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The University of Utah Athletics
Utah Women's Basketball Notes
12/25/2003 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 25, 2003
SALT LAKE CITY -
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COMING UP:
The No. 23/25 Utah women's basketball team (7-3) travels to Flagstaff, Ariz., for a 2 p.m. game at Northern Arizona (5-2) this Sunday, Dec. 28. The game will be broadcast live in Salt Lake City on KALL-700 AM and on the Internet at www.utahutes.com.
A QUICK LOOK AT UTAH:
The Utes (7-3) defeated Weber State 51-38 at home last Saturday. Utah shot 41 percent from the field on the game and held Weber State to just 33 percent. The Utes also out-rebounded the Wildcats 34-30. However, Utah committed a season-high 20 turnovers in the victory and was 0-for-10 from three-point range. Senior Mandie Little had her first double-double of the season, finishing with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while senior Kelsy Stireman scored a season-high 15 points. She also added a career-high seven steals and grabbed four rebounds. Junior Lana Sitterud dished out five assists and nabbed a career-high four steals on the game.
For just the second time in her career, sophomore All-America Kim Smith was held under 10 points. She finished with five, but pulled down eight rebounds.
On the season, the Utes are led by Smith, who averages 16.3 points and 6.5 rebounds, and sophomore Shona Thorburn, who adds 13.8 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game. As a team, Utah is shooting 46 percent from the field on the year.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:
Northern Arizona (5-2) came back from an eight-point second-half deficit to a 63-58 win over New Orleans last Friday in the second game of the Beach Classic. NAU held the Privateers to just 35 percent from the floor and 27 percent from three-point range, and forced 24 New Orleans turnovers. NAU wasn't much better, shooting 39 percent for the game - but made 50 percent (9-of-18) of its shots over the final 16 minutes to key the comeback. Freshman Alyssa Wahl, who scored 13 of her game-high 19 points in the second half, led a group of four Lumberjacks in double-digit scoring. Senior Alexis Rhodes recorded 13 points, three assists and three steals, while freshman Vanessa Campillo added 10 points, three assists, two blocks and two steals. Senior Lacey Tolbert finished with 10 points and a team-best four assists. Freshman Laura Dinkins, in her first start of the year, corralled a team season-high 13 rebounds.
The Lumberjacks are led this season by Wahl, who averages 14.1 points and 6.7 rebounds, and Rhodes, who adds 11.9 points per game. Lacey Tolbert averages 5.0 assists per game. As a team, Northern Arizona is shooting 42 percent from the field on the season.
SERIES SHORTS:
Utah is undefeated all-time against the Lumberjacks (6-0). The last time the two teams met, on Jan. 11, 2003, Utah won 55-40 at the Huntsman Center. The Utes are 4-0 at home and 2-0 away vs. Northern Arizona.
AP TOP 25 POLL DEC. 22, 2003
Rk. School 03-04 Total Last (first-place votes) Record Points Week1. Connecticut (45) 8-0 1,172 1 2. Tennessee (2) 7-0 1,116 2 3. Texas Tech 11-0 1,055 4 4. Duke 7-1 1,050 3 5. Texas 10-1 996 5 6. Purdue 8-1 885 8 7. Minnesota 8-0 882 9 8. Louisiana Tech 7-1 810 12 9. Stanford 7-2 793 7 10. Penn State 7-2 789 6 11. Kansas State 7-2 686 11 12. Georgia 7-2 650 10 13. Colorado 8-1 551 14 14. North Carolina 9-1 545 15 15. Oklahoma 8-1 494 13 16. Virginia Tech 8-0 447 17 17. LSU 8-2 399 16 18. Ohio State 7-1 369 18 19. TCU 8-1 229 22 20. Auburn 9-2 161 23 21. UC Santa Barbara 5-3 147 20 22. DePaul 10-1 136 NR23. Utah 7-3 126 19 24. Michigan State 8-1 116 24 25. Boston College 8-1 104 25
Others receiving votes: Vanderbilt 92, Oregon 76, Washington 73, George Washington 62, Baylor 52, Old Dominion 50, Villanova 49, Rutgers 42, Arizona 17, Miami 13, Florida 9, Clemson 8, Nebraska 7, Virginia 6, Notre Dame 5, Southwest Missouri State 4, Idaho 1, South Carolina 1.
