University of Utah Student Newspapers | 2009-01-15 | Page 6

6 Thursday, January 15,2009 Thursda SPORTS www.dailyutahchronide.com Women's Basketball Friday Ski Swimming & Diving Men's Tennis Utah @ Colorado Invitational All day, [Idora, Colorado Utah (Women) @ Colorado State TBA, Fort Collins, Colorado Eastern Washington @ Utah 5:00 RM. MI Men's Basketball Utah dominates Falcons at home and on road WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Team extends streak to 6 with 68-43 win the locker room up 36-24. Utah forced the Falcons into turnovers and converted those into fastbreak opportunities. By halftime, The streak continues. The women's basketball team Air Force had 11 turnovers and put on an impressive display finished with 17. "That's definitely when we at the Huntsman Center on Wednesday night as it beat the went on our runs, when we got Air Force Falcons 68-43, giving out in transition is when we realthe Utes their sixth win in a row. ly started to pull away/' said Utah Morgan Warburton led all scor- head coach Elaine Elliott. The second half was all Utah. ers with 21 points and Katie King turned in another solid perfor- The Utes went on a 14-4 run to open the second half, pushing the mance with 14. The game didn't look as lead to 50-28. Utah used a suffothough it would be much of a cating defense to hold Air Force contest. The Falcons were last in to 11.5 percent in the second half, the Mountain West and lost their converting only three field goals. "Air Force always works really first two conference games by a combined 85 points. However, hard," Warburton said. "They are the Falcons came out firing on all the hardest-working team in the cylinders and jumped to an early conference. Coach Elliot talked about that coming in. That was lead, 7-5. As time wore, on the talent one of our main focuses. We disparity in the two teams began needed to be above them with to show, however. Utah went on their intensity level." Offensive output was again runs of 15-0 and 10-2 to go into Quinn Wilcox STAFF WRITER balanced for Utah. With the Falcons focusing on preventing Warburton and Kalee Whipple from beating them, the role players yet again stepped up in a big way. Eight players put up points and the team registered 19 assists on the game. "I think this is really good for the young girls," Warburton said. "They can now see what we can do as a team. Their roles are really important. And it's good for them to know that because we have some tough games coming up on the road." Utah's next game has an interesting backstory. The Utes will travel to Fort Collins, Colo., on Saturday to take on the Colorado State Rams—the same team that spoiled Utah's otherwise outstanding season when it beat the Utes in the first round of the Mountain West tournament. q.wilcox@ chronicle.utah.edu MEN'S BASKETBALL Utes never look back from early lead The Associated Press AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo.—Utah's Lawrence Borha scored 15 points and Air Force shot a season-low 23.8 percent from the field (io-of-42) as the visiting Utes handed the Falcons their third consecutive loss, 5736, on Wednesday night. Nothing went right for Air Force (9-7 overall, 0-3 Mountain West Conference); which has now dropped five of its last six games. The Falcons, who entered the game as the nation's third-best 3-point shooting team, connected on just 2-of-i9 shots from behind the arc and missed 14 consecutive 3-point attempts after starting the game i-for-2. Utah (n-6, 2-1) used a 12-0 run midway through the first half to open a double-digit lead and held LENMEMAHLER/lhe Doily Utah Chtonicle Carlon Brown pulled down 11 rebounds while Lawrence Borha scored 15 points, leading Utah to a 57-36 road victory over Air Force. a 31-14 advantage at the half. The Utes held the Falcons without a field goal for 18:31— nearly half the game—from mid- way through the first half until the 13:07 mark in the second half. Anwar Johnson paced Air Force with eight points. TYLER COBWTheDeiifUlohChrmklt Morgan Warburton collides with Air Force's Liz Dunsworth on her way to the hoop. Warburton scored 21 points in the Utes' 68-43 win. SWIMMING GYMNASTICS Women's team earns tie; men still seeking victory Red Rocks look to push through injuries Paige Fieldsted STAFF WRITER Women head to Colorado off a tie at TCU, the men's team wasn't quite as lucky. Despite putting up impressive numbers at the Princeton Invitational in early December, the men's team has yet to win a meet this season. "Every meet, we've had one or two guys have really great performances, but we need everyone to come together at once and get the job done," Winslow said. Without a meet to prepare for this week, the men are focusing all of their attention on the upcoming home meets with Wyoming and Air Force. The men are hoping that getting back in their own pool will provide the spark and confidence needed to earn their first win of the season. "We have a good shot against both Wyoming and Air Force. It's going to take everyone coming together. We need our youth to start