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Show 1991 Monday, January 7, The Daily Utah Chronicle - Page Fifteen Lady Utes had little to cheer about over holiday Utah's down to nine healthy players and having Karen Alcorn be ejected from a game against By Clifton Schmidt Chronicle Sports Writer While most of the University was off enjoying the Christmas break, the Lady Ute basketball team was hard at work trying to make their holiday season a joyous one. Although the Ute women went 4 during the 5-- break, not a whole lot of joy came their way. In fact, they lost some of the joy that they once had. During a home game against Weber State Dec. 7, backup point guard Kim Hill went down with a knee injury in the final minutes of the game. It was later determined after arthroscopic surgery that Hill had damaged the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee, causing her to be lost for the rest of the season. Then, to add insult to injury, VII forward Kristi Smith quit the team two days all-distri- ct a road loss to UCLA. According to Lady Ute head coach Elaine Elliott, Smith left after the team for personal and family problems and has since left the city. Is there a chance at all that Smith might return to the team? "That was the first thing asked," said Elliott. "The door is not closed to her coming back but at the same time I couldn't say that it is a wide open door." Besides the loss of these two needed players, the Lady Utes experienced some other lows during the break. Close losses to UCLA and defending national champion exhausting an Stanford, 12-ho- each-wa- y ur "trip from hell" game in Missouri, Montana State for fighting are just a few to name. Not everything went badly for the Lady Utes though. They did go 4 in nines games over the break, five straight being played 5-- on the road against some very tough teams. Some of the Lady Utes have been playing extremely well also. Junior center Tanya Zachary has been playing some of the best basketball of her Utah career. Zachary is averaging double figures in points and also leads the team in rebounding. "The Zak" scored a career high of 24 points against UCLA and also had an impressive 19 point, 15 rebound performance against Boise State this past Friday night. Junior guard Karen Alcorn leads the team in scoring, points per game, and in assists, dishing off nearly five per contest. Mikki Kane, a sophomore averaging 15 forward, has moved into the starting rotation in place of the missing Smith nicely. Friday night, Kane scored a game high 22 points, pulled down 10 boards, blocked a team high three shots, and also was the recipient of a face slam to the floor by a Boise State player who was rumored to part-tim- e in the World Federation. Wrestling For those of you who don't follow the Lady Utes religiously, here is a recap of the action that took place during the break. On Dec. 7, Utah handily foe Weber State defeated 95-4- 7 and then the next night, Utah played hard but lost to Stanford in-sta- te 78-7- 4. A trip to Montana for two games was next for the Lady Utes. d Utah lost to a Palace against the Cleveland Cavaliers, earned a weekend sweep with wins over Philadelphia and Sacramento. SACRAMENTO Karl Malone scored 26 points, while teammate Blue Edwards added a season-hig- h 20 to lead the Utah Jazz past the Sacramento Kings 106-9- 8 jumper with remaining. After an errant 32 seconds 77-7- came away with a 7 loss. After the Christmas holiday, Utah met UCLA in Los Angeles but also lost a close 3 game. Utah's last road game of the trip had them defeating Weber State again but by a much closer 62-5- 0 74-6- 89-8- score. The Lady Utes then returned home last week for two games and came away with two easy victories over Southern Utah University (formerly SUSC) 90-4- 4 and Boise State Now that the preseason is over with, Utah must prepare for their first conference game against UTEP in this Thursday The Utes move into night. Lady conference play with a 6 record. Utah was tabbed to be the team to beat in the WAC but now that the Lady Utes are down to nine mostly healthy players, it is going to be a dog fight to the end against other top WAC teams Creighton and Wyoming. Filling in for Smith and Hill will be hard during conference play, but it is possible. "Each player has to step up a notch," Elliott commented. "All nine players have to be ready to play and they all have to play just a tad bit better. If they all do that then we'll be O.K." All nine Lady Utes must play that tad bit better quickly. Five of Utah's first six conference games are on the road, with only a Jan. 19 home date against Creighton breaking up the road stretch. 