Feb. 5, 2005
SALT LAKE CITY - The San Diego State women's basketball team outscored Utah 41-29 in the second half, but could not overcome an 11-point performance in the first 20 minutes, falling to the host Utes, 65-52, Saturday afternoon at the Huntsman Center. With the loss, SDSU fell to 6-13 overall and completed the first round of conference play with a 1-6 mark, while MWC-leading Utah improved to 17-5 and 6-1 in league action.
Aztec sophomore Michelle Elliott (Pasco, Wash.) had five of the team's 11 first-half points and finished the game with 14. Junior Michelle Strawberry (Corona, Calif.) reached double-figures for the sixth time in the seven conference games, tallying 13 points. Senior Lindsey Casey (Odessa, Texas) added a team-high five rebounds and Kate Eveland (Southlake, Texas) had nine points and three assists.
The Aztecs never led in the game, as Utah opened with a three-pointer, which was quickly matched by Strawberry to knot the score at 3-3. The Utes were up by five points on two occasions before going on a 15-0 run to increase their lead up to 19 points at 28-9 with 5:07 left.
Elliott's lay-up at the 4:10 mark would be the Aztecs' final point of the half, as SDSU trailed by 25 points (36-11) going into the locker room.
Despite the deficit, the Aztecs did not give up in the second half, closing to within 18 at 38-20 in the first minutes with the help of a 9-2 run with Elliott scoring seven of those points.
SDSU would cut the deficit to 16 on four occasions, before ending the game down by 13 points at 65-52. The Aztecs outscored the Utes 41-29 in the second half and shot 46.4 percent from the field after a 22.2 percent performance in the first half. SDSU committed just two turnovers in the second half after tallying 14 in the first.
Utah, which shot 61.9 percent from the field in the first half, was led by Kim Smith, who had 18 points and 12 rebounds.
SDSU finishes its non-conference schedule with a Thursday night contest against Utah Valley State at 5 p.m. at Cox Arena. The Aztecs then travel to UNLV for a Saturday afternoon game at 3 p.m. in Las Vegas.