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Warburton Scores 25 in Loss to South Dakota State
Nov. 20, 2008
BROOKINGS, S.D. - Despite 25 points from Morgan Warburton, the Utah women's basketball team fell to South Dakota State, 70-58, on Thursday, Nov. 20. Kalee Whipple was also in double figures for the Utes with 14 points and had three steals. Halie Sawyer made her first career start and scored eight points. Katie King pulled down 11 rebounds while Warburton added eight rebounds. Hannah Stephens tallied six points and three steals. Utah took an early 17-7 lead, but the Jackrabbits used a 14-0 run over 3:10 to pull ahead, 21-17 at the 10:26 mark, and didn't look back from there. South Dakota would hold as much as a 10-point lead in the closing minutes and the Utes trailed at halftime, 36-28. The game was competitive through much of the second half, as the two teams matched each other shot-for-shot. A three-pointer from Warburton cut the lead to one, 50-49, with 10 minutes remaining. From that point, SDSU went on a 20-4 scoring drive to take a 17-point lead, 70-53, with 2:16 left in the contest. Turnovers hurt the Utes, with 26 to South Dakota State's 14. "We competed hard and withstood that run in the first half," head coach Elaine Elliott said. "It was never a 12-point game. We had an opportunity until the last eight minutes. A couple of key kids were tired and I thought that affected some of our play down the stretch. We also had to protect kids from foul trouble, which makes a difference. We needed a few key things to go our way and didn't. We weren't sharp offensively and have a lot of things to work on, but we were still quite competitive against a very good team. We'll get better and win a few."
Warburton, King and Whipple all finished with four fouls. South Dakota was led by Jennifer Warkenthien's double-double, scoring 11 points with 13 rebounds. Jill Young was the Jackrabbits leading scorer with 20 points. The Utes return home on Tuesday, Nov. 21, to take on No. 9/10 Louisville at 7:30 pm. The game will be televised on The Mtn. |
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