March 17, 2000

Box Score

By CHUCK SCHOFFNER
AP Sports Writer

AMES, Iowa - Illinois put Utah in a hole from which it could not escape.

Allison Curtin scored 22 points, Susan Blauser had 20 and Illinois set the tone early with aggressive defense in beating Utah 73-58 Friday night in the first round of the NCAA Midwest Regional.

Illinois (23-10) built a 22-point lead, then saw Utah (23-8) get to within seven before Blauser and Curtin converted three-point plays to put it away and send the Illini into a second-round game Sunday night against Iowa State or St. Francis.

"These kids are gutsy," Illinois coach Theresa Grentz said. "It may not be pretty and it may not look like something that is written in a textbook on basketball, but they do put it out there and play."

The game started as if Illinois would win in a walk. The sixth-seeded Illini played outstanding defense in jumping to a 28-7 lead and led 56-34 early in the second half.

It was 58-39 when all-Big Ten forward Tauja Catchings, the Illini's most athletic player, fouled out with 8:41 left. Utah then started making its shots and rallied, which did not surprise Grentz.

"This is the NCAA," she said. "People aren't going to die. They aren't going to fall over. They are going to come back."

Erin Gibbons hit two 3-pointers to get the 11th-seeded Utes going and Lindsay Herbert hit another to cut the lead to 63-54. When Carley Marshall scored inside, Utah trailed just 63-56 with 3:43 remaining.

But Utah did not score again until less than a minute remained and Illinois put it out of reach. Blauser was fouled while making a turnaround shot and sank the free throw to stretch the lead to 66-56.

After Gibbons missed a 3-point shot, she fouled Curtin on a driving basket and Curtin added the free throw for a 69-56 lead with 2:26 to play. Curtin said she knew then the Illini were back in control.

"It kind of broke it open," she said. "We threw our final punch and I don't think they could get back up after that."

When the Utes failed to score on their next two possessions, losing the ball on a traveling call and missing a shot, their last hopes vanished.

Lori Red led Utah with 11 points, while Herbert and Lauren Beckman each scored 10. Kylie Martin added 14 points for Illinois, which has only nine healthy players and is now perfect in four first-round NCAA games under Grentz.

"Early in the game, we were in a hurry," Utah coach Elaine Elliott said. "We tried to do things we're not good at and we tried to do things at the wrong time."

The 73 points were the most scored this season on Utah, which was leading the nation in scoring defense at 51.5. Early, however, it was Illinois setting the tone with its defense.

Utah rarely got a good shot in the opening minutes and Illinois steadily built its lead. With 7:07 left in the first half, Utah was 3-for-13 from the field with eight fouls and nine turnovers and trailed 26-7.

"They came right at us and we didn't respond," Red said. "It took us about 10 minutes to respond and by then, we were too far behind. It's hard to play catchup against a good team."