Utah Utes women's basketball: Purdue took full advantage of home court against Utes

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Apparently there's no place like home.

Though No. 8 Utah held a slight seeding edge over No. 9 Purdue and actually wore its white jerseys in Sunday's NCAA tournament game at Mackey Arena, it wasn't enough to overcome the Boilermakers' home-court advantage.

"They are 12-4 now at home and 4-8 on the road. So you tell me," said Utah coach Elaine Elliott. "Everybody is better at home. Good for them. They got a great advantage and they took advantage of it."

Unlike the men's tournament, which prohibits teams from playing on their home floor, the women's tourney accommodates programs that serve as host sites.

Purdue (19-14), who needed to win the Big 10 Conference Tournament to secure a 15th consecutive NCAA berth, is 18-5 in NCAA games played on its home floor.

BEYOND THE ARC: Elliott acknowledged that Utah's strength is out on the perimeter with Leilani Mitchell, Morgan Warburton and Kalee Whipple being accomplished 3-point shooters. Their efforts helped the Utes lead the Mountain West Conference in shooting beyond the arc (40.1 percent).

In Sunday's loss, however, Utah made just 4-of-16 outside shots.

"What these kids have accomplished with the deficiencies that existed for us, they should be even more proud of what they've done and the success that they've had," said Elliott, who explained that the Utes didn't really have the personnel to switch to an inside game when necessary. "I thought our kids really battled."

Purdue exceeded its norm by making 7-of-14 from 3-point range. Natasha Bogdanova, a 28-percent shooter going in, made four treys against Utah.

"When somebody can do that, they can take a weakness and turn it into something that helps them win," said Elliott. "That's what kids have to do — step up and the shooter stepped up."

HAIL TO THE CHIEF: Former U.S. President Bill Clinton is hosting a political rally for his wife, Hillary, at nearby West Lafayette High School today. A crowd well in excess of the 4,380 who attended the Utah-Purdue game is expected. The early session — featuring Oklahoma-Illinois State and Notre Dame-SMU and — drew 3,172 patrons.

FAST BREAKS: The Utes are now 8-15 in NCAA tournament games ... Warburton finished with a game-high 18 points to extend her streak of consecutive double-digit games to 34, dating back to last season ... Whipple went 8-for-8 from the free throw line to tie a Utah postseason record shared by Kristina Andersen and Shona Thorburn ... Mitchell had nine assists and finished the season with 240 — two shy of Thorburn's team record set in 2005-06 ... It was the final game for Utah seniors Mitchell and Jessica Perry ... The Utes used the same starting lineup in all 32 games this season (Mitchell, Warburton, Whipple, Perry and Katie King ) ... Purdue is 3-0 as a No. 9 seed in opening-round games ... The Mountain West Conference went 0-3 in this year's NCAA tourney. West Virginia defeated New Mexico 61-60 and Pittsburgh topped Wyoming 63-58 in games played Saturday in Albuquerque.

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E-mail: dirk@desnews.com