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Show Wednesday, February 18, 1987 Ten Utah oveopoweirs Lady lobos by 20 Quick start lifts record to university next year. By John Yolncren Chronicle editor in chief "New Mexico Mexico women's There was a Utah-Ne- w basketball game scheduled for the Special Events Center on Tuesday night. Exactly 256 fans showed up. But someone apparently forgot to tell the Lady Lobos. New Mexico, coming into the game with a 3 overall) lowly HCAC record of started slow and never really got into a 60-4- 0 loss at the hands xf the overpowering Lady Utes. Utah is now 0 in conference play and 17-- 5 overall. How bad was it? Well, Utah mostly behind the early firepower of guard Gndy Lindsay stomped to a quick 14-- 0 lead and didn't look back. In fact, the game was more than four minutes old before the Lobos even scored, when New Mexico forward Connie Jensen finally banged down an eight-fojumper from the baseline. It didn't matter much. Utah continued its steamrolling, driving the margin to as many as 18 (23-midway through the first half. Utcs would let down a bit the rest of the The way, but a Mila Rogers-Stendbucket with less than a minute left sent Utah into the locker room with a 32-1- 4 halftimc 1- br4-- ? ;t w -5 (7-1- 7-- ot 5) er . . '' . ' f , ' ' , ' , . . . ' ' ' K JinwiKlf phMo bjr Steve ViImhi Sophomore center Stephie VVatrin (44) puts her body between the ball and Lady Lobo opponent Suzanne McKeen in Utah's victory Tuesday night. ' Mike Prater- 7-- 0 int lead. "It was as easy as I'd hoped it would be. I think the game was over by the end of the first half," Ute coach Elaine Elliott said later. But Elliott was careful not to entirely discredit New Mexico, a team which got kmc other bad news Tuesday the women's basketball program will be discontinued, along with several other sports, because of budget cuts at that is a very physical We had to earn this," basketball team. Elliott said. So earn it they did. With a variety of players seeing action, Utah continued its roll as the second half began, pushing the lead to as many as 26 points before relenting a bit for a final tally. Three Utcs hit double figures in scoring, including Rogers-Stend- Lindsay (11). New Mexico, which shot a 'measly 27 percent from the field, was led by Janice Branch's 17 points. Still, Elliott wasn't entirely pleased when it came to her team's performance in the second half of the game. Although Utah had an insurmountable lead, things got sloppy down the stretch the Utcs scored only 10 points in the game's last 10 minutes. "We just don't seem to play very well when we're up by 20 or 25 points," Elliott said. "We played well the first half we shot very well but we don't play well with a big lead." Elliott did say she thought playing a physical team like New Mexico could help the Utes later on. "I hope we can use that to our advantage," she said. "This was a good tune-u- p for us." echoed her coach when it came to assessing Lobo strengths and benefits. "We didn't expect them to be as good," she said. "They were a more physical team than any we've played so far this year. It's kind of hard to play teams like that, but it was a good warm-u- p for us." Rogers-Stend- er - Bird's hoop adventures in SIC have varied Boston's surprising 109-8- 9 loss to the Utah Jazz on Monday in the Salt Palace added another chapter to the roller-coastcareer of Larry Bird Salt Lake City style. Bird has played 10 games in Salt Lake City, including two in the U.'s Special Events Center. In those 10 games, Bird has produced some top-raperformances and then on other nights he has, well, flown the coop. Bird's first game ever in Salt Lake City took place in March of 1979 when Indiana State beat DePaul in one semifinal of the NCAA tournament. Ironically, that game, played before the fourth largest crowd in SEC history (15,410), was Bird's best ever in Salt Lake City. He scored 35 points (16 of 19 from the field, 3 of 4 from the free throw line), had 16 rebounds and 9 assists. Two nights later, Bird and his team were defeated by the Magic Johnson-le- d Michigan State Spartans, 75-6- 4. Bird scored 19 points, despite a 7 of 21 shooting performance, and grabbed 13 rebounds. With Boston, Bird has played eight games in the Salt Palace. His best offensive outing, again, was his first when he scored 33 points (21 in the first half) to lead the Celtics to a 105-9- 8 win. The following year, on Feb. 13, 1981, Utah beat Boston for the first time in Bird scored 25 Salt Lake City, 104-8- 9. was ejected in the third points, but he quarter for fighting with Allan Bristow, who also got the boot. er te . Boston won the next two years 0 in 1983) and in 1981, 127-11- 2 35 Bird scored a total of points. Utah then collected its second home win (122-10over Boston on Nov. 16, 1983. Bird scored a paltry 8 points. Bird and his teammates returned to win the next two years as Bird scored 54 points. During the 1984-8- 5 season, when Boston pummeled the Jazz (121-11- 9) Bird pulled himself out of the in the third quarter. He had 30 game 12 rebounds, 10 assists and nine points, steals one steal away from a quadruple double, one of the rarest of all NBA 110-9- 4, feats. Bird scored 26 points Monday, giving him 235 points in 10 Salt Lake City appearances. Bird has been on the winning end in six of those appearances. Michigan State and the Jazz (three times) have dampened Bird's visits. GRANT ON GALE: Last week in this same column, I told of Gale Gondrezick's dream of playing basketball in the NBA. "Oh, I think about it all the time," said the Runnin' Ute guard. Although NBA coaches aren't lying awake at nights, hoping someday Gondrezick will bless their team with his talents, but he does have one staunch supporter in the league. Phoenix Suns guard Grant Gondrezick, one of Gale's six big brothers. "Gale has an excellent chance (to make the NBA)," said the fourth-roun- d draft choice out of Pepperdine, who was in town last week to play the Jazz. "He's just starting to touch base with his abilities." If anybody knows Gale's talents, it is Grant. The two have been playing ball together since toddler days and last summer, Gale lived with Grant in California. The two played ball all day, every day. Gale made the trip following his sophomore season, a season he considered a "down year. There was a lot of turmoil and I lost my confidence," he said. "People were saying that Kelvin (Upshaw) should be starting and not me. After reading and hearing that for so long, I started to believe it halfway through the season." "I couldn't believe how down he was when he came to California," said Grant. "He didn't have any confidence." Using some good brotherly love, Grant improved Gale's mental game, then went to work on his physical and playing abilities. "I came back a much better ball player," said Gale, who is averaging 15.4 points and 3.5 rebounds this season. He's also dished out a . old-fashion- ed 84 assists. "Gale is a great passer. That was his nature growing up. He really sees the floor well," said Grant. "I really think we'll see Gale in the NBA someday. He's a great kid and a hard worker and he tan really play the game. There are not a lot of players in the country that are better than he is." team-hig- h Now if Gale can only convince NBA scouts of the same thing. er (15), guard Reggie Wright (12) and Chronicle photo by Boone Xayyo Larry Bird made his 10th Salt Lake City appearance in a basketball uniform Monday night and the Jazz pounded Boston, 109-89. |
