Dec. 29, 2004

Box Score

SPOKANE, Wash. - The Gonzaga University Bulldogs picked up perhaps the biggest regular-season win during the Kelly Graves era as Gonzaga held off the University of Utah, 66-60, in front of 1,531 fans at the McCarthey Athletic Center. Gonzaga improved to 9-2 on the season while Utah, ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 two weeks ago, fell to 8-4 on the year.

The win by Gonzaga ties this year's club for the best start in school history. The 1994 Gonzaga team that advanced to the Bulldogs inaugural NIT appearance also started 9-2 prior to losing their next three games. Gonzaga will look for win number ten on Friday afternoon when they host the University of Denver at 1 p.m. at McCarthey Athletic Center.

"This was a great win for our program," mentioned Graves after his teams win over the Utes. "Utah is one of those Top 50 programs and that is where we are working on taking this team. This was a big step in that direction and I'm really proud of our kids."

Getting that win didn't come easy for the Bulldogs as they were held without a field goal for the final 7:51 of the game going on a shooting dry spell after Katy Ridenour hit a jumper from the left baseline to give Gonzaga a 58-46 lead. Gonzaga would score its final eight points at the free throw line, but shot only 53 percent from the charity stripe over the last five minutes connecting on 8-for-15 down the stretch.

"I'm really surprised at the way we responded to Utah's late run, especially since we had three seniors on the floor most of the time," added Graves. "I guess it was good that we had a big enough lead that we were able to overcome playing like that."

The Bulldogs did indeed have a comfortable lead jumping out to 37-27 lead at the half as Anne Bailey tossed in 10 of her 18 points sparking Gonzaga to a 71 percent shooting clip. Gonzaga needed every one of those shots as they committed 11 first-half turnovers against the Utah pressure. Ashley Burke and Raeanna Jewell each added nine first half points to cap the GU scoring.

Gonzaga extended its lead to as many as 19 points with 13:18 remaining as Bailey knocked down a jumper to give Gonzaga a commanding 50-31 advantage. Utah climbed back into the game behind the solid play of point guard Shona Thorburn who scored all 10 of her points during the last 13 minutes as she led the Utes to within six points before her hot hand cooled off. Thorburn missed all three free throws after being fouled with 1:12 left in the game and Gonzaga leading 64-58.

Gonzaga held Utah's leading scorer Kim Smith to just 10 points as she went 4-for-15 from the floor. Lana Sitterud was the Utes top scorer with 11 points as Gonzaga held Utah to just 37 percent shooting for the game.

"We did a great job on taking away Smith and Thorburn for large portions of the game," said Graves of the Bulldogs defensive effort. "We held Smith to four points in the first half and completely shut out Thorburn. I have to give a lot of credit to our team for their defense on those two players, especially Juliann Laney and Raeanna Jewell since they defended those players for most of the game.

The Bulldogs were led by Ashley Burke who continued to pick up her offensive output with 20 points. This marks the fourth straight game that Burke has scored 17 or more points. Bailey finished with 18 while Shannon Mathews passed out 9 assists.