6 Tuesday January 17, 2012 SPORTS www.dailyutahchronicle.corn ..1116 Alta 9° / 9 a.m. Brighton 15° / 3 p.m. conditions & weather from utahskiweather.com Wind-blown snow, ice, rocks TODAY'S SKI REPORT UPCOMING SPORTS EVENTS 9° / 9 a.m. 15° / 3 p.m. Canyons a.m. Deer Valley 14 210° //93 p.m. 14° / 9 a.m. 21° / 3 p.m. Snowbird 9° / 9 a.m. 15° / 3 p.m. Solitude 10° / 9 a.m. 16° / 3 p.m. GYMNASTICS THURSDAY: Men's Basketball Arizona @ Utah 6:30 p.m. Huntsman Center Women's Basketball Utah @ Arizona 7 p.m. Tucson, Ariz. SATURDAY: Men's Basketball Arizona State @ Utah 3 p.m. Huntsman Center Women's Basketball Utah @ Arizona State 2 p.m. Tempe, Ariz. Men's Tennis Weber @ Utah 5 p.m. Crimson Court AP TOP 25 MEN'S BASKETBALL I Syracuse (6o) 19-o 2 Kentucky (4) 17-I 3 Baylor (I) 17-0 4 Duke 15-2 16-i 5 Missouri 6 Ohio State 16-3 7 Kansas 14-3 8 North Carolina 15-3 9 Michigan State 15-3 10 Georgetown 14-3 II Indiana 15-3 12 Murray State 18-o 14-3 13 Connecticut 14 UNLV 16-3 15 Virginia 14-2 16 San Diego State 15-2 17 Florida 14-4 18 Mississippi State 15-3 19 Creighton 16-2 20 Michigan 14-4 21 Marquette 14-4 22 Illinois 15-3 23 Louisville 14-4 17-2 24 Saint Mary's 25 Kansas State 12-4 CHAD ZAVALA/The Daily Utah Chronicle Freshman Georgia Dabritz competed in vault, bars and floor against Utah State. Dabritz scored high nines in her events. Utes earn No. 2 in nation Red Rocks consistent across the board vs. Aggies Ryan McDonald STAFF WRITER Friday the 13th is supposed to be bad luck. In the case of the Red Rocks, however, victory against Utah State on Friday night was a display of uncommon skill that catapulted them to the second overall ranking in the country. Although the 13,126 fans were slow to trickle in to see the home opener, the Red Rocks started the meet fast and rode the wave all the way through the last rotation to top the shorthanded Aggies in dominating fashion (197.400-191.925). It was the first time since 2009 that Utah had broken the 197-point mark. "I'm really happy for them [Red Rocks] but it's just a score," said head coach Greg Marsden. "No matter what the score would have been, I would have been happy with the job they did." That job got started early as freshman Tory Wilson began the night with a great vault, scoring a 9.875. The rest of the vault lineup followed Wilson's example, putting up a 49.4o to take a lead of nearly a point after one rotation. Then came uneven bars, the apparatus that gave Utah problems this past week at UCLA. In an interesting move, Marsden put Kyndal Robarts in the lineup, a place she hadn't been since 2010. Marsden said he put Robarts in the bars lineup because he felt it was important to have senior leadership on the event because of the struggles that came last week. She scored a 9.9o. "I was kind of surprised I was on bars but I think it went pretty well," Robarts said. "It was fun. I was a little nervous but it turned out OK." Robarts wasn't the only one to have a solid routine on bars for the Red Rocks Corrie Lothrop turned in a 9.90 and Georgia Dabritz followed up a fall last week with a near perfect 9.95 — her score was top for the night on bars. That domination combined with some struggles from the Aggies on vault, allowed the Red Rocks to hold a lead of more than two points, 98.775-96.250, at the halfway point. See RED ROCKS Page 7 MEN'S BASKETBALL WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Utah loss to Cal is too familiar Utes fall at home to athletic Bears Jory Carroll STAFF WRITER After Thursday night's narrow loss against Stanford, the Runnin' Utes appeared capable of avoiding more blowout losses this season. But no, it happened again Saturday night, as Cal soundly defeated Utah 81-45 at the Haas Pavilion, keeping the Utes winless on the road. The Utes fell back into their old habits of committing too many turnovers and shooting poorly from the field. The defensive play was also sloppy and uninspired, despite going against one of the top teams in the Pac-12. Utah (4-13, 1-4 Pac-12) ended the night with 18 turnovers, and only shot 34.7 percent from the field. "They're a markedly better basketball team than we are at this juncture, and they played like it. We don't have much room for error," said Krystkowiak in a press release. The game got away from the Utes early on, as Cal (15-4, 5-I Par-12) went on a 14-0 run midway through the first half. The Utes went a seven-minute stretch without a field goal. The Utes' 7-6 lead quickly disappeared, and by the time Utah scored again, Cal was up big, 24-8. In the first half alone, the Utes gave up the ball nine times, and only went 6-for-23 from the field. Going into halftime, Cal led 32-15, and the lead would only grow in the second half. Ute senior Josh Watkins