82-5- El-Pa- jjV I ' 9-- "I'll take the blame for this one and come out ready to play successful tosses. tonight." , ' S ; ' " &vft W"v. J' - ' tJ, ... - CHRONICLE PHOTOEarl Cline Lady Ute Kelly Shaheen tries to keep the ball away from a Boise State opponent during action this past week. Utah went 4 over the break to improve its record to 6 overall. 5-- 9-- skiers top field at U. own Utah Invitational Special to the Chronicle Anxious to start k campaign after runner-u- p finishes at the NCAA Championships the two previous years, the University of Utah's Skim' Utes rang in the new year right this past weekend by winning its own Ute Invitational, SOLITUDE the back-to-bac- 1990-9- 1 The two-da- y event was held Friday and Saturday, with Solitude (men's and women's giant slalom) and Park City's White Pine Touring Center (men's and women's cross country) serving as the venues. Buoyed by a strong Friday showing, the Utes were able to 2) John Stockton recorded 17 assists. lead in the Utah held a 96-9- 5 final minute, when Stockton fouled Barkley, who missed two attempts from the charity stripe. The Jazz responded with a Karl Malone v so 22-1- (7-2- Ell 'tn eg 8. Saturday night in Arco Arena. John Stockton posted 19 points and 19 assists as 0 Utah improved its record to on the year. "Tonight I had a lot of opportunities and made the best of them," Edwards said. The Jazz scored the first 10 points of the third quarter and held the Kings off the rest of the way to earn their fifth straight victory. was led by Sacramento veterans Wayman Tisdale and Antoine Carr, who scored 22 and 20 points respectively. Former Jazz players Bobby Hansen and Eric Leckner, who came to the Kings in the Jeff Malone deal last summer, did not play. Hansen is out with a knee injury, while Leckner was suited but failed to see any action. Jim Les, another former Jazzman, scored 2 points in 17 minutes for the struggling Kings. SALT LAKE CITY Charles Barkley, who scored a game-hig- h 35 points, missed four free throws in the final minute as the Jazz claimed a 102-9- 9 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers Friday night in the Salt Palace. Jeff Malone led Utah with 31 points and Karl Malone added 24. GDoCD" once-defeate- by Philadelphia, Jeff Malone nailed two free throws with 11.7 seconds left to put the game out of reach. Barkley's other two missed free throws followed Malone's shot Do 65-5- 1 tomorrow," Barkley said. "I tell them to keep it close and I will win it that's the only rule I have. Tonight I had my chance to win it and I missed the free throws. I let them down. I'll take the blame three-poi- nt O O D Montana team and then 3 beat Montana State by a moved Utah on to margin. play Southwest Missouri State and Streaking Jazz beat Sixers, Kings The Utah Jazz, who return to action Tuesday night in the Salt Z3 i ni' I w overcome a less successful outing on Saturday's final portion and hold off a surging Colorado team to win by the final count of 529 team points to the Buffaloes 525. Rounding out the top five were third place New Mexico at 394, Wyoming in fourth at 386.5, Alaska-Anchage was fifth at or 375:5. On Friday's opening day, Utah jumped out to a big lead thanks e finishes by Katja to Lesjak and Venke Hatleberg. Lesjak, a junior who spent most of lest season recovering the outstretched Philadelphia's Charles Barkley attempts a shot over 102-9the Utah beat Eaton. Sixers Mark arm of Jazz stopper dhuroimy Sgpoats 9. Haas UJ. covered American, who placed second in the men's 10K classical style race. Heading into Saturday, Utah's lead appeared safe but then Colorado made its charge by taking top honors in all four ; from knee surgery, took the 1:17.56. respective giant slaloms, women's giant slalom event with a combined two-ru- n time of 2J second and third respectively with times of 1:19.56 and 1:19.78, and cross c,ountryer Luke Bodensteiner, a junior Ail events to close the gap. But Lesjak, Ragnhildstveit and Hatleberg, picking up where they left off on Friday, responded with strong showings which kept the Utes' first place standing secure. first-plac- CHRONICLE PHOTOEarl Cline John Ethen Hatleberg, a Norwegian competing in her first year as a Ute, captured the women's 5K classical style race with a time of 17 minutes, 27.5 seconds. Other strong Ute showings Friday came from men's GSers Ethen and Oeivind Ragnhildstveit, who finished John Lesjak placed second and Ragnhildstveit third In their while' Hatleberg finished second in the women's 5K freestyle race. Head Coach Pat Miller was mostly pleased with the Utes' efforts but says his team must continue to work hard to prepare for this NCAA year's be which will Championships, held Feb. r. 2 in Park City. 27-Ma- |
