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 Notes
1/21/2003 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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Jan. 21, 2003
SALT LAKE CITY -
COMING UP:
The University of Utah women's basketball team (12-3, 2-0) faces UNLV (10-4, 1-0) at 7:35 p.m. (PST) on Thursday, Jan. 23, at the Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nev.
A QUICK LOOK AT UTAH:
Head Coach Elaine Elliott collected her 401st career victory with an impressive 73-50 win over Colorado State in the Huntsman Center last Saturday. Utah shot nearly 45 percent on the game and held the Rams to just 38 percent, including a stretch where they went 2-of-18. Though the battle for boards was even (33 apiece), the Utes forced 21 Ram turnovers.
Sophomore Shona Thorburn led Utah with a career-high 29 points (including seven treys), four rebounds, four steals and two assists. Fellow Canadian Kim Smith notched a double-double with 17 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. She also added two assists, two steals and a block. Junior point guard Kelsy Stireman dished out a game-high seven assists, to go along with eight points and four steals.
CSU opened the game by taking a quick five-point lead. Utah then went on a 10-2 run, taking its first lead of the game with 8:43 left in the half, and led by nine at halftime. The Utes opened the second half by scoring the first six points as part of a 15-2 run, setting the stage for the rest of the game. Utah built its lead to as many as 23 points, aided by the hot hands of Thorburn, who hit five three-pointers in the second half alone.
Smith leads the Utes on the season with 17.1 points and 7.3 rebounds, with Thorburn adding 16.4 points. Junior Carley Marshall averages 10.1 points and junior Mandie Little adds 6.3 rebounds a game. Junior point guard Kelsy Stireman leads the team in assists (3.1) and steals (1.6). As a team, the Utes are holding opponents to just 50.6 points per game on 37 percent shooting.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:
UNLV opened conference play with a 50-48 win over San Diego State Saturday night. In the opening minutes, SDSU jaunted out to a 9-0 lead and held UNLV scoreless for more than six minutes. The Aztecs continued to stretch their lead out to as many as 13 points, as UNLV shot a dismal 30 percent from the floor and committed eight turnovers in the first half.
Down 23-19 at halftime, the Lady Rebels tied the game at 37 with 7:35 left in the game. A two-point jumper by SDSU's Veronica Shaw with 1:52 left gave the home team a one-point advantage. With mere seconds remaining, both teams traded free throws, but senior Julia Gray made two free throws to seal the deal for UNLV with :07 left on the clock.
Senior Constance Jinks led all scorers with a game-high 20 points, while Gray added nine. Junior Padra Strong contributed a career-high six rebounds.
On the season the Rebels are led by Jinks, who averages 21.6 points per game. Sherry McCracklin pulls down a team-high 7.7 rebounds per game, while Gray dishes out 4.6 assists per game. UNLV is being out-shot by opponents .423 to .421, but edge past opponents in rebounding, 35.8 to 35.6.
SERIES SHORTS:
* Utah leads the series with the Rebels 12-10. The Utes are 7-2 at home, 5-7 away and 0-1 at a neutral site vs. UNLV. In their last meeting on March 6, 2002, in the first round of the MWC Championship Tournament, UNLV won 57-38.
THORBURN MWC PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Sophomore guard Shona Thorburn was named Mountain West Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Week, marking her first career award.
A 5-10 sophomore from Hamilton, Ontario (Westdale HS), Thorburn recorded a career-high 29 points in a 73-50 victory over Colorado State last Saturday, including 7-of-15 from three-point range. She also grabbed four rebounds and four steals vs. the Rams.
Thorburn scored a game-high 19 points in the 63-47 conference opening win over Wyoming, while connecting on 6-of-9 field goals.
For the week, Thorburn averaged 24 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.5 blocks per game, while shooting 50 percent from the field (15-of-30) and 42 percent from beyond the arc (8-of-19).
MWC STANDINGS
Conference Overall
W L Pct. W L Pct.
