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
1/28/2003 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 28, 2003
SALT LAKE CITY -
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
COMING UP:
The University of Utah women's basketball team (14-3, 4-0), the only remaining team in the Mountain West Conference without a loss in league play, travels to Brigham Young (12-5, 3-1) for a 4 p.m. game on Saturday, Feb. 1, at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah.
A QUICK LOOK AT UTAH:
The Utes notched a 59-44 win, its sixth straight, at San Diego State on Saturday. Utah shot just under 44 percent from the field on the game, including 13-of-17 from the charity stripe. The Utes, who maintained control throughout the contest, also held San Diego State to just 38 percent shooting and out-rebounded the Aztecs 32 to 26. The Utes, who scored 24 points in the paint, got a big game from junior post player Carley Marshall, who led all scorers with 19 points. Freshman Kim Smith added 13 points, while junior Mandie Little and sophomore Shona Thorburn each finished with nine. Smith and Thorburn also pulled down a game-high nine rebounds. Thorburn also added four assists, one block and one steal.
On the season, Utah is led by Smith, who averages 17.0 points and 7.3 rebounds. Thorburn adds 15.4 points and a team-high 3.3 assists, and Marshall contributes 10.9 points and 5.8 rebounds. As a team, the Utes are holding opponents to just 50.1 points a game, which leads the nation.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:
The Cougars suffered their first conference loss of the season last Saturday, losing 73-69 at UNLV. With just under five minutes to play, All-American Erin Thorn tied the game at 61. Two free throws later she gave BYU its first lead of the contest, 63-61. UNLV's Sherry McCracklin tied up the game again with two free throws of her own, followed by two more foul line points by Constance Jinks with 2:58 left. Thorn kept the game close after putting in her fifth trey of the night to give BYU its second lead, 66-65. Julia Gray then hit one of two free throws for a 66-66 tie. BYU's Danielle Cheesman made two free throws for a 68-66 Cougar lead, but UNLV's Sherry McCracklin tied the game up once again at 68-68 with just over a minute left. With 1:39 showing on the scoreboard, BYU's point-guard Kestlee Nelson would score the final point for the Cougars sinking the second of two free throws. UNLV would pick up its final four points from the charity stripe to hand BYU the loss, despite the back that the Cougars battled back from a 26-point 47-21 half time deficit.
Thorn led all scorers with 25 points and eight assists. Freshman Jen Overdiek had a season-high 15 points coming off the bench, while Cheesman finished with 13 points and team-high eight boards.
On the season, BYU has three players averaging double figures scoring: Thorn (18.8), Leitner (12.6) and Cheesman (10.7). Leitner averages a team-high 8.7 rebounds, while Thorn dishes out 5.0 assists and nabs 1.9 steals per game.
SERIES SHORTS:
* Utah leads the series with the Cougars 47-27. The Utes are 25-7 at home, 15-14 away and 7-6 at a neutral site vs. BYU. In their last meeting on Feb. 23, 2002, the Cougars won 62-53 in Provo.
MWC STANDINGS
Conference Overall
W L Pct. W L Pct.
UTAH 4 0 1.000 14 3 .824
BYU 3 1 .750 12 5 .706
UNLV 2 1 .667 11 5 .688
Wyoming 2 2 .500 12 5 .706
Colorado State 2 2 .500 11 7 .611
New Mexico 1 2 .333 11 5 .688
San Diego State 0 3 .000 6 9 .400
Air Force 0 3 .000 6 10 .375
JANUARY 27, 2003 ASSOCIATED PRESS TOP 25
Rank School 02-03 Total Last
(1st-place Votes) Record Points Week
1 Duke (41) 19-0 1,073 1
2 Connecticut (2) 18-0 1,033 2
3 Kansas State 18-1 965 3
4 Tennessee 16-3 937 4
5 LSU 17-1 914 6
6 Stanford 15-2 808 5
7 North Carolina 16-2 791 9
8 Texas Tech 16-2 788 7
9 Louisiana Tech 14-2 740 11
10 Purdue 16-3 711 12
11 Texas 12-5 554 17
12 Arkansas 16-4 540 8
13 Mississippi State 14-4 532 14
14 Penn State 16-5 472 13
15 Minnesota 15-3 438 10
16 South Carolina 14-4 431 15
17 Vanderbilt 12-6 316 18
18 Georgia 14-4 276 24
19 Oklahoma 13-5 251 22
20 Villanova 14-3 186 20
21 Wisconsin-Green Bay 16-3 183 16
22 UC Santa Barbara 13-3 181 21
23 Ohio State 15-3 175 -
24 Arizona 13-5 149 19
25 Washington 15-3 124 -
Others receiving votes: Boston College 70, Rutgers 67, Colorado 53, Notre Dame 53, Cincinnati 44, Auburn 29, DePaul 21, Illinois 16, UTAH 16, Virginia Tech 15, George Washington 7, Georgetown 4, Baylor 3, Creighton 3, Michigan 3, Chattanooga 2, Indiana State 1.
