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Anonymous
| Posted: 9 Mar 2005 | Updated: 8 Nov 2020
Sullivan, Anderson Lead BYU into MWC Semifinals
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DENVER -- The third-seeded Cougars kept their NCAA Tournament hopes alive in dramatic fashion Wednesday night as Ambrosia Anderson hit a three-pointer with 20 seconds left in the game to lift BYU to a 70-65 win over Colorado State in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Conference Tournament.
"I'm real proud of our team," said BYU head coach Jeff Judkins. "We've lost a lot of close games when we haven't executed in the last three of four minutes. I'm glad we stuck together and knew we could do it."
In the final three minutes of a see-saw second half, the Rams found themselves down by two points with a chance to tie. However, a traveling call put the ball back in the hands of the Cougars and point guard Julie Sullivan, who was quickly fouled. Amazingly, Sullivan missed both free throws, her only two charity stripe misses of the night.
Colorado State seized the opportunity and found the net with 88 seconds to play. On the next trip down the floor, Sullivan made her seventh and eighth free throws of the game to give BYU a slim two-point advantage. A missed bucket on the other end gave Anderson the chance to put the game away, which she did, hitting the long-ranger as the BYU bench exploded.
"I saw that the shot clock was getting down but I knew we could get a better shot than I had," said Melinda Johnsen, who tallied an assist on the play. "I'm just glad I saw Ambrosia sitting there."
The Cougars jumped out to an early 13-4 lead in the game, but the Rams answered with seven straight points in the next two minutes to close the gap at 13-11. The two teams traded baskets for the rest of the half until a 7-0 Cougar run gave BYU a six-point halftime lead at 40-34.
After allowing the Cougars to score the first bucket of the second half, CSU scored six points to cut the lead to two. Three minutes later, the Rams took their largest lead of the game at 54-51. But the Cougars fought back with a 9-0 spurt, leading to the dramatic finish.
Sullivan led the Cougars with 22 points on 7-8 shooting, tying her career-high. Anderson contributed 19 points, just one point off of her season-high, while sophomore Dani Kubik added 10, marking the 14th time this year that at least three Cougars have scored in double figures. CSU's Sara Hunter led all scorers with 25 points on 7-10 shooting from three-point range.
"I think we showed tonight that we have the deepest bench in the league," Judkins said. "Ambrosia (Anderson) can score in so many different ways and Dani (Kubik) really helped us, especially in the first half when Danielle (Cheesman) was struggling."
At 19-9 on the season, the Cougars will now face the Utah Utes in the MWC semifinals Friday at 2:30 p.m. The second-seeded Utes defeated Air Force in their quarterfinal game and are now 24-6 on the season. Utah has won six out of the last seven meetings between the two schools, including both matchups this season.
Friday afternoon's game can be seen live on BYU-TV on the Dish Satellite System, on byuradio.org, via the internet, and on CSTV.
Official Basketball Box ScoreColorado State University vs Brigham Young University
03-09-05 8:35 p.m. at Denver, Colorado (Pepsi Center)
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VISITORS: Colorado State University 15-13
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
32 DENNETT, Melissa.... f 6-12 0-0 5-5 2 6 8 1 17 2 3 1 0 32
45 THOMAS, Lindsay..... c 5-11 0-2 0-0 3 4 7 2 10 0 2 0 1 29
04 HUNTER, Sara........ g 9-14 7-10 0-0 0 3 3 3 25 1 4 0 1 28
05 ESPINOZA, Vanessa... g 1-10 0-2 0-0 2 0 2 3 2 4 5 0 0 30
21 WALSETH, Annika..... g 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 3 3 1 0 3 0 0 1 22
15 KRAMER, Liz......... 1-2 1-2 0-0 0 1 1 2 3 1 1 0 0 14
20 NOHR, Molly......... 3-4 1-2 0-0 1 1 2 1 7 4 0 0 1 14
31 O'DYWER, Kylee...... 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 2 3 1 0 1 1 0 1 11
43 TOR-AGBIDYE, Msur... 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 12
51 MOULTON, Marilyn.... 0-1 0-0 1-2 1 0 1 3 1 0 0 3 0 8
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 25-58 9-20 6-7 11 22 33 17 65 16 16 4 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-29 44.8% 2nd Half: 12-29 41.4% Game: 43.1% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-10 50.0% 2nd Half: 4-10 40.0% Game: 45.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-4 75.0% 2nd Half: 3-3 100 % Game: 85.7% 1
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HOME TEAM: Brigham Young University 19-9
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
32 KOZLOWSKI, Kristen.. f 2-6 0-1 3-4 5 7 12 1 7 0 2 0 1 34
35 JOHNSEN, Melinda.... f 1-3 0-1 0-2 0 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 4 26
51 CHEESMAN, Danielle.. f 2-10 0-1 1-2 3 1 4 3 5 0 2 2 1 28
14 SULLIVAN, Julie..... g 7-8 0-0 8-10 0 6 6 0 22 4 4 0 0 34
30 GILLESPIE, Mallary.. g 1-3 1-3 2-2 1 1 2 2 5 0 1 0 0 19
13 GOOLD, Tiari........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 3 0 0 1 12
33 ANDERSON, Ambrosia.. 8-17 3-6 0-1 1 1 2 0 19 1 2 0 2 27
45 KUBIK, Dani......... 5-8 0-0 0-2 3 2 5 1 10 0 2 3 1 18
52 RILEY, Lauren....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
TEAM................ 2 2
Totals.............. 26-55 4-12 14-23 13 22 35 10 70 10 14 6 10 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 16-30 53.3% 2nd Half: 10-25 40.0% Game: 47.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-6 33.3% 2nd Half: 2-6 33.3% Game: 33.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-6 100 % 2nd Half: 8-17 47.1% Game: 60.9% 3
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Officials: Marianne Karp, Sue Kennedy, Kent Johnson
Technical fouls: Colorado State University-None. Brigham Young
University-None.
Attendance: 3123
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Colorado State University..... 34 31 - 65
Brigham Young University...... 40 30 - 70
ID-331738
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