00 p.m. ET (5:00 p.m. MT).
NOTES - Utah's 30-point victory is the largest margin of victory that the Utes have ever had in an NCAA Tournament game ... Villanova's 30 points is the lowest number of points that a Utah team has ever allowed during an NCAA Tournament game ... Katie King tied her career-high with 18 points.
Players Mentioned
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/ Women's Basketball
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