UTAH 2 0 1.000 12 3 .800
BYU 2 0 1.000 11 4 .733
New Mexico 1 0 1.000 11 3 .786
UNLV 1 0 1.000 10 4 .714
San Diego State 0 1 0.000 6 7 .462
Air Force 0 1 0.000 6 8 .429
Wyoming 0 2 0.000 10 5 .667
Colorado State 0 2 0.000 9 7 .562
JANUARY 20, 2003 ASSOCIATED PRESS TOP 25
Rank School (1st-place Votes) 02-03 Record Total Points Last Week
1 Duke (41) 16-0 1,097 1
2 Connecticut (3) 16-0 1,058 3
3 Kansas State 17-1 980 4
4 Tennessee 14-3 930 5
5 Stanford 14-1 902 6
6 LSU 15-1 888 2
7 Texas Tech 15-1 865 7
8 Arkansas 16-2 805 10
9 North Carolina 15-1 757 8
10 Minnesota 15-1 690 12
11 Louisiana Tech 12-2 649 11
12 Purdue 14-3 624 9
13 Penn State 14-4 556 13
14 Mississippi State 13-3 528 15
15 South Carolina 14-3 430 14
16 Wisconsin-Green Bay 15-2 400 16
17 Texas 11-4 381 20
18 Vanderbilt 11-5 263 17
19 Arizona 12-4 243 22
20 Villanova 13-2 201 19
21 UC Santa Barbara 11-3 164 18
22 Oklahoma 11-5 163 23
23 Rutgers 9-4 129 -
24 Georgia 11-4 99 -
25 DePaul 13-4 97 25
Others receiving votes: Ohio State 95, Colorado 90, Notre Dame 69, Washington 52, Boston College 47, Cincinnati 10, Miami 10, Illinois 7, New Mexico 7, Virginia 6, Auburn 4, UTAH 2, Chattanooga 1, Virginia Tech 1.
JANUARY 21, 2003 USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll
Rank School (1st-place Votes) 02-03 Record Total Points Last Week
1 Duke (35) 17-0 994 1
2 Connecticut (5) 17-0 962 2
3 Kansas State 17-1 900 4
4 Tennessee 14-3 830 5t
5 Stanford 14-1 813 5t
6 LSU 15-1 811 3
7t Arkansas 16-2 749 9
7t Texas 15-1 749 7
9 North Carolina 15-2 640 10
10 Minnesota 15-1 611 11
11 Purdue 14-3 578 8
12 Louisiana Tech 12-2 542 12
13 Mississippi State 13-3 503 14
14 South Carolina 14-3 424 13
15 Penn State 14-4 420 15
16 Texas 11-4 380 18
17 Vanderbilt 11-5 311 16
18 Wisconsin-Green Bay 15-2 303 17
19 Arizona 12-4 256 21
20 DePaul 14-4 142 24
21 UC-Santa Barbara 11-3 136 19
22 Oklahoma 11-5 128 23
23 Notre Dame 10-6 115 20
24 Villanova 13-2 101 25
25 Boston College 11-4 93 22
Others receiving votes: Georgia (12-4) 90; Colorado (13-2) 67; Rutgers (9-4) 51; Cincinnati (13-3) 40; Chattanooga (14-2) 36; Tulane (12-4) 32; Ohio State (12-3) 28; Brigham Young (11-4) 18; Washington (13-3) 17; Auburn (13-3) 15; Florida International (12-5) 15; Liberty (12-3) 13; Miami (Fla.) (11-4) 12; Illinois (11-3) 11; Louisville (11-5) 10; Florida State (12-4) 9; New Mexico (11-3) 8; Wake Forest (10-5) 8; Michigan (10-5) 6; George Washington (10-5) 4; Maine (10-4) 3; Pepperdine (12-5) 3; Richmond (12-4) 3; Belmont (10-3) 2; West Virginia (10-4) 2; Houston (9-6) 1; Santa Clara (11-5) 1; UCLA (11-5) 1; UTAH (12-3) 1; Virginia Tech (12-4) 1; Wichita State (11-4) 1.
