LAS VEGAS—Emily Neal scored 17 points and Colorado State shocked 12th-ranked and top-seeded Utah 60-52 in the Mountain West Conference women’s quarterfinals Wednesday night.
The ninth-seeded Rams (4-28) outmuscled and outhustled the heavily-favored Utes (28-4), who went 16-0 in league play and had 22 consecutive wins.
Colorado State was winless in conference play (0-16) and entered the tourney on a 20-game losing streak before beating Wyoming in the play-in game Tuesday night, a prelude to one of the biggest upsets in college basketball this season.
All night, it was hard to tell which team had won 27 games and which had lost 27.
Neal’s two free throws with 4:40 remaining gave the Rams their biggest lead at 50-43, and Sara Hunter (12 points) sank a pair of foul shots with 1:59 left to extend the advantage to 53-45.
Leilani Mitchell led Utah with 19 points but shot just 5-for-16 from the field. The Utes shot 29 percent overall.
Amaka Uzomah added eight points and 15 boards for the Rams, who will face New Mexico in the semifinals Friday at the Thomas & Mack Center.
After trailing much of the first half, the Utes needed a 13-5 run to take a 32-30 halftime lead. But they didn’t have another catch-up in them when they faded in the final five minutes of the game.
