In one of the best games of the series, Mallary Gillespie's put back at the buzzer gave BYU a 61-60 upset over No. 22 Utah, Saturday at the Huntsman Center. The victory was the Cougars first over the Utes since the 2002 season.
"You have to go through Utah to win the conference, so it's a huge win for us," Coach Jeff Judkins said of the win.
BYU improved to 12-1 on the season and 2-0 in conference play. Utah jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead before the Cougars evened things up. Both teams then exchanged baskets for the next several minutes before BYU went on a 10-0 run midway through the first half to take a 17-10 lead. The Utes took a 29-28 lead with 2:16 left in the first half.Then the Cougars' Melinda Johnsen hit two free throws to give BYU a three point edge before the Utes' Joh-Teena Filipe got a bucket to cut it back to one. BYU held from there to take a 32-31 lead into the locker room.
The second half started off much the same as the first ended with both teams staying close until Utah went on an 8-0 run to take a 46-42 advantage with 11:19 left. Dani Kubik stopped the Ute run with a three pointer. Late in the game, Utah was up 53-51 until Ambrosia Anderson got the lead back on a three point play. Julie Larsen gave Utah back the lead with a three pointer with 39 seconds left. Ambrosia Anderson hit a jumper to give the lead back to the Cougars. Larsen then hit two free throws to give Utah a one point lead with seven seconds remaining. On the last possession of the contest, Anderson heaved up a desperation attempt that fell short but Mallary Gillespie got the rebound and put it back in at the buzzer
"A lot of people helped us with the win today," Judkins said.
Individual performances on defense and rebounding proved to be huge. BYU won the battle on the boards 39-33 behind a season and career high 11 from Kubik. They also held Smith and Shona Thorburn to a combined 16 points on the day. Melinda Johnsen provided most of the defense on Thorburn in holding her to only two points on the afternoon.
"Melinda, what a performance. She did all the things that she was supposed to do," Judkins said of Johnsen's efforts on Thorburn and on the game.
Anderson led the way again with 13 points. Jennie Keele added 10 while Vanessa Hutson scored a career high nine points on three 3-point baskets.
BYU improved to 7-0 on the road this season and 11-1 when leading at the half.
The Cougars return home to continue conference play Wednesday against UNLV. Tipoff is set for 7 pm.
Official Basketball Box Score
Brigham Young vs Utah
01/07/06 2:05 p.m. at Salt Lake City, Utah (Huntsman Center)
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VISITORS: Brigham Young 12-1, 2-0 MWC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
33 ANDERSON, Ambrosia.. f 5-16 1-6 2-3 1 3 4 2 13 2 1 1 0 36
35 JOHNSEN, Melinda.... f 2-6 1-1 2-3 2 2 4 2 7 3 4 0 0 38
45 KUBIK, Dani......... c 4-9 1-1 0-0 5 6 11 3 9 2 6 0 1 30
15 KEELE, Jennie....... g 4-7 2-5 0-0 0 2 2 3 10 2 2 0 2 33
30 GILLESPIE, Mallary.. g 4-9 1-4 0-0 2 2 4 2 9 1 1 0 1 29
01 SELJAAS, Nancy...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 2
24 HUTSON, Vanessa..... 3-3 3-3 0-0 0 3 3 0 9 1 0 0 2 16
32 SLADE, Shawnee...... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 6
52 RILEY, Lauren....... 2-7 0-0 0-0 3 3 6 2 4 0 1 0 0 10
TEAM................ 2 1 3
Totals.............. 24-58 9-20 4-6 15 24 39 17 61 12 17 1 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-25 48.0% 2nd Half: 12-33 36.4% Game: 41.4% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 6-10 60.0% 2nd Half: 3-10 30.0% Game: 45.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-2 100 % 2nd Half: 2-4 50.0% Game: 66.7% 0
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HOME TEAM: Utah 9-4, 0-2 MWC
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 5-13 2-6 2-2 3 5 8 0 14 5 3 0 2 39
45 PERRY, Jessica...... f 4-10 1-5 0-3 0 5 5 3 9 0 0 4 1 27
05 CARLSEN, Heidi...... g 3-7 2-6 1-2 1 0 1 3 9 1 0 0 1 28
10 THORBURN, Shona..... g 1-4 0-0 0-2 3 6 9 3 2 10 5 0 2 40
21 LARSEN, Julie....... g 2-5 2-4 5-5 0 2 2 2 11 1 1 0 0 25
12 BROUILLARD, Shauna.. 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 4
15 WARBURTON, Morgan... 3-4 2-2 2-2 0 2 2 1 10 0 0 0 0 18
32 FILIPE, Joh-Teena... 2-6 1-3 0-0 0 0 0 1 5 0 3 2 0 17
33 WARNER, Marie....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
TEAM................ 2 1 3 2
Totals.............. 20-50 10-26 10-16 10 21 31 13 60 18 14 6 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-24 41.7% 2nd Half: 10-26 38.5% Game: 40.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-13 38.5% 2nd Half: 5-13 38.5% Game: 38.5% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-7 85.7% 2nd Half: 4-9 44.4% Game: 62.5% 2
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Officials: Randy Campbell, Mazetta Garrett, Randall Coil
Technical fouls: Brigham Young-None. Utah-None.
Attendance: 2924
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Brigham Young................. 32 29 - 61
Utah.......................... 31 29 - 60
ID-352973
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