By Tony Jones
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 11/18/2008 12:55:45 AM MST
With two freshman point guards directing Elaine Elliott's offense, there will be growing pains at times for the Utah women's basketball team.
But as long as the Utes have Morgan Warburton and Kalee Whipple in the lineup, the odds of winning games are pretty good.
In Monday night's 77-49 season-opening win over Jackson State, the two wings were solid throughout. Warburton scored a game-high 18 points to go along with seven rebounds and five assists. Whipple chipped in with 16 points and five rebounds. Together, along with Katie King and Halie Sawyer, the Utes turned a slim 34-30 halftime lead into a rout.
"We had much better intensity on the defensive end in the second half," Warburton said. "It all starts on the defensive end, and we played much better there in the second half."
Much better indeed. The Tigers were able to pound the ball into the paint and convert easy scores in the first half, and that allowed Jackson State to trim a 24-12 deficit into a manageable margin by halftime. But those easy looks weren't there in the final 20 minutes. Utah clamped down its man-to-man defense, defended the paint and converted turnovers into easy points.
Once the Utes were able to get into the open floor, Warburton and Whipple were tough to stop. Each was able to get to the rim off the dribble and each got to the foul line with regularity.
"We want to get them more easy looks this year and that's one way to do it," Elliott said. "They are both pretty dangerous in transition and it's good to get them out and running in the open court."
The fear with this Utah team was that Warburton and Whipple would have to shoulder too much of the scoring load. That wasn't the case on Monday night as King and Sawyer both contributed heavily. King dropped 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Sawyer, coming off the bench, chipped in with 13 points and four rebounds. Among the freshmen, former Box Elder star Mandy Munns scored five points and grabbed six rebounds in her collegiate debut.
In the end, this game belonged to the defense. Jackson State shot 22 percent from the field in the second half, and aside from Beatrice Banks with 10 points didn't place anyone in double figures 
