Another win, another couple of records for the 15th-ranked University of Utah women's basketball team.
The Utes capped the first perfect 16-win season in Mountain West Conference history Saturday afternoon with an 82-46 victory over UNLV in the Huntsman Center.
"It's a special end to that first part of the quest," said head coach Elaine Elliott, whose squad takes a 22-game winning streak and 27 regular-season wins — both team records — into postseason play.
Utah enters next week's conference tournament in Las Vegas as the No. 1 seed. Good placement is also expected in the upcoming NCAA tourney.
"The season has been great — perfect, really," said Kalee Whipple, who led Utah in Saturday's win with 20 points and 10 rebounds. "You can't ask for anything better than that."
Whipple, a sophomore, did a nifty little dance (at the urging of Elliott) during a postgame celebration that included tributes to graduating seniors Leilani Mitchell and Jessica Perry.
Mitchell made the most of her final home game with 14 points, 13 assists and nine rebounds.
"It's been great and I can't thank the coaches enough for taking that chance and bringing me here," said Mitchell, who acknowledged it "would have been cool" to have a triple-double in her last outing.
One more rebound, though, eluded her.
Even so, Mitchell left the arena happy. The All-American candidate, who transferred to Utah from the University of Idaho for her senior season, said the move has been everything she hoped for and more.
Helping the team bounce back from a closer-than-expected 63-58 win at Colorado State provided another positive. Mitchell noted that the Utes weren't happy with their performance in Fort Collins.
"To come out here and just really get back in our groove and play the way we know how was important to us," said Whipple. "Especially in our last home game."
All nine Utah players contributed Saturday. Everyone scored, and everyone grabbed at least one rebound.
"They're proud. They want to play well. They want to be successful," said Elliott, who explained that her players are their own best critics. "They want to win. They have a standard that they are willing to work towards."
After presenting Mitchell and Perry with framed jerseys and pictures in pregame Senior Day ceremonies, the Utes opened with a decisive 21-4 run. They held the Rebels scoreless for more than 6 1/2 minutes while taking control of the game. Utah capped the outburst with 16 straight points as UNLV missed eight consecutive shots and turned the ball over four times.
The Rebels finally put an end to the drought with a three-point play by Sequoia Holmes, but the Utes responded with more dominance. This time they went on a 12-0 spurt and shut UNLV out for more than 5 1/2 minutes.
Utah led 44-19 at halftime. Mitchell paced the early effort with 12 points, eight assists and eight rebounds. Whipple had 13 points and six boards at intermission.
"(The CSU game) was kind of a wake-up call for us and I think today we came prepared, got ready to play and obviously had a great game," said junior guard Morgan Warburton. "We've just got to do the same next week at the tournament."
The Utes (27-3) face the winner of Tuesday's play-in game between No. 8 UNLV and No. 9 Colorado State in the quarterfinals on Wednesday at 5 p.m. MDT.
E-mail: dirk@desnews.com