ESPN/USA TODAY POLL DEC. 23, 2003
Rk. School 03-04 Total Last (first-place votes) Record Points Week1. Connecticut (39) 8-0 999 1 2. Tennessee (1) 7-0 955 2 3. Texas Tech 11-0 914 3 4. Duke 7-1 884 4 5. Texas 10-1 838 5 6. Minnesota 8-0 764 8 7. Stanford 7-2 701 7 8. Purdue 8-1 691 10 9. Penn State 7-2 641 6 10. Louisiana Tech 7-1 630 12 11. Georgia 7-2 601 9 12. Kansas State 7-2 551 11 13. Colorado 8-1 497 13 14. North Carolina 9-1 478 14 15. Virginia Tech 8-0 414 16 16. Oklahoma 8-1 398 15 17. Ohio State 7-1 359 17 18. LSU 9-2 287 18 19. TCU 8-1 242 19 20. Boston College 8-1 171 23 21. DePaul 10-1 123 NR 22. Oregon 8-2 116 21 23. UC Santa Barbara 5-3 113 22 24. Washington 7-2 104 2425. Utah 7-3 89 20
Others receiving votes: Vanderbilt 71; Michigan State 64; Rutgers 46; Arizona 40; Houston 37; Auburn 36; Clemson 35; George Washington 26; Old Dominion 17; Villanova 17; Baylor 13; Southern Mississippi 9; Marshall 6; Virginia 6; Southwest Missouri State 5; Florida 3; Montana 3; Arkansas State 2; Notre Dame 2; California 1; Colorado State 1.
MWC STANDINGS
W L Pct.UNLV 7 2 .778UTAH 7 3 .700 BYU 6 3 .667 Colorado State 6 3 .667 New Mexico 6 4 .600 San Diego State 4 5 .444 Air Force 3 6 .333 Wyoming 1 6 .143
MWC LEADERS:
As a team, the Utes rank in the top half of nearly every statistical category. Utah leads the conference in three-point field goal average (6.5) and rebounding defense (31.2), and ranks second in field goal percentage (.463), three-point field goal percentage (.392), assists (15.3), steals (9.1), assist/turnover ratio (1.1), scoring defense (56.2) and free throw percentage (.691), third in scoring margin (+10.4) and turnover margin (+2.7), and fourth in scoring (66.6) and rebounding margin (+2.4).
Individually, sophomore Kim Smith ranks third in scoring (16.3), fourth in field goal percentage (.517), fifth in both three-point field goal percentage (.450) and three-point field goal average (1.8), eighth in steals (1.6), ninth in offensive rebounds (2.4) and 10th in rebounding (6.5). Sophomore Shona Thorburn ranks second in assists (4.3), third in assist/turnover ratio (1.8), fourth in scoring (13.8), three-point field goal percentage (.452) and three-point field goal average (1.9), eighth in defensive rebounds (4.6), 13th in rebounding (6.0) and 14th in field goal percentage (.419). Senior Kelsy Stireman leads the league in steals (2.7) and ranks ninth in assists (2.7), while senior Carley Marshall is fifth in field goal percentage (.500). Sophomore Julie Wood leads the conference in three-point field goal percentage (.536) and ranks eighth in three-point field goal average (1.5). Senior Mandie Little is second in field goal percentage (.545) and seventh in offensive rebounds (2.5), while junior Lana Sitterud is 15th three-point field goal percentage (.282).
HOME SWEET HOME:
Utah, 5-0 at home this season, has now won 21 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.
DEFENSIVE HIGHS AND LOWS:
Last Saturday, Utah held Weber State to 38 points, the lowest scoring total by an opponent all season. The Utes also had 15 steals, four blocks and forced 21 Wildcat turnovers.
However, in last Tuesday's loss at Oregon State, the Beavers shot a blistering 63 percent from the field on the game. The last time Utah allowed an opponent to shoot 60 percent or higher was Jan. 23, 1992, when Creighton connected on 32-of-52 from the field for a 62 percent field goal percentage.
0-FER FROM DOWNTOWN:
In the Utes' win over Weber State last Saturday, Utah was 0-for-10 from three-point range. It was the first time since the formation of the Mountain West Conference (131 games) that the Utes failed to make a three-pointer.
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).
UTES ON THE RADIO:
All but two of Utah's remaining 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. Color commentary for Utah home games is done by Utah's all-time leading scorer, Julie Krommenhoek.
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 two games that won't be on KALL are 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 television appearances this season. ESPN2 will televise the New Mexico at Utah match-up on Jan. 25, and 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 games on March 12.
UP NEXT:
The Utes host San Francisco at 7 p.m. next Friday, Jan. 2, in the Huntsman Center. Utah is 2-0 this season against teams in the West Coast Conference.
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