dominating," Winslow said. "Our focus is getting the men some confidence and learning to become a team, but it's hard to do that without winning." The Utah women's swimming and diving team had a rough weekend in Texas last week and won't be getting any breaks as they head to Colorado State for what promises to be another tough meet. The team arrived at TCU straight from Mexico after several hours of travel and earned its first tie in school history. This is the only dual meet the team hasn't won outright all season. "It was by no means ideal conditions to race in, but to be able to stand up when we are exhausted and beat TCU at home when we have nothing going for us shows a lot of character," said head swim coach Greg Winslow. "If that's as bad as it gets, we have a pretty promising season ahead." The team hopes a few days back in Utah has rejuvenated it for tonight's meet against the Rams, one of the toughest teams in the Mountain West Conference. Although Winslow is confident the team can get another win at Colorado State, he Diver of the week said it is going to take the entire team Senior diver Anna Braszkiewicz earned swimming at its best. her second MWC Diver of the "It's going to take ah1 of our Week honor of the season after girls diving and swimming earning career-high scores in well and not relying on one both the i-meter and 3-meter or two people," Winslow said. dive competitions against TCU "We need the girls that aren't last week. ranked one or two in our depth Braszkiewicz earned a firstchart to step up and start swimplace finish in three of the four ming like they are and realize events last weekend and qualified we need them as much as we for the NCAA zone meet, a qualineed the superstars." fying meet for the NCAA chamAfter the meet with Colorapionships, with a 302.69 score on do State tonight, the Utes will the i-meter springboard. travel to New Mexico for anAnna Braszkiewicz "Anna has really broken out," other MWC matchup Saturday. Winslow said. "She is ten times the diver she was last season. She has become someMen still looking for first win one we can depend on." Although the women were able to pull [e-mail] Bryan Chouinard STAFF WRITER Friday night's meet against UCLA was bittersweet for head coach Greg Marsden and the Red Rocks. On one hand, Utah knocked off the No. 4 Bruins and junior Jamie Deetscreek won the first allaround competition of her career at Utah. On the other hand, Utah lost junior Beth Rizzo to a severe ankle sprain, one that will likely keep her out of the lineup for quite some time. "It's going to be at least four to six weeks," Marsden said. "But hopefully we can get (Beth) back somewhere in the middle of the season." Like every season, the Red Rocks didn't start at the level they hope to be at come April, but could pick some positives from allowing UCLA to nearly come back and beat them. "We did well enough to feel good about ourselves, but made some first meet mistakes that we need to improve on," Marsden said. "It gave us something to work on not only for next week but for the rest of the season." The Red Rocks were already shorthanded because of torn cartilage in sophomore Kyndal Robarts' shoulder. Robarts injured her shoulder Dec. 16 in voluntary training during Finals Week. The injury held Robarts out of the lineup against UCLA, but Marsden said he hopes that will be the only meet she will have to miss. "(Kyndal's shoulder) has progressed a little more quickly than we thought it would," Marsden said. "Right now she is preparing to do vault. I hope we can have her ready for our meet Monday with Georgia. Right now we're pretty optimistic." Regardless, Friday night's meet taught Marsden a lot about his team. Even on a night when people were not at their best, they stepped up and did what it took to get the win. "Physically, we looked really good," Marsden said. "Saturday after the meet we talked about really focusing on the mental part of it, going in and competing with a little more confidence and getting more aggressive for this meet." With a trip to Athens, Ga., awaiting his team this weekend, Marsden knows that injuries are no excuse to feel self-pity and expects his gymnasts to rise to the challenge of taking on the No. 1 team in the country in their own house. "We need to prepare the same way," Marsden said. "It just means that we're thinner and people ZR\KDAEHITZ/TheDaily Utah (hronidt JamieDeetscreek won herfirst all-around competition in the season opener versus UCLA. Following her teammates' injuries, Deetscreek and others look to step up against top ranked Georgia; are going to have to step up and be ready to contribute. It's what they're here to do." With less than a week to prepare, Marsden will look to some younger faces such as sophomore Gael Mackie and freshman Stephanie McAllister, both of whom were standouts against UCLA. "Somebody's bad luck is somebody else's opportunity," Marsden said. "That's how we have to look at it and that's how they have to look at it. They have to do what they came here to do and that is to compete for Utah." [e-mail]