Cougars fall short to the Utes 62-66

PROVO -- Despite out rebounding the Utes by 13, the Cougars fell short to Utah 66-62 Saturday at the Marriott Center. Utah (15-4) improved to a perfect 5-0 in the Mountain West Conference, while BYU (11-8) dropped to 1-4.

"I'm proud of our team effort," BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "Utah is a good team and they made plays when they had to. We had our chances, but turnovers hurt us down the stretch."

The Cougars were led in scoring by sophomore Ambrosia Anderson's 22 points and 13 rebounds. This performance marked her fourth double-double of the season, tied her career-point high and set a new career rebound record.

Teammates Julie Sullivan and Danielle Cheesman each added 11 points for BYU. Sullivan went five-for-five from the free throw line and Cheesman grabbed five rebounds.

Utah shot 53.8 percent from the field and 50 percent from the 3-point line in the second half to give them the edge over BYU who shot 46.2 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from the 3-point line.

Utah sophomore guard Shona Thorburn came through big for the Utes scoring 12-of-15 points in the second half. Utah's top returning player, Kim Smith, led the Utes in scoring and rebounding with 17 points and eight rebounds.

BYU came out strong shooting 42.3 percent from the floor, 50 percent from behind the 3-point arc and an impressive 100 percent from the free-throw line to go into half time with a 30-27 lead.

The Cougars battled for the duration of the game, but the Utes' 9-0 run - the biggest run in the game - with nine minutes to go in the game was hard for BYU to make up the difference.

Next up the Cougars will hit the road for two games to face UNLV on Feb. 5 at 7:30 p.m. and then take on San Diego State Feb. 7. at 5 p.m.

Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
UTAH UTES vs Brigham Young University
01-31-04 4:00 PM at MARRIOTT CENTER, BYU, PROVO,UT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VISITORS: UTAH UTES 15-4; 5-0
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
04 SMITH, Kim.......... f  5-12   3-7    4-5    1  7  8   4  17  0  2  0  1  38
45 MARSHALL, Carley.... f  4-8    0-0    0-0    1  4  5   0   8  4  2  0  2  28
30 LITTLE, Mandie...... c  6-9    0-0    0-0    1  0  1   3  12  1  1  0  0  22
10 THORBURN, Shona..... g  5-11   2-4    3-4    0  4  4   0  15  3  0  0  1  38
14 STIREMAN, Kelsy..... g  3-3    1-1    0-1    0  5  5   4   7  7  1  0  0  34
21 WOOD, Julie.........    1-6    1-4    0-0    0  0  0   0   3  0  0  0  0   9
24 ALLEN, Camie........    1-1    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   2  1  0  0  0   6
32 SITTERUD, Lana......    0-7    0-5    2-2    1  1  2   3   2  3  1  0  1  25
   TEAM................                            1  1
   Totals..............   25-57   7-21   9-12   4 22 26  14  66 19  7  0  5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-31  .355   2nd Half: 14-26  .538   Game:  .439  DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  4-15  .267   2nd Half:  3-6   .500   Game:  .333  REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half:  1-1  1.000   2nd Half:  8-11  .727   Game:  .750     1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOME TEAM: Brigham Young University 11-8; 1-4
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
15 OVERDIEK, Jennie.... f  2-4    0-0    1-3    0  2  2   4   5  0  1  0  0  27
33 ANDERSON, Ambrosia.. f  8-14   3-5    3-3    2 11 13   1  22  3  3  0  0  34
51 CHEESMAN, Danielle.. f  5-14   0-1    1-2    1  4  5   0  11  1  2  0  0  33
14 SULLIVAN, Julie..... g  3-9    0-1    5-5    2  1  3   5  11  4  2  1  0  32
24 HANSEN, Hollie...... g  1-3    0-2    0-0    0  5  5   2   2  4  2  1  1  29
01 SELJAAS, Nancy......    0-1    0-1    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   3
04 DOOLEY, Kestlee.....    1-1    1-1    0-0    0  1  1   3   3  3  2  0  0  11
25 TAYLOR, Kali........    1-2    1-1    0-0    0  1  1   0   3  1  0  0  0  11
32 KOZLOWSKI, Kristen..    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   0  0  1  0  0   5
35 JOHNSEN, Melinda....    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   0   0  1  0  0  0   5
40 CHAMBERLAIN, A......    2-4    0-0    1-1    2  3  5   1   5  0  3  0  0  10
   TEAM................                         2  1  3
   Totals..............   23-52   5-12  11-14   9 30 39  17  62 17 16  2  1 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-26  .423   2nd Half: 12-26  .462   Game:  .442  DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  3-6   .500   2nd Half:  2-6   .333   Game:  .417  REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half:  5-5  1.000   2nd Half:  6-9   .667   Game:  .786     1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Officials: CONNIE PARDUE, SUE KENNEDY, ROY GULBEYAN
Technical fouls: UTAH UTES-None. Brigham Young University-None.
Attendance: 1711
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
UTAH UTES.....................   27   39  -   66
Brigham Young University......   30   32  -   62
OFFICIAL  FINAL
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------