T-Birds Fall to Utes in Salt Lake

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah Nov. 13 – Southern Utah fell in its season opener at the University of Utah Sunday. The Thunderbirds held a 30-28 advantage at halftime but the Utes were able to come back after the break for a 74-60 win.

The Thunderbirds and Utes went back-and-forth in the early minutes until sophomore forward Carli Moreland scored a lay-up to break a 7-7 tie and put SUU up by two. The Utes answered with an 12-4 run capped by a three-pointer by Cheyenne Wilson to take an eight point lead at 19-11. The T-Birds battled back to tie the score at 26-26 as freshman Marquelle Funk sank a jumper from the outside. Southern Utah would then get baskets from Brenna Gates and Hailey Mandelko to close the half with a 30-28 lead.

Southern Utah's defense proved to be the difference early on as the T-Birds recorded 12 points off of Utah turnovers in the opening period. SUU was also able to hold the Utes to just 11-31 shooting from the floor in the first half while shooting nearly 50 percent on their own end.

The opening minutes of the second half saw the two teams go back-and-forth until the Utes used an 8-0 run near the ten-minute mark to take a 52-41 lead. Southern Utah rallied with a 6-0 run to cut deficit to five, but that was as close as the Thunderbirds would get as Utah pulled away over the final six minutes to take the victory.

The T-Birds shot just over 40 percent in the game while the Utes were right at 44 percent. Utah also held a slight advantage on the glass with 41 rebounds to Southern Utah's 38.

Freshman point guard Hailey Mandelko had a solid scoring night for SUU, finishing the contest with 17 points. Brenna Gates and DJ Norman both came off the bench to score 10 points each for the T-Birds. Utah forward Taryn Wicijowski led all scorers with 20 points in the contest.

The Utes improve to 1-0 with the win in their first game of the season while Southern Utah starts the year 0-1. The Thunderbirds will be back in action this Friday at 8:00 p.m. as they visit Santa Clara.

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Players Mentioned

#15 Carli Moreland: F; 6' 1"; Freshman

#10 DJ Norman: G; 5' 9"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#15 Carli Moreland
: 6' 1"; Freshman
: F

#10 DJ Norman
: 5' 9"; Freshman
: G

Players Mentioned

#15 Carli Moreland

#10 DJ Norman

Players Mentioned

#15 Carli Moreland

#10 DJ Norman