said Cal's experience proved to be too much for Utah's defense to handle, despite his team's best efforts. "They're a really experi- enced team. They hit a lot of tough shots. Every shot was contested, but they just hit them," said Watkins on the KALL 700 radio post-game show "It's just another step in the learning process, we know what intensity we have to play. We felt today we had to match their intensity, if not play even harder." Led by senior guard Jorge Gutierrez, Cal put on a clinic in the second half. The Bears shot 73 percent from the field and stretched the lead to 39. Utah assistant coach Tommy Connor said the Golden Bears' play in the second half made it nearly impossible for the Utes to get close. "Give Cal a lot of credit, they were just terrific," said Connor on the KALL 700 post-game show "I thought our guys kept trying to defend hard, but they were lights out in the second half. They were on fire. That's about as good a second half performance as I've seen all year." Cal had five players score in double figures, led by Gutierrez, who finished with a teamhigh is points, along with six assists. Sophomore Justin Cobbs contributed 14 points and also dished out a careerhigh II assists for the Bears, who as a team, racked up 24 assists. In comparison, Utah finished the game with just six assists. The Utes struggled all night to hit their shots, and as a result, only Watkins finished in double figures with 15 points. Utah center Jason Washburn went 4-for-11 from the field, contributing nine points, along with a team-high five rebounds. Chris Hines, who Parker Lee STAFF WRITER RUI4141tt i 42 uTES MADELINE SMITH/The Daily Utah Chronicle Josh Watkins led the Runnin' Utes with 15 points against California. Utah's 18 turnovers cost them an 81-45 loss. had a career-high 21 points against Stanford, only managed to score 5 points against the Bears. "It's time to step up. We're tired of saying, 'We were close,'" Watkins said. "It's time to get these wins up, and I feel we can do it. Arizona comes in next week, we just got to play harder than them and look forward to getting a win." j.carroll@chronicle.utah.edu The Utes knew Cal was one of the more athletic teams they would face and they were able to play right with the Golden Bears for the first 20 minutes at the Huntsman Center on Sunday. Eventually though, Cal's athleticism pushed it past the Lady Utes, 63-56. Cal struggled in the first half but still led by two at the half. The Bears came out and pressed Utah to start the second half, and the Utes had trouble adjusting. That allowed the Golden Bears to build a 12-point lead, and more importantly gave them momentum. "We have to be ready for pressure at any time," said Utah forward Michelle Plouffe. "We knew they were super athletic and they would try to press us at some time. We need to adapt to that sooner. It shouldn't take a few possessions and a few turnovers." That press defense from Cal kept the Utes scoreless for the first five minutes 45 seconds of the second half. The Golden Bears led throughout the entire half, but Utah did make it interesting. The Utes were 7-14 from behind the 3-point in the second half, which aided a comeback attempt with five minutes left. With Cal leading 50 - 37, Utah went on a 14-3 run to cut the lead to two, but that is as close as it got. Cal made its field goals and freethrows in the final minutes to take down the Utes. After shooting just 29 percent in the first half, the Golden Bears shot 59 percent in the second. Poor transition defense was a major culprit in Cal's stark shooting improvement. Utah coach Anthony Levrets said they gave up too many easy shots. "We had a lapse in transition defense, which hasn't been us all year," he said. "During that stretch we gave up some easy baskets, which is really disappointing." Cal had ro fast-break points. Utah had none. The Utes also struggled to get to the free-throw line. They attempted just eight free throws in the game. Cal attempted 20 in the second half alone. "It's our philosophy to throw it inside a bunch, and it's hard when you don't get to the free-throw line," Levrets said. "We've got to do a better job finishing plays, and hopefully, at some point in time, we will get ourselves to the free-throw line. But a 22 free-throw to eight disparity in your own building ... is not expected." Plouffe, who led all scorers with 19 points, said the limited free-throw shooting shows that they need to do a better job in the post. "We do need to get it in there more because we can score inside, and if they collapse we can kick it out to our shooters," Plouffe said. "We still need to work on that. Getting the ball inside will help our offense run better." p.lee@chronicle.utah.edu