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The University of Utah Athletics
Utah Women's Basketball Notes
11/25/2003 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 25, 2003
SALT LAKE CITY -
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COMING UP:
The No. 19/22 Utah women's basketball team (1-1) plays Western Kentucky (1-1) in the first round of the Fresno State Classic at 5 p.m. (PDT) Friday, Nov. 28, in the Save Mart Center. The other first-round game is Fresno State vs. Louisiana-Monroe.
A QUICK LOOK AT UTAH:
The Utes fell to No. 18 UC Santa Barbara 52-44 in the second round of the Preseason WNIT on Nov. 17. Utah shot just 33 percent from the field on the game and only 18 percent (5-of-28) from downtown. The Utes were out-rebounded 36-34 by a much bigger Gaucho team. Sophomore Shona Thorburn led Utah with 14 points, 12 of which came from three-pointers. Sophomore Kim Smith added 13 points and seven rebounds. Senior Kelsy Stireman dished out five assists to lead the Utes.
On the season, Utah is led by Thorburn and Smith, who average 19.0 and 15.0 points per game, respectively. Smith is averaging a team-high 8.0 rebounds, while Stireman averages 3.5 assists per game.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:
A late first-half run and solid shooting proved to be the difference as No. 6 Texas Tech buried Western Kentucky 88-47 win in the second round of the Preseason WNIT on Nov. 16. The Lady Toppers shot 31 percent from the field on the game, compared to the 47 percent of Texas Tech. Camryn Whitaker led the Lady Toppers with 11 points, while Carla Bartee scored ten points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
Western Kentucky has three players averaging 10 or more points this season, led by Bartee with a 13.0 average. Elisha Ford adds 12.5 points per game, while Whitaker averages 10.0. Bartee also averages a team-high 8.5 rebounds per game and Charlotte Marshall adds 8.0 boards per contest.
SERIES SHORTS:
Utah trails the all-time series with the Lady Toppers 1-4. The last time the two teams met, on Nov. 27, 1995, the Utes won 83-77 in Salt Lake City. Utah is 1-1 at home, 0-2 away and 0-1 at a neutral site vs. Western Kentucky.
ESPN/USA TODAY POLL NOV. 23, 2003
Rk. School 03-04 Total Last (first-place votes) Record Points Week1. Connecticut (40) 0-0 1000 1 2. Texas 2-0 950 3 3. Tennessee 0-0 885 4 4. Duke 1-1 847 2 5. Texas Tech 3-0 812 6 6. Purdue 1-0 791 9 7. Stanford 1-0 754 7 8. Penn State 1-0 678 8 9. Kansas State 1-1 668 5 10. Georgia 1-0 593 11 11. Minnesota 1-0 507 13 12. Louisiana Tech 1-0 503 12 13. North Carolina 1-0 477 14 14. LSU 1-2 472 10 15. Rutgers 3-0 366 17 16. Colorado 3-0 364 20 17. Ohio State 1-0 340 15 18. UC Santa Barbara 2-1 309 1819. Utah 1-1 229 19 20. Notre Dame 2-1 221 16 21. Arizona 1-0 188 22 22. Oklahoma 1-0 160 21 23. TCU 1-0 156 23 24. Virginia 1-0 108 24 25. George Washington 0-1 83 NR
Others receiving votes: Oregon 72, Boston College 69, Auburn 60, Virginia Tech 55, DePaul 30, Arkansas 23, South Carolina 21, Washington 20, Michigan State 17, Cincinnati 16, Vanderbilt 16, Arizona State 13, Houston 13, Villanova 12, Creighton 11, Wisconsin-Green Bay 11, Old Dominion 9, Chattanooga 8, Coloardo State 8, Mississippi State 8, SMS 8, UNC-Wilmington 7, Clemson 6, Pepperdine 4, Toledo 4, Xavier 4, Charlotte 3, Iowa 3, Florida State 2, Montana 2, Saint Josephs 2, UCLA 1, Western Kentucky 1.
AP TOP 25 POLL NOV. 25, 2003
Rk. School 03-04 Total Last (first-place votes) Record Points Week1. Connecticut (47) 1-0 1,175 1 2. Texas 2-0 1,123 2 3. Tennessee 1-0 1,048 3 4. Duke 2-1 1,041 4 5. Texas Tech 4-0 957 7 6. Stanford 2-0 906 6 7. Penn State 1-0 893 9 8. Purdue 1-1 814 5 9. Kansas State 1-1 812 8 10. Georgia 1-0 720 10 11. Minnesota 2-0 705 13 12. Louisiana Tech 1-0 676 11 13. North Carolina 2-0 614 14 14. Ohio State 2-0 457 16 15. Rutgers 3-1 412 15 16. UC Santa Barbara 2-1 351 18 17. Notre Dame 2-1 336 20 18. LSU 1-2 321 12 19. Oklahoma 1-0 318 21 20. Colorado 3-1 312 16 21. Arizona 1-0 248 2222. Utah 1-1 231 19 23. TCU 1-0 215 23 24. Oregon 2-0 212 24 25. Auburn 2-1 75 25
Others receiving votes: Virginia Tech 65, Virginia 42, Boston College 41, DePaul 27, Baylor 20, Vanderbilt 18, Washington 18, Illinois 14, Michigan St. 11, Michigan 9, George Washington 5, Villanova 5, Arizona State 4, Cincinnati 4, New Mexico 4, Harvard 3, Maryland 3, Pittsburgh 3, Houston 2, SW Missouri St. 2, Arkansas 1, Montana 1, Saint Joseph's 1.
MWC STANDINGS
W L Pct.Colorado State 2 0 1.000 BYU 1 0 1.000 New Mexico 1 0 1.000UTAH 1 1 .500 San Diego State 1 1 .500 UNLV 1 1 .500 Air Force 0 2 .000 Wyoming 0 2 .000
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.
SMITH, THORBURN NAMED PRESEASON ALL-MWC:
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.
SMITH RECOGNIZED BY ESPN:
Utah sophomore All-America candidate Kim Smith was 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).
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.
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.
UTES ON THE RADIO:
All but three 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.
The three games that won't be on KALL are Dec. 16, Feb. 21 and March 6. However, those three games will be broadcast via the Internet at www.utahutes.com.
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.
UTES TO MAKE FIVE TELEVISION APPEARANCES:
Utah will make a school-record five regular-season appearances on television this season. ESPN2 will televise the New Mexico at Utah matchup on Jan. 25, along with the title game of the conference tournament. Fox Sports Net will regionally televise three regular-season contests, including Utah at Colorado State (Jan. 17), Utah at UNLV (Feb. 8) and BYU at Utah (Feb. 28). MWC women's basketball will make its debut on College Sports Television (CSTV) when New Mexico hosts Utah on Feb. 19. CSTV will also televise the MWC Tournament semifinal games on March 12.
UP NEXT:
Utah will play either Fresno State of Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday, Nov. 29. Should the Utes play Louisiana-Monroe, the game will begin at 5 p.m. (PDT). If Utah plays Fresno State, the game will be played at 7 p.m.
Players Mentioned
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