The Daily Utah Chronicle 0 Friday, January 17, 2003 f f Injured Ute Squad Elliott E arns 4 uutxi victory To Face Rival BYU A TTT M A CHRIS BELLAMY Chronicle Sports Writer ASAD KUDIYA Chronicle Sports Writer "The only thing am worried about when we play BYU is an emotional letdown," U gymnastics coach Greg Marsden said. "After such a huge performance last week, we have to make-surwe don't look over our rivals." Looking over HYU would probably be the last thing on the mind of a U sports coach, but this team may be to young to realize the importance of the I e rivalry. NEXT: Utah vs ! (11-- The U cross country ski team will finish what the alpine team started on Jan. 4 as the Utes return to Bozc-maMont., to finish the Montana n, 3-- Invitational. The cross country skiers compete in the 1520 km classical and 510 km freestyle events starting today and finishing up tomorrow. When the original event commenced, the U alpine (downhill) team placed second overall. The invite was divided into the two parts to accommodate the schools that wanted to send their athletes to ski in the U.S. Cross Country Skiing championships held in Rumpford, Maine. The Utes appear to be gaining momentum after hosting the Alaska- - -0 MWC). YS V sion I women's coach to reach that milestone. "It makes me smile, so I must be enjoying it," Elliott said. "Everyone has been very supportive. I've got a lot of good people around me." Elliott's landmark victory didn't start out as planned, however. After Kim Smith nailed a three on the team's opening possession, the U offense went into a slump as the Cowgirls went on an 0 run to take the lead. But Utah's fortunes changed quickly as Smith scored her second bucket to end the scoring drought. Her layup ignited a 2 Ute run, and 0 the team took a commanding 21-- UJ -- J 24-1- Z o I lead. Wyoming answered with a small run of its own, but it wasn't enough to pose any dire threat in the first half, and the Utes went into the locklead. er room holding an eight-poiThe second half was a defensive struggle for the two teams, as both the Utes and Cowgirls' shooting dipped to below 40 percent. Wyoming stayed fairly close, but several minor comebacks stalled. More than halfway through the second half, the Cowgirls mounted nt , ,c':' - ""WtoMIW J Q " The U gymnastics team hasn't lost single home meet against BYU. Utah Winter Games Invitational. Utah completed the event in the second overall spot behind New Mexico. The cross country team skied well in the in the first day (Jan. 12), recording a e finish by the men and a second-plac- e performance by the women. Day two (Jan. 13) was much the same as Jess Kiesel and Torin e Koos rallied to second-an- d finishes in the 15 km classical. For the women, Katrin Smigun led the pack once again as she placed first in the 10 km classical. Coach Kevin Sweeney hopes his team can keep the flame burning in Bozeman. "We're anxious to ski well,' he said k "Wc have a break after this which our team trip, really needs to for the middle half of our seaprepare '"Mi,.,;. third-plac- son." ttoonechronicle.utah.edu -- ; V r - . ' 1 s Coach Elaine Elliott cheers her team as she what would be their last attempt to catch up with the Utes. They closed before the scoring the gap to stalled, as both squads traded misses and the score remained the same. Finally, Smith's jumper broke the trend with about 2:30 left and the rest of the team took it from there. Wyoming's offensive futility continued as Utah padded their lead once more. U sophomore Shona Thorburn broke their backs with a three-poiplay that put the Utes up by 15 and firmly sealed the victory. After playing through a successful schedule, winning 10 of 13 ballgames, the Utes got off on the right foot in conference play, win over a difearning a ficult opponent. "We were on the edge a lot tonight," Elliott said. "But that's really good because we managed to survive it. We didn't collapse. It will be a good learning experience for us. We'll get better, having experienced 51-- 45 nt ce ." , '? H u.,; .In : I v jv Carley Marshall gets a basket against the Wyoming Cowgirls. It was a big night for Thorburn, who led all scorers with 19 points and made several key plays down the stretch. Junior Mandie Little struggled from the floor but managed to find other ways to contribute, pulling down 14 boards. Carley Marshall, who finished with 14 points and 6 rebounds continued to impress. "Carley is playing with so much more confidence now," Elliott said. As for the Thursday's win itself, the Utes are just glad to have the first game out of the way. "It's huge as a coach," Elliott said, "because we know how important it is. This was an important start." cbellam y (chronicle, utah. edu gets her 400th career win. 47 Wyoming 63 Utah WYOMING Player Arsene Bacon FT-- A Reb A Pts 2-- 5 4-- 5 2-- 13 0-- 0 2 3 0 2 4 McCo!l 5-- 9 0-- 0 6 1 10 Pickup Elliott Tucker 2-- 7 4-- 6 4 2 0 0 0 0 8 2 2 3 3 2 1 4 0 0 F6-- A 1- -6 0-- 0 5 2 1- -2 0-- 0 1 McCann 1- -3 1- -2 1 Young 1- -1 0-- 0 1- -1 0-- 0 0 0 Lenhardt Wiersma 0-- 0 0-- 0 9 18-4- 2 2 6 30 9-- Turnovers: 0-- Pickup 1, 8 10 47 (Bacon Elliott 0 s: Three-Pointer- Young 2 0-- 0 2-- Hippen Team Totals hard-foug- ht that." first-plac- two-wee- - 7 8-- ' if win. But it wasn't just the score that made the game special the win was the 400th of U coach Elaine Elliott's career, making her just the 38th Divi63-4- A Cross Country Skiing Competes in Montana TRENT T00NE Chronicle Sports Writer 3, fa i i Seeing their first conference action of the season, the Utes controlled the Cowgirls most of the night and came away with a decisive BYU "When you run out so many young players in a competition, they don't feel that there is much difference between this and another match," Marsden said. The Cougars will match up with the No. 3 ranked Utcs on Friday. BYU was ranked No. 23 last week but did not compete and were therefore knocked out of the rankings. Utah holds a considerable edge in the career series between the two squads (70-2- ) and BYU has never defeated the Utes in the Huntsman center. Yet the matches have always been competitive. "Every time wc play BYU there is a lot of intensity and it usually ends up being the last event that decides who wins the match," Marsden said. Utah is still saddled with injuries and Crystal Gilmore, who was ques IP Thursday night's victory over the Wyoming Cowgirls will certainly go down as one of the most memorable for the U women's basketball team akudiyachronicle.utah.edu Friday, 7 p.m., Huntsman Center i It may not have been the prettiest game they'll play this season, but tionable for the meet, will not compete Friday. The Red Rocks will also be without Theresa Kulikowski, Gabriella Onodi and Dominique U'Olivcira. The Utes will not be the only young team to be competing on Friday, as the Cougars lost four of their five starters. "We have a young and talented team," BYU gymnastics coach Brad Cattcrmole said. "Wc don't have the starters that we did last big We on stepping up are working year. our performances." "We just need to hit our routines and we should be fine," Marsden said. 3, 0-- 4, (Young 3, Bacon 2, Elliott Tucker Arsene 1). 2, 2, 11 UTAH Reb A Pts 2 3-- 4 4 2 12 0-- 7 2-- 2 14 1 2 3 2-- 2 6 2 14 9 6-- 8 19 2 4 4 4 2-- 1 4 0-- 0 1 0-- 0 0 0-- 0 1 0-- 0 1 FG-- Player Smith Little Marshall Thorburn Stireman 6-- Wobbe A 0-- 0 Wood Green Sitterud 3-- 8 FT-- A 3 38 Team Totals 22-5- 4 15-1- 8 103 0 12 17 13 63 6 (Smith Wood Thorburn Sitterud Marshall ). Turnovers: 9 (Stireman 3, Thorburn 2, Wobbe 1, Green 1, Sitterud 1). Three-Pointer- s: 5, 4, HALFTIME: Wyoming 4, 25, Utah 33 ATTENDANCE: 971 SET"" GYMNASTICS vs Utah BYU (O-- D (o-o- ) 117 at 7 p.m. Huntsman Center SKIING at Utah Montana Invitational 117 All Day Bozeman, Mont. MEN'S HOOPS at Utah SDSU (12-- 118 at 1 p.m. San Diego, Calif. CHRONICLE SPORTS EDITOR RORY DRUNNER at Utah 3) (10-4- TRACK & FIELD ) SWIMMING at Utah Snake River Invitational 118 All Day. Pocatello, Idaho RBRUNNERCHRONICLE.UTAH.EDU 581 - 6397 New Mexico 118 at 1 p.m. Albuquerque, New Mexico