Completed Event: Women's Basketball at Eastern Kentucky on March 19, 2026 , Loss , 58, to, 72
Final Score
Women's Basketball
58
at Eastern Kentucky
72
The University of Utah Athletics
Utah Women's Basketball To Face Manukau Auckland
10/31/2000 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Oct. 31, 2000
Salt Lake City - COMING UP: Utah will open it's season at home with an exhibition game against Manukau Auckland (New Zealand) on Thurs., Nov. 2, at 5:00 p.m.
A QUICK LOOK AT UTAH: For the first-time in school history, Utah begins a season as the defending regular-season and conference tournament champions. The Utes return four starters and 11 letterwinners from a team which posted an 11-3 league record and a 23-8 overall mark. Utah, which led the nation in scoring defense and made its 10th appearance in the NCAA tournament a year ago, has won or shared a conference title each of the past five years.
Possible starters for the Utes in the match-up against Manukau Auckland (New Zealand) are: Sarah Wobbe (So., G) or Whitney Sutak (So., G), Kristina Andersen (Sr., F), Amy Ewert (Sr., F/G), Lindsay Herbert (Jr., G/F) or Lori Red-Castagnetto (Sr., F) and Lauren Beckman (Jr., F/C). Utah's 1999-2000 final RPI ranking, produced by the Jeff Sagrin Women's College Basketball Ratings, was 44th out of 316 teams. The Mountain West Conference was 9th out of 32 conferences.
SCOUTING MANUKAU AUKLAND (New Zealand): Manukau Auckland opens its 2000-2001 tour at the University of Utah on Nov. 2. The team will play nine games over a 12 day span. Manukau Aukland has 11 players on the roster with their ages varying from 20-32 years old. Head coach Darcy J.R. Solomon and assistant coach Samuel R. Noon will lead Manukau Auckland on their nine-game tour of the U.S.A.
SERIES SHORTS: Utah and Manukau Auckland (New Zealand) will meet for the first time ever on Thurs., Nov. 2.
QUOTING ELLIOTT: On the upcoming Manukau Auckland (New Zealand): "The game on Thursday will be a new practice and scrimmage situation for us and that's how we'll view it. Since we've only been practicing for two and one-half weeks, this game will give us the opportunity to see what is transferring at this point in the season. We'll get it on film and learn whatever we can from it, so that is our approach going into the game on Thursday."
UP NEXT: Utah will host the NWBL in another exhibition game on Sat., Nov. 11, at 3:30 p.m. The Utes open their regular-season schedule on the road at UCLA on Fri., Nov. 17 at 7:00 p.m. (PST). On Sun., Nov. 19, Utah will face Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa at 1:00 p.m. (CST). The Utes are back at home for the next seven games, opening up with Montana Tech on Wed., Nov. 22, at 7:00 p.m. On Sat., Nov. 25, Utah will take on the Weber State Wildcats at the Jon M. Huntsman Center at 3:00 p.m. The Utes will host Pacific on Wed., Nov. 29 at 7:00 p.m.
HEAD COACH ELAINE ELLIOTT: The winningest coach in school history, Elaine Elliott has kept the winning tradition alive since earning the head coaching position in 1983-84. She has posted a 346-148 (.700) career record in 17 seasons. In the last 10 years alone, Elliott has guided the Utes to eight 20-win seasons, five 1st-place, three 2nd-place and two third-place finishes in conference play. Overall, Elliott has led the Utes to twelve 20-win seasons and three 19-win seasons, averaging 20 wins per season. Elliott was named the 1999-2000 IKON/WBCA Division I District 7 Coach of the Year and the 1999-2000 inaugural Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year..
UTES ON THE RADIO/TV: Utah women's basketball is back on KALL 910-AM this season. KALL will carry 26 regular-season games and all postseason contests live. Clear Channel is in the third year of a four-year contract as the exclusive radio home of University of Utah sports.
Anchoring the broadcast team is KALL-910 AM Sports Director Brad Stone. Stone will broadcast the women's home games, while Kent Rupe will call the road games
As part of its agreement with the University of Utah, KJZZ-TV is scheduled to televise the Utah-BYU game on Feb. 26 live from the Huntsman Center. KJZZ is also tentatively scheduled to televise one of the Utes' games in the MWC Tournament.
Veteran sportscaster Steve Brown will call the Ute women's basketball games on KJZZ.
PRACTICE SCHEDULE: The Utes practice from 3:30-6:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri. in the Jon M. Hunstman Center on the University of Utah campus. All practice times and dates are tentative and subject to change. For regular scheduled practice times, please contact Julie Lapomarda. Utah Women's Basketball practices are closed to the media. To set up interviews before or after practice with Head Coach Elaine Elliott or Ute players, please contact Julie Lapomarda women's basketball SID at: (801) 581-3771 (office), or at (801) 468-0571 (home).
POST-GAME SERVICES/INTERVIEWS: Head Coach Elaine Elliott and Utah players will be available for interviews outside the Utah lockerroom following a 10 minute cooling off period. A member of the Utah sports information staff will gather interview requests immediately following the match. Box scores will be provided and faxed upon request.
