FORT COLLINS, Colo.—Leave it Morgan Warburton to rescue a win for No. 15 Utah. The senior guard has been a key clog in the Utes’ unbeaten run through the Mountain West Conference.
“Morgan is fearless, someone who is not going to back down from the winning shot,” Utah coach Elaine Elliott said. “When it is gut it out time, she has been really mentally tough.”
Warburton scored five of her game-high 25 points in the final 36 seconds and No. 15 Utah escaped with a 63-58 victory over Colorado State on Wednesday night for the Utes’ 21st straight victory.
Leilani Mitchell added 23 for Utah (26-3, 15-0 Mountain West), which already had clinched the Mountain West Conference regular season title. The Utes have beaten Colorado State 10 straight times, last losing to the Rams on Feb. 13, 2003.
With the score tied at 58, Warburton stole the ball and dribbled the length of the court, converted the layup and free throw to make it a 61-58 with 36 seconds left. Elle Queen missed a desperation 3-pointer for the Rams and Warburton sealed the win with a pair of free throws.
“I knew something had to happen,” said Warburton who was a point off here career high. “So I went for the ball and luckily it went that way.”
Sara Hunter had 21 points, all on 3-pointers for Colorado State (2-26, 0-15), which has lost 19 straight. The 26 losses are the most in school history and part of a third consecutive 20-loss season for the Rams.
Colorado State outscored the Utes 16-8 to start the second half and closed the gap to 44-42 on Queen’s layup with 11:59 to play, but Warburton gave the Utes some breathing room with a 3-pointer. Hunter got the Rams within 50-51 with her sixth 3-pointer of the game, but Mitchell had her own 3-pointer in a 7-0 run that put Utah up 58-50 with 6:07 left.
“I saw fear in their eyes in the second half,” Colorado State forward Juanise Cornell said. “Nobody wanted to take a shot.”
The Utes went scoreless on their next seven possessions and Colorado State tied it at 58 with a 3-pointer by Hunter and a free throw by Cornell with 2:49 remaining.
Warburton had 13 points by halftime to offset 12 points by Hunter for Colorado State as the Utes led 36-26 at the half.
“In any run, a NCAA Tournament run, Mountain West championship run, a Mountain West season run, you’re going to hit a game where everything is a struggle and you’re not shooting well and it’s going to be in the 50s,” Elliott said. “That means it’s anybody’s game and you have to gut it out and make plays like we did.”
