Cougars Fall To Utes in MWC Women's Hoops Action

Salt Lake City, Utah (Jan. 27, 2001) In the first of a three-game conference road trip, BYU's women's basketball team battled hard but in the end, it was the University of Utah coming up on top with a 10-point 67-57 win, Saturday.

The loss drops the Cougars record to 10-8 overall and 2-3 in the Mountain West Conference. Utah remains unbeaten with a perfect 6-0 conference record and 17-2 overall.

Sophomore All-American Erin Thorn led the BYU effort with 12 points and three rebounds. Chanell Rose had another good performance with her 11 points and three boards in the game. Jennifer Leitner came off the bench for some strong play, contributing with 10 points and a team high five rebounds.

"We played against an excellent team and stayed with them," said BYU head coach Trent Shippen. "I thought our game plan worked very good for us. We just need to make better decisions and make our layups. Now we need to keep our heads up, stay strong and keep working hard."

The Cougars kept it close in the first half chipping away at the Ute lead to bring it within seven points 35-28 at the break.

For Utah it was Lauren Beckman leading her team with 18 points and nine rebounds. Lori Castagnetto came off the bench for her 11, followed by Lindsay Herbert with 10 points. The Utes shot 48 percent from the field and 83 at the free throw line and outrebounded the Cougars 35 to 24.

Team stats for BYU included 40 percent shooting from the field. They were seven of 11 from the free-throw line compared to 24 of 29 for Utah.

The Cougars continue MWC action on the road with games against Air Force on Feb. 1 and at New Mexico on Feb. 3.