JANUARY 28, 2003 USA TODAY/ESPN COACHES POLL
Rank School 02-03 Total Last
(1st-place Votes) Record Points Week
1 Duke (35) 19-0 994 1
2 Connecticut (5) 18-0 963 2
3 Kansas State 18-1 907 3
4 Tennessee 16-3 874 4
5 LSU 17-1 841 6
6 North Carolina 17-2 716 9
7 Stanford 15-2 695 5
8 Texas Tech 16-2 683 7t
9 Purdue 16-3 669 11
10 Louisiana Tech 15-2 640 12
11 Arkansas 16-4 574 7t
12 Mississippi State 14-4 541 13
13 Texas 12-5 503 16
14 Minnesota 15-3 439 10
15 Penn State 16-5 423 15
16 South Carolina 14-4 395 14
17 Vanderbilt 12-6 314 17
18 Oklahoma 13-5 272 22
19 UC-Santa Barbara 13-3 211 21
20 Georgia 14-4 169 NR
21 Villanova 14-3 163 24
22 Arizona 13-5 157 19
23 Wisconsin-Green Bay 16-3 126 18
24 Notre Dame 11-6 115 23
25 Boston College 13-4 113 25
Others receiving votes: Ohio State (15-3) 95; Tulane (13-4) 58; Cincinnati (15-3) 50; Colorado (14-3) 36; DePaul (14-6) 31; Rutgers (10-5) 31; Auburn (14-4) 27; Chattanooga (15-3) 22; Florida International (14-5) 16; Liberty (14-3) 16; Washington (15-3) 16; Illinois (12-5) 15; UTAH (14-3) 13; Xavier (13-5) 13; Santa Clara (13-5) 11; Florida State (13-5) 9; Virginia Tech (13-4) 7; Clemson (11-7) 6; Michigan (11-6) 6; George Washington (12-5) 5; Houston (10-7) 5; Pepperdine (13-5) 4; Brigham Young (12-5) 3; Louisville (12-6) 3; Miami (Fla.) (12-5) 2; Montana State (12-4) 2; Southern Methodist (11-6) 1.
MWC LEADERS:
As a team, the Utes lead the conference in six statistical categories: scoring defense (50.1), field goal percentage defense (.364), scoring margin (+17.1), rebounding defense (33.3), turnover margin (+4.3) and three-point field goal average (7.7). Utah ranks second in three-point field goal percentage (.366), free throw percentage (.742) and assist/turnover ratio (0.96), and third in rebounding margin (+3.4) and rebounding offense (36.6).
Individually, freshman Kim Smith ranks second in three-point field goal percentage (.477), fourth in scoring (17.0), rebounding (7.3) and three-point field goal average (2.4), fifth in offensive rebounds (2.8), sixth in defensive rebounds (4.5), ninth in free throw percentage (.769), 11th in field goal percentage (.472), 14th in steals (1.5) and blocked shots (0.4).
Sophomore Shona Thorburn is third in both three-point field goal average (2.6) and assist/turnover ratio (2.0), sixth in scoring (15.4), seventh in defensive rebounds (4.4), eighth in three-point field goal percentage (.370), ninth in assists (3.3), 10th in free throw percentage (.759) and 13th in rebounding (5.3).
Junior Carley Marshall ranks fifth in blocked shots (1.2), seventh in field goal percentage (.500), eighth in free throw percentage (.780), 11th in rebounding (5.8) and offensive rebounds (1.9), 12th in defensive rebounds (3.9) and 14th in scoring (10.9).
Point guard Kelsy Stireman is eighth in assist/turnover ratio (1.4), tied for 10th in steals (1.7) and 11th in assists (3.1). Meanwhile, junior Mandie Little ranks seventh in offensive rebounds (2.7) and ninth in rebounding (5.9).
Sophomore Lana Sitterud is tied for 10th in steals (1.7), and freshman Julie Wood is fourth in three-point field goal percentage (.426) and eighth in three-point field goal average (1.4).
In conference-only statistics, as a team, the Utes rank in the top three in every statistical category but three, for which they rank fourth. Individually, Smith leads the league in rebounding (8.0), and Thorburn, Smith and Marshall rank fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively, in scoring. Thorburn is also third in assists.
RANKING NATIONALLY:
Utah currently leads the nation in scoring defense, and ranks 12th in scoring margin and 23rd in average margin of victory. Individually, freshman Kim Smith is tied for seventh nationally in three-point field goal percentage and sophomore Shona Thorburn is tied for 21st in three-point field goal average in statistics through Jan. 20.
DEFENSIVE DOMINANCE:
Utah has held each of its last six opponents to 50 points or less and has held all but two of its opponents this season under 60 points. 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, field goal percentage defense, rebounding defense and scoring margin.
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.
THORBURN MWC PLAYER OF THE WEEK JAN. 12-18:
Sophomore guard Shona Thorburn was named Mountain West Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 12-18, 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).
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 on Jan. 16. Elliott has averaged better than 20 wins a year in her 20 seasons at Utah.
UTES ON THE RADIO:
Utah's game against BYU 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 wrap up the first half of the conference season by hosting Air Force and New Mexico next week. Utah faces Air Force at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 6, and New Mexico at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 8.
Utah: 66, Cincinnati: 73 | Big 12 Tournament | Utah Basketball Postgame Press Conference
Wednesday, March 11
Utah: 75, Baylor: 101 | Utah Basketball Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, March 08
Utah: 78, Colorado: 92 | Utah Basketball Postgame Press Conference
Wednesday, March 04
Utah: 81, Colorado: 67 | Women's Basketball Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, March 01