Trying to explain why her Utes couldn't execute during the second 20 minutes of Saturday's game with the same skill as the first 20, or attempting to get her team back on track? It's probably a coin flip.

In the end, though, despite losing nearly all of a 21-point first-half lead, Utah held its poise and wound up defeating visiting Eastern Michigan going away, 70-56, at the Huntsman Center.

"Peaks and valleys," Elliott said. "We really haven't had too many of them.

"It was a good test. Eastern didn't roll over and die. We needed to have a game like that."

Truly, the nonconference tilt was three games in one. The first began with Utah - most notably forward Kalee Whipple - on fire on the offensive end. During the first 13 minutes of the second half, Eagle point guard Canea Williams sparked a furious EMU comeback, only to see her Utah counterpart, Leilani Mitchell, take over the game for good.

"It was all about heart," said Williams, who finished with 23 points, including five three-pointers. "At halftime, we mostly talked about heart."

Utah (11-3), a winner of six straight, made Eastern Michigan (6-6) pay for opening with a zone defense by making 8 of 12 shots, including 5 of 6 from the three-point arc. Whipple had 13 points midway through the first half as the Utes built a 35-14 lead.

The Eagles eventually pulled to within 51-49 and had possession with more than seven minutes to play. Mitchell, though, shrugged off a slow start and hit a pair of threes and four foul shots to key a late Ute surge.

Fortunately for Utah, Mitchell displayed her senior cool by scoring 16 of her team-high 21 in the second half.

"They did a good job and I forced some things," said Mitchell about her performance in the first half. "In the second half, I just slowed things down and let the game come to me."

Meanwhile, despite Eastern Michigan's decided height advantage in the post, the Utes outrebounded the Eagles by 40-32. Whipple, who finished with 20 points, had a game-high nine rebounds.

Utah's Morgan Warburton shook off a poor shooting night - 6-for-16 - to score 15 with eight boards.

"We knew our shots would start falling," Whipple said of stopping the EMU comeback. "It was all about our defense stepping up."

martyr@sltrib.com