Leilani Mitchell had 14 points and 13 assists.

March 8, 2008

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Leilani Mitchell had 14 points and 13 assists and No. 15 Utah completed a regular-season sweep of the Mountain West Conference, routing UNLV 82-46 on Saturday and extending the Utes' winning streak to 22 straight games.

The Utes (27-3, 16-0 MWC) locked up the league title a week before, so all that was left was becoming the first team to go unbeaten in the conference since they did it in 2000-01. That Utah team went 28-4 and still holds the school record for victories in a season.

Utah still has the Mountain West and NCAA tournaments to get one more win to tie the record and two to set a new one. The way the Utes played Saturday, 30-plus wins looks distinctly possible.

Utah shot 50 percent, made 9 of 10 free throws and forced UNLV (8-21, 4-12) into 16 turnovers. The Utes also outrebounded the Rebels 45-29.

Mitchell, the 5-foot-5 sparkplug who transferred from Idaho for her senior season, was one rebound short of her first career triple-double. Kaylee Whipple had 20 points and seven rebounds, Morgan Warburton scored 12 and Deanne Stevenson had 10 points for Utah.

Mitchell and forward Jessica Perry were honored before their final home game as Utah's only seniors, and the Utes had a lead not after they opened the game 7-for-9 from the field.

Utah opened the game on an 11-4 run and UNLV called time out to try to cool off the Utes. It only seemed to rest them for an even bigger run. Utah scored the next 10 points and held the Rebels scoreless for 6:33. Sequioia Holmes finally broke the drought on a three-point play with 12:04 remaining, but that only got UNLV within 27-4.

Holmes scored 15 and Brittany Halberg had 14 points for UNLV, which shot 28 percent in the first half.