Women's basketball: Utes, Cougars, Bruins each roll to victory

SALT LAKE CITY — Four players scored in double figures as the University of Utah women's basketball team defeated Division II Chadron State, 81-40, in an exhibition game on Friday night.

Kalee Whipple and Janita Badon each had 17 points to lead the Utes. Halie Sawyer had a double-double with 12 points and 19 rebounds. Freshman Taryn Wicijowski tallied 13 points with nine rebounds.

The Utes played all 12 players they had available. Players seeing their first collegiate action were Wicijowski, Iwalani Rodrigues, Rachel Messer, Chelsea Bridgewater, Rita Sitivi and Diana Rolniak.

"It's great to get started on another season," Utah head coach Elaine Elliott said. "We played some new faces tonight, and the more chances they have to play, the better they will be."

Although both teams started off a little slow, the Utes began to get their rhythm five minutes into the contest, going on an 11-2 run to take a 21-8 lead. Utah continued to pull away from there, leading by as many as 24 points in the half. Sawyer had a double-double by halftime with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Badon had 12 points at the break.

Through the first 10 minutes of the second half, Utah outscored the Eagles 21-5. The Ute's largest lead was 42 points.

Chadron State was led by Kaitlin Petri's 14 points and nine rebounds, while Kelsey Scott tallied 10 points.

Utah opens its season on Friday, Nov. 13, at Utah State.

BYU 85, WESTMINSTER 58: At Provo, the BYU women's basketball team won its first game of the 2009-10 season, 85-58, in an exhibition matchup against the Westminster Griffins on Friday.

"We shot the ball well and did a good job of moving up and down the court," said BYU head coach Jeff Judkins. "We need to do a better job of rebounding, which is something we'll continue to work on."

A 15-4 lead after the first eight minutes of play would prove to be the pace of the game for the Cougars. BYU's Haley Hall put up early points for the Cougars and continued to lead throughout the game, finishing with 14 points and six rebounds to lead all players.

In the second half, BYU went on a 10-0 run against the Griffins, their longest streak of the night.

The Cougar bench saw big points against Westminster from Dani Peterson, Alexis Kaufusi and Stephanie Buhler Bates. Peterson finished with nine points, Kafusi with 10 and Buhler Bates with 11.

Going into the half, BYU led 40-27, with Hall leading the way with eight points.