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The University of Utah Athletics
Utah Women's Basketball Notes
11/28/2003 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 28, 2003
FRESNO, Calif. -
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COMING UP:
The No. 19/22 Utah women's basketball team (2-1) plays host Fresno State (1-1) in the championship of the Fresno State Classic at 7 p.m. (PDT) Saturday, Nov. 29, in the Save Mart Center. The game will be broadcast live on KALL-700 AM in Salt Lake City and will also be available online at www.utahutes.com.
A QUICK LOOK AT UTAH:
Utah improved to 2-1 on the season with an 84-55 rout of Western Kentucky in the Fresno State Classic Friday night. The Utes shot 54 percent from the field on the game, including a blazing 57 percent from downtown. Utah also edged the Lady Toppers in rebounding 35-34 and forced 19 Western Kentucky turnovers. Sophomore All-America candidate Kim Smith and sophomore Julie Wood led Utah with 19 points apiece. Smith, who played just 26 minutes after getting into foul trouble early, connected on 57 percent of her shots (8-of-14), while Wood made 6-of-8 (75 percent) of her shots, all from three-point range, for the career high. Senior Carley Marshall added 14 points and sophomore Shona Thorburn chipped in nine. Smith led the Utes with seven rebounds, followed by Thorburn, senior Kelsy Stireman and freshman Camie Allen with six each. Thorburn also led Utah with a career-high-tying nine assists.
On the season, Utah is led by Smith and Thorburn, who average 16.3 and 15.7 points per game, respectively. Smith is averaging a team-high 7.7 rebounds, while Thorburn adds 6.0 boards and 4.7 assists per game.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:
The Bulldogs (1-1) produced an 88-56 rout of Louisiana-Monroe in the opening round of the Fresno State Classic. Fresno State made 34 of 67 from the field (51 percent), scoring 45 in the first half and 43 in the second. Five different Bulldog players reached double figures in the win, led by junior Aritta Lane with 16. Sophomore Lauren Selmon and freshman Jasmine Plummer both established career highs with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
Fresno State is led on the season by Lane, who averages 20.0 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. As a team, the Bulldogs are shooting 41 percent from the field on the year and average 69.5 points per game.
SERIES SHORTS:
Utah leads the all-time series with the Bulldogs 10-2. The last time the two teams met, on Dec. 7, 2002, the Utes won 64-57 in Salt Lake City. Utah is 6-0 at home, 3-2 away and 1-0 at a neutral site vs. Fresno State.
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 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.
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 host Saint Mary's at 7 p.m. next Tuesday, Dec. 2, in the Huntsman Center.
Players Mentioned
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