There was a lot of pouring it on in the Mountain West Conference Tournament championship game Saturday night at the Pepsi Center.
Utah guard Shona Thorburn clearly poured it on, scoring 15 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing 11 assists in recording the first triple-double in tournament history and leading the Utes to an 84-60 victory over Brigham Young.
There was also a lot of pouring it in, particularly by guard Julie Larsen, who made 5-of-5 3-point attempts in the first half and finished with a game-high 24 points on 8-of-9 shooting, 6-of-7 from beyond the arc.
The Utes led 44-32 at intermission and were never really threatened the rest of the way, leading by as many as 27 points with 2:41 left in the game.
BYU coach Jeff Judkins accused Utah coach Elaine Elliott of running up the score.
“She got mad at that,” he said. “I probably shouldn’t have lost my cool, but I think I have a right to get mad once in awhile.”
Said Elliott: “He accused me of running up the score in a championship game, Division I level, against the reigning regular-season champions. You take that for what it’s worth. I was just waiting for them to come back.”
With the victory, the 19th- ranked Utes (24-6) got the conference’s automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. BYU (25-5), ranked 20th and the regular-season MWC champion, figures to get an at-large berth Monday.
The teams split during the regular season, both winning on the other’s turf. This one, played at a neutral site, was probably decided with five minutes left in the second half. When Kim Smith – the MWC’s four-time player of the year who shared the honor with BYU’s Ambrosia Anderson this year – drove the lane and kicked the ball out to the wide-open Larsen for her fifth 3-pointer.
Said Larsen, who waited until her last conference game to have a career night: “My teammates were getting me wide-open shots, and fortunately today, I was hitting those shots for them.”
Said Smith: “Julie doesn’t just get open, she doesn’t need much time to shoot.”
If anyone was more frustrated than Judkins, it was Anderson, a former Doherty High School star from Colorado Springs. The problem was the Cougars focused their defense on Smith and Thorburn, and forgot about guarding Larsen and the Utes’ other support players.
“You have to treat all the opposing players like they’re threats, and when you don’t, that’s what happens,” Anderson said.
UTAH (24-6)
Smith 6-12 2-3 14, Perry 4-7 2-3 10, Carlsen 3-5 0-0 8, Thorburn 5-12 4-4 15, Larsen 8-9 2-2 24, Brouillard 0-1 0-0 0, Warburton 3-5 4-4 12, McKinnon 0-0 0-0 0, Oakey 0-1 0-0 0, Filipe 0-0 1-2 1, Warner 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-52 15-18 84.
BYU (25-5)
Anderson 5-11 0-0 11, Johnsen 3-8 0-0 7, Kubik 4-8 4-4 12, Keele 2-5 0-0 5, Gillespie 3-9 0-0 7, Seljaas 1-5 0-0 3, Stratton 3-3 0-0 7, Aina 0-1 0-0 0, Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Hutson 1-3 0-0 3, Slade 1-3 0-0 2, Faddis 0-1 0-0 0, Riley 0-3 2-2 2, King 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 23-61 7-8 60.
Halftime – Utah 44-32. 3-point goals – Utah 11-24 (Larsen 6-7, Carlsen 2-3, Warburton 2-4, Thorburn 1-4, Perry 0-1, Smith 0-5), BYU 7-28 (Stratton 1-1, Hutson 1-2, Keele 1-3, Anderson 1-4, Seljaas 1-4, Johnsen 1-5, Gillespie 1-6, Kubik 0-1, Slade 0-1, Aina 0-1). Fouled out – None. Rebounds – Utah 33 (Thorburn 10), BYU 25 (Kubik 9). Assists – Utah 20 (Thorburn 11), BYU 13 (Johnsen 3). Total fouls – Utah 11, BYU 19. A – 3,420.
Staff writer Joseph Sanchez can be reached at 303-820-5458 or jsanchez@denverpost.com.
