LAS VEGAS – Behind Halie Sawyer’s career-high 24 points and 15 rebounds, the Utah women’s basketball team upset No. 1 seeded TCU, 69-57, at the Mountain West Conference Tournament on Friday afternoon.
Utah will play the winner of San Diego State and Brigham Young in the title game at 1:00 p.m. PT tomorrow. The game will be televised live on VERSUS with radio available at KALL 700 AM and www.kall700sports.com.
Utah reaches the championship game for the sixth time in the 11-year history of the tournament (2000, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010). Utah is looking to become only the second team ever to win back-to-back MWC women’s basketball championship titles, joining New Mexico, who did it twice (2003-04-05 and 2007-08). The Utes won tournament titles in 2000, 2006 and 2009.
The Utes took as much as an eight-point advantage in the first half and led 27-22 at halftime. Utah then started the second half on an 18-0 run, taking a 23-point lead, 45-22. The Utes held the Frogs without a field goal in the second half until the 13:08 mark. Utah extended its edge to as much as 24 points in the second half, 50-26, with 11:12 left.
TCU made a late run to cut Utah’s16-point lead down to 10 over a 25-second period, 65-55 with 31 seconds remaining. With the Horned Frogs resorted to fouling to stop the clock, Utah went 7-for-8 in free throws down the stretch to maintain its lead.
It was Sawyer’s fourth double-double of the season. Kalee Whipple was in double figures, scoring 14 points, while Iwalani Rodrigues added a career-high 13 points.
TCU, which entered the game averaging 72.8 points per game, was held to under 60 points for just the fourth time this season.
