Travis Kriens

The SDSU women’s basketball team dropped their second game of the season Nov. 28 at Utah, 67-59.

The Jacks had an early 10-point lead, but a 23-2 Utah run that took up 10 minutes in the first half was the big difference in the 36-28 halftime lead for the Utes.

SDSU went on a 10-2 run and cut Utah’s lead to 57-53 with just over three minutes left in the game. Utah’s junior guard Morgan Warburton scored three of her 15 points to stop the Jacks’ run and preserve a Utes victory.

The Jacks were led in scoring by freshman Kristin Rotert who had 19 points and was five of eight from behind the three-point line. Rotert is leading the team by hitting 47 percent of her three-point shots.

“Tonight we just got out-played,” said Rotert. “There’s really no excuse for the way we played.”

Senior center Courtney Grimsrud was tops for the Jacks in rebounds with eight. Sophomore forward Maria Boever stepped up on the defensive end with three steals.

Utah (4-2) only had six players score, but four of them had 12 points or more. Senior guard Leilani Mitchell led the Utes with 16 points on four-of-nine shooting from the field. Voted top newcomer in the conference pre-season poll (Mountain West), Mitchell also had six assists.

The Utes held a 20-rebound advantage, 47-27, led by Kalee Whipple with a career high 11.

Head Coach Aaron Johnston did not think the team played well. He said he was disappointed with their game as he has been for a lot of years, and that they just didn’t have a lot of effort during the game, which is frustrating.

SDSU’s (5-2) next game will be their first Summit League game ever against Oral Roberts in Tulsa, Okla., on Dec. 8 at 2 p.m. The Oral Roberts Golden Eagles were voted number one in the pre-season conference poll while the Jacks were voted third. This will be the Jacks first conference game since 2004, their last season in the North Central Conference.