For fifteen minutes of Wednesday's Western Athletic Conference tournament's first round game, the University of Utah women's basketball team played flat - you know, flat like the can of soda you open, put in the back of the refrigerator, and then accidentally drink two weeks later - and unheralded Colorado State looked prepared to make them pay for it.
After missing three straight shots and falling behind the Rams 22-20 with 5:45 remaining in the first half, Ute coach Elaine Elliott called a time out. "I was basically trying to get our kids to up their intensity level; Colorado State was playing harder than we were, their kids were really focused."The Utes responded, blistering the Rams 12-4 to finish the half with a six-point lead, as Utah smoked Colorado State 62-48 to advance to a semifinal date with San Diego State on Friday.
The Rams had executed their game plan perfectly through most of the first half, plugging up the middle to shut down Ute seniors Mikki Kane-Barton and Susana Tauteoli, who only scored eight points between them before halftime. However, Elliott had a back-up plan waiting, and it worked perfectly.
Sophomore forward Andrea Herold hit three 3-pointers in the first half, two of them coming after the time out to propel the Utes to victory. Herold finished with six treys on thirteen attempts, both WAC tourney records, and 24 points, a career high.
"I knew they were going to guard Mikki (Kane-Barton) 'Sana (Tauteoli) and that the rest of us would have to step up," said Herold, who also led all rebounders, along with Kane-Barton, with 10 boards each.
The Utes came out strong in the second half, and within six minutes they had extended their lead to 42-30 with a combination of strong outside shooting and a tenacious defensive effort. "We had to gamble," CSU coach Greg Williams said. "I knew we'd have to give up (the outside game to stop Kane-Barton and Tauteoli)."
During the course of the second half, Utah gradually wore down the short-handed Rams, who were playing with only seven players. "I could tell they were wearing down towards the middle of the second half," Kane-Barton said. "They were getting tired and frustrated."
It showed on the scoreboard as well, as the Utes eventually opened up a 23-point lead (62-39) with just under two minutes left, before the Rams finished with nine unanswered points.
Debbie Carson led the Rams in scoring with 13, and for the Utes, Herold's 24 was followed by eight points each from Kane-Barton and junior guard Kim Hill, and seven different players scored for Utah, which pleased Elliott.
"We just came off a game where only four of our players scored . . . everyone chipping is important, because we need contributions from different players."