MWC LEADERS:
As a team, the Utes lead the conference in seven statistical categories: scoring defense (50.6), scoring margin (+17.9), rebounding defense (33.5), three-point field goal percentage (.369), free throw percentage (.743), turnover margin (+5.1) and three-point field goal average (7.9). Utah ranks second in field goal percentage defense (.368) and assist/turnover ratio (1.00), and third in scoring offense (68.5), rebounding margin (+3.4), rebounding offense (36.9) and steals (9.5).
Individually, freshman Kim Smith ranks second in three-point field goal percentage (.473), third in offensive rebounds (3.0), fourth in rebounding (7.3) and three-point field goal average (2.3), fifth in scoring (17.1), seventh in free throw percentage (.768) and defensive rebounds (4.3), 10th in field goal percentage (.477), tied for 10th in steals (1.6) and 12th in blocked shots (0.5).
Sophomore Shona Thorburn is third in both three-point field goal average (2.8) and assist/turnover ratio (1.8), sixth in scoring (16.4), seventh in three-point field goal percentage (.382), tied for seventh in defensive rebounds (4.3), eighth in free throw percentage (.750), 11th in assists (3.1) and 15th in both rebounding (5.2) and steals (1.5).
Junior Carley Marshall ranks sixth in free throw percentage (.780), seventh in blocked shots (1.1), eighth in field goal percentage (.496), 10th in defensive rebounds (3.8), 11th in rebounding (5.5), 12th in offensive rebounds (1.7) and 17th in scoring (10.1).
Point guard Kelsy Stireman is sixth in assist/turnover ratio (1.6), 10th in assists (3.1) and tied for 10th in steals (1.6). Meanwhile, junior Mandie Little ranks eighth in offensive rebounds (2.7), tied for eighth in rebounding (6.3) and 15th in defensive rebounds (3.5).
Sophomore Lana Sitterud is 13th in steals (1.5), and freshman Julie Wood is third in three-point field goal percentage (.452) and seventh in three-point field goal average (1.6).
In conference-only statistics, as a team, the Utes rank in the top three in every statistical category but two, for which they rank fourth. Individually, Thorburn leads the league in scoring (24.0) and three-point field goal average (4.0), while Smith is tops in rebounding (9.0), followed by Little (7.5).
ELLIOTT JOINS 400-WIN CLUB:
Head Coach Elaine Elliott became just the 38th Division I women's basketball coach to reach 400 career victories with a win over Wyoming last week. Elliott, who boasts a career record of 401-167 (.706), has averaged better than 20 wins in her 20 seasons at Utah.
DEFENSIVE DOMINANCE:
Utah has held all but two of its opponents this season under 60 points, including conference opponents Wyoming (47) and Colorado State (50). The Utes, who are shooting 42 percent from the field this season, have only allowed three opponents (New Mexico State, Mississippi State and Weber State) to reach that mark. The Utes lead the MWC in scoring defense, rebounding defense and scoring margin, and rank second in field goal percentage defense.
RANKING NATIONALLY:
Utah currently ranks second nationally in scoring defense (behind No. 2 Connecticut), 14th in scoring margin and 22nd in average margin of victory. Individually, freshman Kim Smith ranks fifth nationally in three-point field goal percentage through Jan. 13.
HOME SWEET HOME:
The Utes, 8-0 at home this season, have the longest home winning streak in the Mountain West at 11 straight. The last time the Utes lost in the Huntsman Center was Jan. 31, 2002, when they fell to UNLV 79-71. Utah won its 300th career game at home last week.
UTES ON THE RADIO:
Utah's game against UNLV will be broadcast live on KALL 910-AM. The game will be called by Chris Tunis, who served as the president of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association from 1999-2001. A graduate of San Diego State, Tunis has been selected as Utah Sportscaster of the Year seven times by his peers.
UP NEXT:
The Utes travel to San Diego, Calif., for a 5:05 p.m. (PST) game against San Diego State on Saturday, Jan. 25.
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