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The University of Utah Athletics
Utah Women's Basketball Notes
12/15/2003 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 15, 2003
SALT LAKE CITY -
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COMING UP:
The No. 21/22 Utah women's basketball team (6-2) travels to Corvallis, Ore., for a 7 p.m. (PDT) game at Oregon State (4-3) this Tuesday, Dec. 16. The game will be broadcast live on www.utahutes.com.
A QUICK LOOK AT UTAH:
Utah won its 20th straight home game last Saturday, a 61-51 victory over Washington State. The Utes shot 43 percent from the field on the game, compared to the 31 percent of the Cougars. Utah also out-rebounded Washington State 34-25. Sophomore All-America candidate Kim Smith led Utah with 17 points and seven rebounds, while sophomore Shona Thorburn added 16 points, seven rebounds, six assists and two steals. Senior Carley Marshall finished with 10 points and six rebounds and senior Mandie Little pulled down seven boards.
On the season, Utah is led by Smith, who averages 17.4 points and 6.4 rebounds, and Thorburn, who adds 13.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists. As a team, the Utes are shooting 48 percent from the field and out-rebounding opponents 34.5 to 31.3.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:
Oregon State (4-3) saw its nine-game home winning streak come to an end last Saturday when it fell 71-69 to Southwest Missouri State. The leading scorer for the Beavers was senior Hollye Chapman with 23 points, 17 of them coming in the second half. Chapman also added nine boards and four assists. Senior Krystal Turner reached a season-high 17 points, coupled with nine rebounds and five assists. Senior Brina Chaney added 10 points and four rebounds.
The Beavers are led this season by Chapman, who averages 11.4 points and 7.4 rebounds. Leilani Estavan adds 9.9 points and 4.9 assists. Oregon State is outscoring opponents 63.6 to 56.4 and out-rebounding them 38.4 to 34.1.
SERIES SHORTS:
Utah trails the all-time series with the Beavers 4-6. The last time the two teams met, on Nov. 29, 2001, Utah won 58-46 in Salt Lake City. The Utes are 3-2 at home, 1-3 away and 0-1 at a neutral site vs. Oregon State.
MWC LEADERS:
As a team, the Utes rank in the top half of nearly every statistical category. Utah leads the conference in field goal percentage (.477), three-point field goal percentage (.418), rebounding defense (31.2), three-point field goal average (7.0) and assists (15.8), and ranks second in assist/turnover ratio (1.2), third in scoring (69.1), turnover margin (+2.5), scoring defense (56.5), scoring margin (+12.5) and free throw percentage (.699), and fourth in rebounding margin (+3.2) and field goal percentage defense (.392).
Individually, sophomore Kim Smith leads the league in field goal percentage (.574), and is third in scoring (17.4), fourth in both three-point field goal average (1.9), sixth in offensive rebounds (2.5) and 11th in rebounding (6.4). Sophomore Shona Thorburn ranks second in assists (4.8), fifth in defensive rebounds (5.4), sixth in three-point field goal average (1.8), eighth in scoring (13.2), ninth in both rebounding (6.8) and assist/turnover ratio (2.1) and 12th in three-point field goal percentage (.438). Senior Kelsy Stireman ranks second in steals (2.3) and eighth in assists (3.1), while senior Carley Marshall is sixth in field goal percentage (.492) and 12th in free throw percentage (.833). Sophomore Julie Wood is tied for first in free throw percentage (1.000), second in three-point field goal percentage (.577) and fourth in three-point field goal average (1.9). Senior Mandie Little is second in field goal percentage (.560), while senior Kim Hemenway is tied for first in free throw percentage (1.000) and fifth in three-point field goal percentage (.500). Junior Lana Sitterud is eighth in assist/turnover ratio (2.1) and freshman Camie Allen is 15th in free throw percentage (.800).
HOME SWEET HOME:
The Utes have now won 20 games in a row at home, dating back to 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. The Utes' last home loss came on Jan. 31, 2002, when Utah fell 79-71 to UNLV.
RANKED VS. UNRANKED:
Utah is 0-2 vs. ranked teams and 6-0 vs. unranked teams this season. In its six wins, Utah has shot 50 percent from the field, 53 percent from three-point range, and has outscored opponents 74.0 to 54.7. In its two losses, the Utes have combined for 46-of-114 (40 percent) from the field and just 7-of-42 (17 percent) from downtown.
RANKING NATIONALLY:
In NCAA statistics through games of Dec. 8, sophomore Julie Wood ranked fourth nationally in three-point field goal percentage (.625).
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).
SMITH, THORBURN NAMED PRESEASON ALL-MWC:
Sophomore Kim Smith was 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 sophomores 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).
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 in Salt Lake City. 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 Utah women's basketball home games are 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 match-up 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:
The Utes return home for one last game before the holidays at 3 p.m. next Saturday, Dec. 20, when they host Weber State. Utah fell to the Wildcats last season for just the fifth time ever.
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