SALT LAKE -- Despite giving Utah its closest regular season meet in the past 20 years, BYU's No. 20-ranked women's gymnastics team lost to 4th-ranked Utah, 196.300-195.800, in the Huntsman Center Friday night.
With the win, Utah has won 154 straight regular season meets since last losing in 1979 to Cal-State Fullerton. BYU received its highest score of the season while forcing the Utes to come from behind during the final rotation.
"I thought we did a good job on the beam tonight," BYU coach Brad Cattermole said. "Our bar score would have been better if Denice would have hit, which she usually does. We've been working on being mentally tougher and they have responded well to being pushed. We did very well tonight."
The Cougars were steady in the first two rotations, scoring 48.900 on bars and 48.750 on vault. After scoring a 49.325 on the floor, the Cougars took a 146.975-146.775 advantage into the final rotation but could not hold on despite scoring a 48.825 on balance beam as the Utes delivered one great performance after the other for a 49.525 on floor.
Utah's Deidra Graham won the all-around with a 39.550 and the Utes Denise Jones finished second with a 39.450. BYU's Kim Little and Jeni Thomas placed third and fourth at 39.150 and 38.975, respectively.
Event winners
Vault:
1. (tie) Deidra Graham (Utah), 9.875
Denise Jones (Utah), 9.875
3. (tie) Kim Little (BYU), 9.850
Kelly Partkinson (BYU), 9.850
Other BYU scores:
Angie Hickman, 9.750
Jeni Thomas, 9.650
Denice Pauga, 9.650
Hilary Johnson, 9.475
Uneven Bars:
1. Jenny Schmidt (Utah), 9.900
2. (tie) Leah Niepraschk (BYU), 9.875
Deidra Graham (Utah), 9.875
Other BYU scores:
Parkinson, 9.850
Mindi Hilton, 9.775
Thomas, 9.700
Little, 9.700
Pauga, 9.250
Balance Beam:
1. Graham (Utah), 9.900
2. Ashley Kever (Utah), 9.875
3. Denice Pauga (BYU), 9.850
Other BYU scores:
Karen Nielsen, 9.825
Thomas, 9.750
Little, 9.700
Parkinson, 9.700
Hayley Love, 9.675
Floor Exercise:
1. Jones (Utah) 9.950
2. Kever (Utah) 9.925
BYU scores:
Pauga, 9.900
Little, 9.900
Thomas, 9.875
Marisa Cosgrave, 9.825
Candace Cosgrave, 9.825
Parkinson, 9.275
The BYU women's gymnastics team will travel to face Utah in a regional meet at the Huntsman Center at 7 p.m.
The Cougars are coming off a dual meet win against Iowa State last Friday. BYU scored a 194.175 in the win. Iowa State finished with a score of 193.975.
Before the Iowa State meet, the Cougars were tied with Auburn for 22nd in the nation in team scoring with an average score of 192.4250. The Utes were leading the country in team score as of Jan. 25 with a score of 196.6000.
Sophomore Kelly Parkinson led the Cougars in the all-around with a score of 39.175. Senior Denice Pauga, who missed all of last season with a broken hand, has a season-high all-around score of 39.050 last week against Iowa State.
On the Utes ...
The Utes are coming off a dual meet loss last Friday against Louisiana State, 195.125-194.800.
Despite suffering its first loss of the season, perhaps the biggest loss the Utes faced last week was the injury of defending all-around NCAA national champion Theresa Kulikowski to a torn ACL.
Kulikowski suffered the injury during her first vault. She had already tied for first place in the uneven bars with a score of 9.925 before suffering the season-ending injury.
Kulikowski was the second Ute All-American to be lost to injury. Junior Shannon Bowles suffered a neck injury earlier in the season and will redshirt this season.
