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Show Friday, January 13, 1989 Chronicle Page Six PORT Ute gymnasts launch bid for Uftos Solid defense aids 71-6- 1 Utah victory 7th NCAA title By Dirk Facer Chronicle assistant sports editor The University of Hawaii basketball team had trouble . taking off. A perfect 10. In gymnastics, this score is the epitome of success. But for the Lady Ute gymnasts, the recent addition of U.S. Olympian Missy Marlowe Once, when the Rainbows left the Islands to come to Utah, the other when they started the second half of team during Christmas break, she By Kent Condon Chronicle sports editor much-sought:aft- added greater meaning to the magic Twice. number 10. When Marlowe joined the their game with the Utes Thursday night in the Huntsman Center. 1 What resulted was a convincing Utah victory. as the Rainbows left Tuesday night the ground aboard their United Airlines flight en route to Salt Lake City, engine trouble occured after take-of- f and the plane was forced to return to the Islands. The passengers were instructed to change planes and eventually the new plane made its way to the mainland. ' That was one rocky take-ofThe other came during the first ten minutes of the second half against Utah last night. The Rainbows, after going into the locker room scored only 10 points 10 minutes into the down, second stanza. Utah took advantage of Rainbows' woes 9 from the field and jumped out to lead. From split there, the Utes never looked back. The Utes successfully held Rainbow center Reggie Cross to just six points in the second half, while Rainbow" team to "a meager 33 percent field goal shooting for the game. "Our defense was definitely the key to the game tonight," Utah Coach Lynn Archibald explained. "Boo (Singletary) did a nice job on Reggie Cross. "Hawaii did a great job hitting their (an able of out to but we were hold 22 23), on," amazing Archibald continued. The Rainbows hot became the 10th member of the 1989 version of the Lady Ute gymnastics team. l 71-6- Ironic, isn't it. However, a closer look into this successful program reveals that hard work, superb recruiting arid talented coaching, not irony, breed success for Coach Greg Marsden and the Lady Utes. 1 - f. ' After claiming six straight national championships between 1981 and 1986, k the Utah tumblers have posted second-plac- e finishes at the NCAA Championships. In fact, over the past nine seasons the Lady Utes have finished first or second nationally each vizir back-to-bac- 35-2- 9, 52-3- hold-iriighelBrrt- lii year. J t V ife pllSiiilliiii;! . th the-fina- six-poi- nt lf Kent Condon- ," ". he wcoriier" Missy This quest for greatness begins 1-- back-and-for- Monday night in the Huntsman "Center j against Utah State and Iowa." "Ray (Utah State Coach Ray Corn) runs a competitive program up there and he got some good recruits," Marsden said in reference to the upcoming season opener. "One bad event at regionals kept them (the Aggies) from making nationals last year and he's got an even better team now. I don't really know too much about Iowa since we've never competed against them." : rAs far as the Lady Utes are concerned, T they enter the upcoming' season in a" Chronicle photo by Andrew Holloway new, perhaps more comfortable position. "I'm very optimistic about this team4 and what we can do," Marsden said.; "What I don't know is how well the other teams will do. "see "gymnastics" on page seven! Utah's Mark Lenoir effectively ran the Utah show 'during the Utes Western Athletic Conference victory over Hawaii Thursday night in the Huntsman Center. The Utes will face San Diego State Saturday. - in rar ,,mi NBA newcomer represents best of Runnin' Ute hoops Back in the good ol' days when Utah basketball was still fun, all was well here on the university campus. Those were the years between 1974 and 1983 when the Utes were visiting the NCAA tournament on a fairly regular basis. I remember being a freshman at the U. in the fall of 1984, clueless as most freshmen are. I had no idea taking Writing 101 at 7:45 in the morning would be such a mistake, nor was I aware the food at the student union could be so greasy. I was; however, a certified University of Utah student and, if nothing else, was looking forward to sup-- v porting.Utah athletics. I had long anticipated the day ' when I could feel more a part of the teams I had ' grown to appreciate so much. But school is school and with it comes the drudgery of midterms, papers and all that other fun stuff. I admit, not a whole lot of that alleged intellectual enlightenment really made me feel much better about , myself. But once the 1 984-8- 5 basketball season got underway, I began to feel a little better. Thanks, that is, to Kelvin Upshaw. ;.. Marlowe said upon joining the Utah program. "Six times they've proven that they were the best team' and this year I think we are by far." ; : j 1-- on the season. ' After' a beginning, the Utes outscored l five minutes of the the Rainbows 13-- 6 during lead at interhalf, giving Utah a comfortable mission. Utah's Jimmy Madison scored 12 first-haof which came during that five minute points-a- ll stretch to end the half. "I really liked the way Jimmy came off the bench tonight," a pleased Archibald said. "It's too bad he got into foul trouble because he could have scored at will." Madison was one of four Utah players to reach double figures for Archibald. Boo Singletary continued to shoot a high percentage, connecting on seven of his 10 attempts from the field and finishing with 17 points for the game. see "Utes" page seven ; . team-orieriied- w shooting wasn't enough and Hawaii Coach 'Riley Wallace was forced to watch his team slide to 2 in WAC play ancL8-- 6 overall. , The win was "the first of the conference season for the' Utes, bringing their record to 2 in league play and 10-- 8 ; ; Once again the irony of the number 10' comes into rilay. A placing in the top two' in '89 would give the Utahns an unprece-- i ' dented straight finishes in that category. However, it's a national champK i onship the Lady Utes are gunning for. "'I really like the attitude here. It is! free-thro- free-thro- er As an avid Utes follower, I was impressed by the -Chicago native the year before when he averaged 14 points a game in his first year as a Ute. With two years of eligibility remaining for Upshaw, I could see only a bright future for Utah hoops. One, however, which never quite materialized. Upshaw, aside from the fact he was almost declared academically ineligible for his senior season, didn't let me down. The season overall did. That's because Upshaw was only one part of the talent-lade- n which includUtes his senior year-o- ne ed Jerry Stroman, Manny Hendrix and current Ute standout Mitch Smith. Still, the Utes weren't playing the way they should have, or could have. ; What happened? One of the problems for the Utes during the 1985- - ' 86 campaign was the fact Upshaw spent a good por- tion of the early season ridin' the pines. The fact he had led the Utes in scoring both his sophomore and junior years didn't seem to matter much. Injuries nampered Upshaw to some extent, but that wasn't the only reason he wasn't playing. Upshaw played in 26 of the Utes' 30 games that year, but started only 11. . , Finally, just when it looked like a disastrous Utah - . season was in the making, Upshaw begin seeing the time he deserved, and as a result Utah began to win. The Utes won their last eight conference games and, despite losing to San Diego State in the first round of the WAC postseason tournament, were able to sneak into the NCAA field-bare- ly. - As a matter of fact, I think Utah was the 64th team invited. The Utes were matched against the Brad Tar Heels of North Carolina. The Utes Daugherty-le- d did themselves and the university proud but came up short, losing 2 in Ogden;. r The Utes had tied the score up at 61 apiece with 8:29 left in the game. That's about the same time , Mitch Smith, a freshman playing in the biggest game of his life, was whistled for his fifth personal foul. With Smith on the bench, North Carolina Coach Dean Smith instructed his powerful team to take it inside. From there, buckets came easy for the Heels. ', see "Condon" on page seven 64-tea- m . 84-7- . |
