Feb. 21, 2010
SALT LAKE CITY - Despite 27 points from Jené Morris, the San Diego State women's basketball team continued its struggles on the road, dropping what was a close game early at Utah, 73-55, on Sunday at the Huntsman Center. With the loss, the Aztecs fell to 15-10 overall and 7-6 in conference action, while Utah improved to 16-9 and 7-5 in league play, as the teams spilt the regular season with each winning on their home court.
Morris (San Francisco, Calif.) scored 14 of her game-high 27 points in the first half for her seventh 20-point scoring outing this season, her sixth in an MWC game and 21st overall as an Aztec. Morris also equaled the MWC career steals record with three of the team's eight on the afternoon to tie UNLV's Sequoia Holmes at 263.
Morris was the only player in double-figure points for SDSU, as juniors Paris Johnson (San Diego, Calif.) and Allison Duffy (Lakeside, Calif.) each scored eight. Senior Quenese Davis (Sacramento, Calif.) saw her streak of consecutive games with a double-double come to an end at three as she had five points and two rebounds to go with eight assists.
The Aztecs made their first four field goals of the game, including a pair of three-pointers, but Utah used five offensive boards to stay to a four-point deficit at 10-6 heading into the first media timeout. SDSU extended its lead to six points on a Johnson fastbreak lay-up, but Utah used a 3-pointer to begin a 9-2 run to gain its first advantage of the afternoon at 15-14.
The Utes went up by as many as four until the two sides traded leads seven times and the score was also tied on seven occasions heading into the final minute of the first half. Trailing 32-31 with five seconds left in the half, Morris took an outlet pass from Davis and nailed a difficult lay-up off the glass and was also fouled on the play. Morris hit the bonus free throw to send the Aztecs into the locker room up by a single point, 33-32.
Johnson made the first bucket of the second half, but Utah continued to get rebound putbacks and on a triple by Kalee Whipple, built its largest lead thus far of the afternoon at 44-39. The home team's lead continued to hover around four points until it went up by five at 51-45 and later more than doubled with just over four minutes remaining at 60-49.
San Diego State never got any closer as its offense went dormant and the Utes couldn't miss, scoring 13 points in the final 3:32 to come away with the 73-55 win.
The Aztecs made only 35.7 of its shots from the field in the second half and was outrebounded by eight, while Utah shot 53.6 percent in the second half and made 16 of its 21 free throws.
Whipple led her team with 23 points to go with nine boards, while freshman Taryn Wicijowski added a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
San Diego State will just play one game next week, as it plays host to second place Brigham Young on Wednesday beginning at 7 p.m. at Viejas Arena.