WEEKLY INTERVIEWS: Members of the media who wish to interview Head Coach Elaine Elliott should contact her at her office (801-581-7037) between 12:30 to 2:00 p.m. weekdays. Interviews with the athletes should be arranged through Julie Lapomarda (801-581-3771).
THE MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE: The newest conference in the nation has quickly emerged as one of the best. The Mountain West Conference, which officially commenced operation on July 1, 1999, sent two basketball teams to NCAA post-season play and one team to the WNIT in its first year. League champion Utah and runner-up BYU made it to the NCAA First Round, while Colorado State made it to the WNIT Semifinals.
MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEDIA INFORMATION: Ron Christian, Assistant Director of Communications, handles all information requests related to women's basketball at the Mountain West Conference office. The MWC address is P.O. Box 35760, Colorado Springs, CO 80935-3567. The MWC telephone number is (719) 533-9500. The fax number is (719) 533-9512.
FACTS AND FIGURES: With a 23-8 overall record, Utah posted its sixth consecutive, and 18th overall, 20-win season. The Utes' .742 overall winning percentage equaled the tenth-best in school history. Utah equaled the eleventh-best conference winning percentage in school history last season (11-3, .786). Utah finished first in the MWC, marking its 26th consecutive upper-division finish in conference play. The 1999-2000 season marks the first-ever Utah women's basketball team to win both the regular-season title and the conference tournament championship. Utah won the regular-season title with an impressive 92-42 win at home over Air Force. The Utes ended their conference schedule with an 11-3 mark. Utah claimed the first-ever McLeodUSA Mountain West Conference Tournament with a 61-47 win over BYU, in Las Vegas, Nev.
1999-2000 ACCOLADES: Regular-season and tournament champion Utah placed the most individuals on the all-conference list with three second-team selections in junior Lauren Beckman and seniors Kristina Andersen and Amy Ewert. After leading Utah to the inaugural regular-season title and its sixth consecutive 20-win season, Elaine Elliott was named 2000 Mountain West Conference Women's Basketball Coach of the Year. Tiana Fuertes was selected as the Mountain West Conference Tournament MVP and teammate Kristina Andersen was selected to the MWC All-Tourney team. Andersen, Beckman, Ewert, Caroline Matthews, Lori Red-Castagnetto, Lindsay Sodja-Boudreau and Janna Whitman earned Academic All-Mountain West Conference recognition. Andersen and Beckman were also named Mountain West Conference Scholar-Athletes in 1999-2000.
NATIONALLY SPEAKING: Utah led the nation in scoring defense in 1999-2000, holding their opponents to an average of 52.2 points per game. Utah was fourth in the nation in field goal percentage defense (34.8%) and 3-point field goal percentage (40.1%). The Utes were 19th in scoring margin (13.0 margin) and 24th in 3-point field goals made per game (6.5 per game). Erin Gibbons was seventh in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage and Lauren Beckman was 26th in the nation in blocked shots (2.0 bpg).
UTES AND THE NCAAS: Utah made its 10th appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 1999-00, and stand 1-10 in NCAA Tournament play. The Utes, seeded No. 11 in the Midwest Region, lost to Illinois, 73-58 in the first round at Ames, Iowa.
THE FANS: In 13 games at home, the Utes brought in 10,484 fans in 1999-00, an average of 806 fans per game. The Mountain West Conference as a whole ranks in 6th in the nation in attendance. In 115 total games or sessions, the MWC has brought in 257,276 fans.
UTAH CAREER-LIST: Tiana Fuertes ended her career on Utah's all-time career leaders list in 3-point field goals, 3-point field goal attempts, 3-point field goal percentage, assists and assists average.
1999-2000 INDIVIDUAL AND TEAM NOTES: Junior center Lauren Beckman led the team in scoring and rebounding, averaging 10.7 points per game (19th in MWC) and 6.7 rebounds per game (5th in MWC). Beckman was second in the Mountain West Conference in blocked shots (2.03) and sixth in free-throw percentage (.779) and field goal percentage (.500). Senior forward Kristina Andersen was the team's second leading scorer and rebounder (9.9 ppg, 22nd in MWC, 5.0 rpg, 16th in MWC). Andersen was fifth in the MWC in 3-point field goal percentage (.411), eighth in field goal percentage (.486) 11th in blocked shots (0.63) and 14th in 3-point field goals made (1.23).Senior Amy Ewert, who averaged 8.2 points and 3.8 boards per game, ranked sixth in the league in blocked shots (0.80). Ewert was 10th in steals (1.80), 12th in assists (2.77) and 14th in field goal percentage (.449). Senior forward Lori Red-Castagnetto was eighth in 3-point field goal percentage (.386) and was fourth on the team in scoring (7.0 ppg). Coming off the bench for the Utes, junior Erin Gibbons was third nationally (first in MWC) in 3-point field goal percentage (.480) and ninth in the MWC in 3-point field goals made (1.57/game).
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