Second Half Dooms Utah Women in 50-44 Loss to Oregon - The Official Athletic Site of the University of Utah

Second Half Dooms Utah Women in 50-44 Loss to Oregon
Utes led by eight at halftime, but shoot just 25 percent in second half.

Joh-Teena scored 13 points in Saturday night's loss to Oregon.

Nov. 25, 2006

Box Score

EUGENE, Ore. - The University of Utah women's basketball team dropped a 50-44 decision to the host Oregon Ducks Saturday in the consolation game of the Oregon Thanksgiving Duck Invitational. The Utes had a 25-17 advantage at halftime, but a dismal second half spelled defeat for Utah.

Utah (1-4) got a strong start from Joh-Teena Filipe (Soph., Salt Lake City), who scored nine of Utah's first 11 points. But the Utes trailed 12-11 eight minutes into the contest, when Halie Sawyer (Fr., Panguitch, Utah) gave her team a lift. Sawyer scored four straight, sparking a 6-0 spurt, which put Utah on top 17-12 with 9:16 remaining in the first half.

But the Utes did not score again for six minutes, allowing Oregon (3-1) to hang around, 17-16. Utah finally broke its scoring drought at 3:16, when Heidi Carlsen (Sr., St. George, Utah) drained a jumper. That basket sparked an 8-1 run to end the first half and the Utes held an eight-point edge at the intermission.

The Utes shot 54.5 percent from the field in the first half. The second half was a much different story. Utah didn't score for the first 4:02, while Oregon slowly chipped away at the deficit. When Filipe finally hit a pair of free throws at the 15:58 mark, Utah led by four, 27-23.

Once again, Utah hit a scoreless skid. The Utes didn't score again for 5:38. When Hennasea Tokumura (Fr., Honolulu, Hawaii) finally lit the scoreboard, the Ducks had a 30-29 lead. That lead was quickly expanded by Carolyn Ganes for Oregon. Ganes hit four three-pointers in a four-minute span, stretching Oregon's advantage to 11 points, 42-31, with 6:34 remaining in the game.

In all, Utah's three scoring droughts totaled 15:40 of the 40-minute contest. The Utes shot just 25 percent in the second half.

Utah pulled within five with 1:31 remaining when Morgan Warburton (Soph., Helper, Utah) hit a pair of free throws after a steal. But that's as close as the Utes would get. Filipe was the only Utah player in double-figures, scoring 13 points.

Ganes, who scored 14 of her game-high 18 points, led all scorers coming off the bench for the Ducks. Eleanor Haring scored 14 points for Oregon, as well.

Utah is back in action again Wednesday night, traveling up I-15 for a matchup with Weber State in Ogden. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m.

-UU-