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
11/15/2003 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 15, 2003
SALT LAKE CITY -
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COMING UP:
The No. 19 Utah women's basketball team plays in the second round of the Preseason WNIT against No. 18 UC Santa Barbara at 7 p.m. (PDT) Monday, Nov. 19, in the Thunderdome. The game will be broadcast over the Internet at www.utahutes.com.
A QUICK LOOK AT UTAH:
The Utes defeated Southeast Missouri State 76-65 in the first round of the Preseason WNIT Friday night. Utah shot 51 percent from the field on the game (28-of-55), including 44 percent from behind the arc. Utah out-rebounded SEMS 33-25 and forced 16 Otahkian turnovers. SEMS also committed 21 fouls, compared to the Utes' eight.
Sophomore Shona Thorburn had a game-high 24 points. She also added eight rebounds, three assists and three steals. Sophomore Kim Smith had 17 points and nine rebounds, while senior Carley Marshall finished with 12 points. Junior Lana Sitterud chipped in nine points and senior point guard Kelsy Stireman dished out five assists.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:
Defending Big West Champion UCSB, featuring four all-conference returnees, has won 24 consecutive home games, including a 82-44 rout of San Diego Saturday afternoon in the first round of the WNIT. The Gauchos dominated the game, shooting 58 percent from the field and holding the Toreros to just 28 percent. UCSB also out-rebounded San Diego 43-26 and forced 29 Torero turnovers.
The Gauchos were led by Kristen Mann with 15 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals. Lisa Willett added 13 points, while Autumn Nichols finished with 10. April McDivitt and Mia Fisher each dished out five assists on the game.
SERIES SHORTS:
Utah leads the all-time series with the Gauchos 3-1. In their last meeting, on Dec. 17, 1996, UCSB won 73-57 in Santa Barbara. Utah is 1-0 at home, 1-1 away and 1-0 at a neutral site vs. the Gauchos.
UTAH AND THE PRESEASON WNIT:
This is Utah's second appearance in the preseason WNIT, now in its 10th year. In 1995, the Utes defeated Oregon 73-61 in the first round, before falling 63-61 in overtime to Colorado, the eventual tournament champion.
A team may participate in the WNIT no more than once in a four-year period. Additionally, only one institution per conference may play in the tournament in the same year.
More detailed Preseason WNIT information, including an updated bracket, tournament records and results, can be found online at www.womensnit.com.
2003-04 AP PRESEASON POLL
Rank School 03-04 Total 03-04 (first-place vote) Record Points Rank1. Connecticut (47) 37-1 1,175 1 2. Duke 35-2 1,117 2 3. Texas 29-6 1,071 5 4. Tennessee 33-5 983 4 5. Kansas State 29-5 981 8 6. Stanford 27-5 844 9 7. Purdue 29-6 833 10 8. Penn State 26-9 830 15 9. LSU 30-4 824 3 10. Texas Tech 29-6 807 7 11. Georgia 21-10 652 19 12. Louisiana Tech 31-3 646 6 13. Minnesota 25-6 589 17 14. North Carolina 28-6 548 12 15. Notre Dame 21-11 405 21 16. Rutgers 21-8 403 23 17. Ohio State 21-10 351 20 18. UC Santa Barbara 27-5 346 18 19. Utah 24-7 314 NR 20. Colorado 24-8 231 NR 21. Oklahoma 19-13 227 NR 22. Auburn 23-11 217 NR 23. Arizona 22-9 199 22 24. TCU 20-14 150 NR 25. Virginia 17-14 133 NR
Others receiving votes: George Washington 71, Vanderbilt 64, Boston College 45, Washington 32, DePaul 30, Michigan State 29, Villanova 28, Virginia Tech 21, Illinois 14, Baylor 12, Southwest Missouri State 8, Arizona State 7, Harvard 6, Miami 6, Cincinnati 5, BYU 4, Louisville 4, Saint Joseph's 4, Creighton 2, New Mexico 2, Arkansas 1, Liberty 1, Montana 1, Pittsburgh 1, Western Michigan 1.
2003-04 ESPN/USA TODAY PRESEASON POLL
Rank School 03-04 03-04 Total (first-place vote) Record Rank Points1. Connecticut 37-1 1 1000 2. Duke 35-2 4 932 3. Texas 29-6 3 896 4. Tennessee 33-5 2 883 5. Kansas State 29-5 10 824 6. Texas Tech 29-6 6 727 7. Stanford 27-5 14 688 8. Penn State 26-9 12 630 9. Purdue 29-6 7 621 10. LSU 30-4 5 605 11. Georgia 21-10 11 550 12. Louisiana Tech 31-3 9 507 13. Minnesota 25-6 13 472 14. North Carolina 28-6 15 467 15. Ohio State 21-10 NR 314 16. Notre Dame 21-11 21 291 17. Rutgers 21-8 NR 276 18. UC Santa Barbara 27-5 22 272 19. Utah 24-7 NR 271 20. Colorado 24-8 19 241 21. Oklahoma 19-13 NR 184 22. Arizona 22-9 NR 153 23. TCU 20-14 NR 150 24. Virginia 17-14 NR 133 25. Auburn 23-11 NR 109
Others receiving votes: George Washington 108; Boston College 94; Villanova 70; Virginia Tech 64; Vanderbilt 57; DePaul 53; South Carolina 48; Washington 44; Mississippi State 29; Arkansas 28; Michigan State 27; Cincinnati 21; Liberty 18; Old Dominion 14; Creighton 11; Houston 11; New Mexico 10; Western Kentucky 10; Chattanooga 9; Southwest Missouri State 9; Clemson 8; Wisconsin-Green Bay 8; North Carolina-Wilmington 7; Saint Joseph's 7; Charlotte 6; Colorado State 6; Arizona State 4; Pepperdine 4; Xavier 4; Iowa 3; Florida State 2; Oregon 2; Toledo 2; UCLA 2; Brigham Young 1; Holy Cross 1; Middle Tennessee 1; Montana 1.
