Weber State University Athletics
Wildcats Play at Utah Friday
12/20/2007 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Wildcats win fifth straight after win over Anteaters
Weber State won for the fifth straight time last Monday night after picking up a 65-58 overtime win at UC Irvine. The Wildcats overcame a halftime deficit and shot 3-6 from the field and a perfect 7-7 from the free throw line in the overtime period. It marked the first overtime game since November 2006 and the first overtime win since November 2004. The Wildcats are now 6-3 on the season after picking up their first road win of the year.
Tuomi overcomes slow start to lead Wildcats to win
WSU senior Sara Tuomi started the game 3-17 from the field but turned it on from there, shooting 6-9 the rest of the way and scored a game-high 25 points to lead the Wildcats to the win. It also marked a season-high in points for Tuomi who now has 1,135 for her career to rank 11th in school history, passing WSU head coach Carla Taylor and assistant coach Stephanie Stanger-Hale on the all-time list. It marked the third time this season Tuomi has scored over 20 points in a game.Friday's game at Utah will be the 100th game of Tuomi's career. She has started all 99 games so far in her career. Monday night she was 7-8 from the free throw line, including 7-7 from the line in overtime. She did snap a streak of 18 consecutive made free throws but she is 37-40 from the line in the last five games, all WSU wins. She is also averaging 20.2 points per game in that stretch.
Ahkiah Hunter named Big Sky Co-Player of the Week
Senior Ahkiah Hunter scored 16 points in Monday's win at UC Irvine, the same day she was honored as the Big Sky Conference Co-Player of the Week. Hunter scored a career-high 25 points and led the Wildcats to a win over BYU last Wednesday and was honored by the conference for her performance. Hunter is averaging 12.7 points a game this season and has scored in double figures in five of nine games.
?Cats performing well late in games
Weber State was 3-6 from the field and a perfect 7-7 from the free throw line in the overtime period of Monday's win. This season the Wildcats are performing well late in games. In the last five minutes of regulation and overtime Weber State is shooting 48 percent from the field. They are shooting 37 percent for the rest of the game. They are also 42-46 from the free throw line in the last five minutes and overtime this season.
Sara Tuomi is shooting 55 percent late in games and just 32 percent in the first 35 minutes of a game. She is also 25-27 from the foul line in the final five minutes and overtime.
WSU playing very strong in last five games
In the current five game winning streak the Wildcats are averaging 61.6 points per game and holding their opponents to 51.8 points a game. They are also shooting 36 percent and averaging 13.6 turnovers a game, while their opponents are averaging 19.8.
Individually Sara Tuomi is averaging 20.2 points per game in the last five games and Ahkiah Hunter is averaging 12.6.
Turnovers continue to tell result
WSU committed 15 turnovers in Monday's win and the Anteaters had 22 turnovers. This season they are a perfect 6-0 when committing fewer turnovers than their opponents and they are 0-3 when they have more turnovers.
Wildcats play at Utah Friday
Weber State will stay on the road and this week for a game at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. The game will begin at 7:00 p.m. at the Huntsman Center and will be broadcast live on KWCR 88.1 FM and on weberstatesports.com with Eric Knighton providing the play-by-play.
About Utah
The Utah Utes come into Friday's game with an 8-3 overall record. Utah has won their last three games and seven of the last eight this season. They are coming off a 85-67 win over St. Mary's Wednesday night in Salt Lake City. Their three losses were in double overtime to Stanford, overtime to Marist, and at USC. They started the season with a 91-50 win over UC Irvine, whom the Wildcats beat on Monday night.
This season the Utah are averaging 70.5 points per game and are holding their opponents to 57.7 points a game. They are also shooting 47 percent from the field, 17th best in the nation.
The Utes are led by junior Morgan Warburton who is averaging 16.6 points per game and shooting 48 percent from the field. She has scored 20 points in each of the last two games. Warburton is the sister of Chelsey Warburton who finished a three-year career at Weber State last season. Leilani Mitchell is averaging 15.5 points and 7.3 assists per game, seventh best in the nation. Utah has used the same starting lineup in all 11 games this season.
All-time seriesUtah leads the all-time series 40-5 over Weber State has won four straight and 11 of the last 12 games played. The Wildcats last win came in 2003 over Utah. In games in Salt Lake City, Utah leads 19-1 all-time with the only Weber State win coming in December 1994.
Head Coach Elaine Elliott
Utah is coached by Elaine Elliott who is in her 25th season with the Utes. Last year she celebrated her 500th career win, becoming the 25th coach in the nation to reach that milestone. Elliott has led Utah to 14 NCAA Tournament appearances. She has a career record of 26-3 against Weber State. Utah's Associate Head coach is Carolyn DeHoff who spent five seasons (1998-2003) as an assistant coach for Carla Taylor at Weber State. CT is 3-19 in her career against Utah.
?Cats looking for Beehive state sweep
Friday's game will be the second and final game for Weber State against a team from Utah. The ?Cats beat BYU 65-54 last Wednesday in Ogden and will not play any other team from the state this season. WSU has only beaten BYU and Utah in the same season one other time. That came in December 1994, the last time they beat BYU. They defeated the Cougars 71-68 in Ogden and won 61-59 at Utah the next week, their last win in Salt Lake City.
Looking ahead
After Friday's game the ?Cats will have a week off for the Christmas holiday and next play December 29-30 at the UTSA Wells Fargo New Year's Classic in San Antonio, Texas. They will take on Chattanooga on Saturday, December 29 and play the host UTSA Roadrunners on Sunday, December 30. After that they will begin the new year and start Big Sky Conference play on January 5, 2008.
