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Show CHRO NICLE UTAH DAILY THE Women Hoopsters Revert to Winning Ways "rnttTUZTuMFm JX HJcs MARCifJ ' U In Wins d First-Roun- io-of-- 12 NCAA -- Contest; Will Face Iowa Tonight RANDALL HARRINGTON Chronicle Sports Writer And then there was oneone basketball team out of four from the state of Utah still playing for the NCAA Championship. While the men's ill A ' 4$W'- teams from BYU and Utah State Southern Utah, have bowed out of the big dance, the University of Utah women's - team is still dancing. Utah started a new winning streak Saturday, defeating the Fair7 at the field University Stags Midwest Region's first round of the NCAA Tournament in the Hunts79-5- man Center. l , , t - - Kristlna Andersen scored a 1 Senior forward Kristina Andersen led all players with a career-hig- h 23 points and 9 rebounds to Utah pull away from the Stags help in the second half. "With our team, we don't have a .; superstar," said Andersen. "On any one night we have tons of different leading scorers. I think it is hard for opposing teams to focus on a certain player. Our offense doesn't run around one person. If you are open, that is your job to hit the 23 points career-hig- h open shots." Andersen did her job well Saturshots, including day, making nine points during an overwhelming 20-- 4 Utah run which extended in Saturday's win. its lead to 27 points, at "I was really, really pleased to see that. Quite honestly, Andersen has struggled the last three or four weeks," said Utah coach Elaine Elliott. "She obviously felt it tonight and had a good rhythm going, and I really feel like we can expect that to 69-4- 2. 0 finish off the Stags by shooting better than 56 percent for the game, including over 64 percent in the second half. Utah senior guard Amy Ewert scored 15 points, dished out 7 assists and had 5 steals, while junior Lindsay Herbert added 14 points and 5 rebounds to ensure that the host see WOMEN'S HOOPS, page 7 continue." Fairfield seniors Gail Strumpf and Holli Tapley led their team with 15 points each and kept the Stags close in the first half. Every time the Utes looked like they were ready to go into cruise control, Fairfield would fight right back and keep the game close. Tapley scored six points during an 0 Fairfield run late in the first from half, including a three feet behind the arc to close the half and bring the Stags within seven points, at "We feel fortunate to have won that game tonight," said Elliott. "Probably the major difference was our defensive pressure in the second half. Defensively, I thought that stretch in the second half...gave us scoring opportunities at the other end." the No. 1 defensive Utah (27-3in the team nation, forced 16 used and its offense to turnovers 8-- three-point- er 35-2- 8. ), defense keyed a seconsurge against Fairfield. Amy Ewert's d-half While Apathetic Men Hit Sh owers Ear Utes Give Lackluster Effort In Season-Endin- g Loss to Memphis in NIT First Round ERIC WALDEN Chronicle Sports Editor "They had no desire, no emotion," he added. "It's a rough way to end the season as conference champs hosting in the NIT with that little intensity and emotion." And while some of the Utes speculated as to whether the previous week's loss to the Lobos and the subsequent relegation to the lesser NIT might have precipitated the disinterested attitude, Memphis was all too happy to prey upon its dispassionate opponent. The Tigers surged to a 2 lead as Utah hit just shots and committed four turnovers in the game's 10-- Maybe the members of the Utah men's basketball team can petition Congress to extend February by a few more days, because that month obviously had better karma for the Utes than did March. After all, it was March that saw Utah's season come 3 to such an unceremonious end, with a loss to New Mexico in the MWC Tournament semifinals, followed by last week's humiliating 2 drubbing at the hands of Memphis in the first round of the NIT. After seeing his team go undefeated in February, gain a share of the Mountain West title, earn the top tourd ney seed and its accompanying bye, and come within a breath of the NCAAs, acting coach Dick Hunsaker was naturally steamed about seeing the Utes 56-5- 71-6- first-roun- go out the way they did. "We had a great momentum run in February; we discovered hustle, which perpetuated itself and fed on itself," said Hunsaker. "To digress like we did...that's not a good message." loss to the Following their uninspired, season-endin- g the coach railed his more on even Tigers, players. "That was not a nice game to end the season with," he said. "The fans deserve their money back. We had a terrific crowd, but the guys wanted to be on Spring Break. first SKIING BASEBALL The Utes headed off to Vermont in search of another NCAA team title, while several athletes also competed for some individual notable week, as the Utes finally got to play sonic games at Franklin Covey Field, and a few Mountain West opponents It was a came to town. CHRONICLE 4:18. The mauling continued throughout the first half, as the Tigers used a 0 run near the end of the period to open up a 8 lead at the break. "Some guys were just not motivated to play in the NIT," said junior center Chris Burgess. "That's a shame on us, because Memphis was glad to be here." In the latter 20 minutes, the contest got ugly, as Utah's diminutive but rowdy crowd of 4,920 growing increasingly irate from the U's lackadaisical play and a few close calls from the officials displayed its definite unhappiness with being in attendance by sending a hail of garbage raining down onto the court with 12:41 to go. While the incident served as a minor wake-u- p call to the Utes, prompting them to rally to within four points on two occasions, Memphis' inside play ultimately proved too strong. Center Earl Barron hit for 18 points, forward Kelly Wise scored 13 in just 16 minutes of play, and Shamcl Jones came off the bench to contribute 10. And although the Utes did virtually nothing to stop Memphis from waltzing away with the win, at the very least, they did recognize just how inept and apathetic their performance was. 9-- 40-2- see MEN'S hoops, page 7 P athletes were recognized by the conference for their success, while the team as a whole was searching for some improvement. struggle against highly ranked opposition on their California road trip, the U's women ncttcrs had little to A pair do. ; Britton Johnsen and the Utes could not contend with the Tigers' inside play. As the men continued to of Utah i ' TENNIS SOFTBALL Afels WOMEN'S HOOPS MEN'S HOOPS The Utes will host yet another NCAA Tournament game tonight at the Huntsman Center, this time against Iowa. Find out how they did. In the wake of a disappointing end to a disappointing season, find out SPORTS EDITOR ERIC "WALLY" WALDEN EWALDENCHRONICLE.UTAH.EDU 581-704- 1 just what went wrong. Also, to senior censay good-by- e ter Nate Althof f 's'U career. |