Salt Lake City (Dec. 22, 1999) USF women's basketball lost to Utah in the first game of 1999 and the Lady Dons hoped to pick up their last victory of the 1990's in the return game and place a four game winning streak under the Christmas tree. Utah once again played the grinch. USF could not overcome a blistering first-half shooting performance by Utah and despite a late run fell 75-62 in the Huntsman Center. The loss snapped a three game winning streak for the Lady Dons (5-5) and the Utes (8-2) extended their victory string to seven games.

San Francisco looked sharp in the early going but the Utes caught fire from long distance hailing down six 3-pointers in the final 10 minutes of the first half. The Lady Dons trailed by 10 points at halftime, 37-27 as Utah shot at a blistering .600 (12-20) in the first period, .500 (6-12) from beyond the 3-point arc.

After trailing by as many as 15 points in the second half, the Lady Dons mounted a late rally and trimmed the deficit to seven points with 3:48 remaining in the contest, 62-55 but could not close the gap. USF began the second half in serious foul trouble and were in the double bonus situation with 9:53 remaining and the Utes took full advantage of their 17 trips to the charity stripe converting on 28-36 (.778) for the game.

Senior forward, Sarah Winless led the way for the Lady Dons offensively with 15 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots. Senior guard Jennifer Adkins pumped in 14 points and three steals, while sophomore guard Lindsey Huff added 10 points six assists and four rebounds for USF.

USF returns to action Sunday, January 2, 2000 when they host defending Pac-10 Champion Oregon at War Memorial Gym. Game time is 2:00 PM.