UTES PICKED TO WIN MOUNTAIN WEST:
The Utah women's basketball team was selected as the unanimous favorite by the league's head coaches and select media to win the 2003-04 Mountain West Conference crown. The Utes received all possible first-place votes to repeat as MWC regular-season champions (coaches cannot vote for their own team). Brigham Young picked up the other first-place vote and edged New Mexico by one point to place second. Colorado State followed the Lobos at fourth place, with UNLV, San Diego State, Wyoming and Air Force rounding out the poll.
2003-04 MWC PRESEASON POLL
Rank Team (first-place votes) Points 1. Utah (19) 1522. BYU (1) 120 3. New Mexico 119 4. CSU 98 5. UNLV 85 6. San Diego State 57 7. Wyoming 54 8. Air Force 28
SMITH, THORBURN NAMED TO PRESEASON ALL-MWC TEAM:
Sophomore Kim Smith has been tabbed as the MWC preseason Player of the Year and sophomore Shona Thorburn was also named to the preseason all-conference team.
Smith earned Top Returning Player honors following a freshman campaign that saw her named MWC Player and Newcomer of the Year (a conference first), Kodak honorable mention All-America, and a Freshman All-American by both Full Court Press and womenscollegehoops.com. She is one of 35 players and just three athletes nationally named to the Wade Trophy preseason watch list.
Thorburn, a second-team all-conference pick last year, ranked sixth in the league in scoring, averaging 14.7 points per game. She led Utah in assists (3.3 per game) and minutes played (36.5) last season.
UTES IN THE POLLS:
Utah has been ranked as high as No. 13 nationally in the preseason polls. The ESPN/USA Today poll, voted on by member coaches of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), as well as the Associated Press writers poll, ranked Utah at No. 19. SLAM Magazine tabbed the Utes at No. 13, while Lindy's picked Utah as No. 15, and both Street & Smith and Athlon put the Utes at No. 20. Full Court Press put the Utes tied for No. 21 with Arizona.
SMITH RECOGNIZED BY ESPN:
Utah sophomore All-America candidate Kim Smith has been honored by espn.com as the sixth-best wing in the nation. Wings are classified as "those players who make that pull-up jumper seem easy and slash to the hoop better than just about anybody else."
Listed ahead of Smith were the nation's leading scorer last season, two of the best players in the SEC, the best player in the Pac-10 and one of the top athletes in the Big Ten (Chandi Jones of Houston, Seimone Augustus of LSU, Tan White of Mississippi State, Nicole Powell of Stanford and Shereka Wright of Purdue).
In addition, Smith is currently featured in a preseason poll regarding women's basketball. In question 3, "Who is the most underrated player in the country," Smith is one of six players listed as choices. The poll can be found at: http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/polling?event_id=4
DEFENSIVE DOMINANCE:
Utah led the nation in scoring defense last season, giving up just 50.6 points per game. It was the third time in four years that the Utes had been the top defensive team in the country. Utah held 13 opponents under 50 points, including three under 40 and one to just 22 points. The Utes only allowed seven opponents to 60 points or more on the year.
What's more, as a team, Utah shot .417 last season, but allowed just nine opponents to reach that mark.
HOME SWEET HOME:
The Utes have now won 17 games in a row at home, dating back to the last three home games of the 2001-02 season. Last year, the Utes went a perfect 13-0 at home. It was the ninth time Utah recorded an undefeated home season in the program's 30 years of existence.
UTES ON THE RADIO:
All of Utah's games this season will be broadcast on KALL-700 AM. Anchoring the broadcast team is KALL-700 AM Sports Director Brad Stone. In his 14th year with the station, Stone is the host of the Ute men's basketball and football game broadcasts. Stone is also the host of the "Redzone," an hour-long show devoted to Ute sports that airs from 9-10 a.m. Monday-Friday.
Utah's 2003-04 road games will be called by Chris Tunis, who served as the president of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association from 1999-2001. Tunis has been selected as Utah Sportscaster of the Year seven times by his peers.
INTERNET AUDIO/VIDEO BROADCASTS:
All regular-season Utah women's basketball home games will be available to be seen and heard on the Internet. To get to the game broadcasts, go to http://155.99.112.235/wbball/ or go to the women's basketball page at www.utahutes.com and click on "Watch/Listen to Utah Home Games Live."
To watch/listen to the broadcasts, you are encouraged to a have high speed internet connection. You will also need to have QuickTime Player installed on your computer. QuickTime Player is free software available at http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/. Although this is an Apple product, it can be loaded onto both Apple and PC machines.
UP NEXT:
Should the Utes defeat UC Santa Barbara, they will face the winner of the No. 6/10 Texas Tech-Western Kentucky game on Thursday, Nov. 20.
Players Mentioned
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