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The University of Utah Athletics
Utah Women's Basketball Notes
12/3/2003 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 3, 2003
SALT LAKE CITY -
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COMING UP:
The No. 19/23 Utah women's basketball team (4-1) hosts Gonzaga (2-3) at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 4, in the Jon M. Huntsman Center.
A QUICK LOOK AT UTAH:
All 11 Utes played as Utah won its 18th straight home game Tuesday night, defeating Saint Mary's 69-40. The Utes were 25-of-51 on the game (49 percent), while Saint Mary's made just 29 percent of its shots (15-of-52). Utah also out-rebounded the Gaels 41 to 27, had six steals and forced 19 Gael turnovers. Sophomore All-America candidate Kim Smith led Utah with 18 points, six rebounds and no turnovers. Sophomore Shona Thorburn posted her second consecutive double-double, finishing with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Senior Mandie Little was the third Ute in double-digit scoring with 10 points. Senior Carley Marshall dished out a team-high four assists, while senior Kelsy Stireman nabbed four steals.
On the season, Utah is led by Smith, who averages 17.8 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. Thorburn adds 14.0 points, 7.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:
Junior Raeanna Jewell scored a game-high 16 points off the bench to lead Gonzaga to a 69-48 victory over Yale in the consolation round of the Seattle Times Classic last Saturday. Ashley Burke added 13 points and Rachel Kane had 12. Jewell and Burke also had a game-high seven rebounds apiece.
The Bulldogs fell in the first round of the tournament 70-56 to host Washington. Sophomore Ashley Anderson led Gonzaga with 15 points and five rebounds. Kane added 12 points with four assists and four rebounds. Junior Anne Bailey rounded out the scoring chart, ending with 11 points and a game-high eight rebounds.
Gonzaga is led this season by Burke and Anderson, who average 13.6 and 12.6 points per game, respectively. Bailey averages a team-high 5.6 rebounds per game, while Shannon Mathews dishes out 4.4 assists per game.
SERIES SHORTS:
Utah leads the all-time series with the Bulldogs 2-0. The last time the two teams met, on Dec. 28, 1996, Utah won 90-60 at home. The Utes are 1-0 at home and 1-0 away vs. Gonzaga.
AP TOP 25 POLL DEC. 1, 2003
Rk. School 03-04 Total Last (first-place votes) Record Points Week1. Connecticut (46) 3-0 1,150 1 2. Texas 6-0 1,099 2 3. Tennessee 2-0 1,033 3 4. Duke 4-1 1,016 4 5. Texas Tech 6-0 957 5 6. Stanford 5-0 921 6 7. Purdue 4-1 836 8 8. Penn State 3-1 814 7 9. Minnesota 5-0 764 11 10. Louisiana Tech 2-0 696 12 11. Georgia 3-1 686 10 12. Kansas State 2-2 647 9 13. North Carolina 4-0 636 13 14. Ohio State 3-0 521 14 15. UC Santa Barbara 4-1 437 16 16. Oklahoma 4-0 405 19 17. Colorado 5-1 339 20 18. LSU 2-2 301 1819. Utah 3-1 290 22 20. Oregon 5-0 277 24 21. TCU 3-0 253 23 22. Rutgers 3-2 178 15 23. Virginia Tech 4-0 134 NR 24. Michigan State 4-0 133 NR 25. Auburn 4-2 71 25 Others receiving votes: Notre Dame 60, Arizona 47, Boston College 46, Baylor 34, DePaul 30, Virginia 29, Washington 23, Villanova 21, Clemson 18, Vanderbilt 17, Old Dominion 9, California 4, UCLA 4, Wisconsin-Green Bay 4, Hartford 3, Houston 3, Cincinnati 2, N.C. State 2.
ESPN/USA TODAY POLL DEC. 2, 2003
Rk. School 03-04 Total Last (first-place votes) Record Points Week1. Connecticut (39) 3-0 999 1 2. Texas (1) 6-0 957 2 3. Tennessee 2-0 913 3 4. Duke 4-1 847 4 5. Texas Tech 6-0 834 5 6. Stanford 5-0 803 6 7. Minnesota 5-0 726 9 8. Penn State 3-1 666 7 9. Georgia 3-1 614 10 10. Purdue 4-1 610 11 11. Louisiana Tech 2-0 595 12 12. North Carolina 4-0 542 13 13. Kansas State 2-2 508 8 14. Ohio State 3-0 479 14 15. Colorado 5-1 415 16 16. Santa Barbara 4-1 347 19 17. Oklahoma 4-0 345 20 18. TCU 3-0 237 22 19. Virginia Tech 4-0 227 24 20. Oregon 5-0 207 25 21. LSU 2-2 166 21 22. Rutgers 3-2 164 15 23. Utah 3-1 162 23 24. Boston College 4-0 103 NR 25. Arizona 3-2 99 18 Others receiving votes: Michigan State 82, Notre Dame 71, Washington 39, Auburn 38, DePaul 38, Houston 28, Vanderbilt 23, Baylor 18, Clemson 18, Villanova 13, Wisc. Green Bay 13, Cincinnati 10, Kent State 7, Virginia 6, George Washington 5, Florida State 4, Georgetown 4, Arkansas 3, Colorado State 3, Montana 3, Southern Miss 3, Arizona State 2, California 1, Harvard 1, Old Dominion 1.
MWC STANDINGS
W L Pct.UTAH 4 1 .800New Mexico 4 1 .800 Colorado State 3 1 .750 UNLV 3 1 .750 San Diego State 3 1 .750 BYU 3 2 .600 Wyoming 0 3 .000 Air Force 0 4 .000
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 percentage (.404), three-point field goal average (7.6) and assists (16.8), and ranks second in scoring margin (+14.8), field goal percentage (.474), scoring defense (53.0), rebounding defense (31.0), turnover margin (+4.4) and assist/turnover ratio (1.29), and fourth in scoring (67.8), field goal percentage defense (.382) and steals (9.2).
Individually, sophomore Kim Smith ranks second in scoring (17.8), third in three-point field goal percentage (.526), fourth in three-point field goal average (2.0) and field goal percentage (.583), eighth in rebounding (7.0) and defensive rebounds (4.6), and 10th in offensive rebounds (2.4). Sophomore Shona Thorburn leads the league in assist/turnover ratio (3.67), ranks second in defensive rebounds (6.0) and three-point field goal average (2.2), third in assists (4.4), fourth in rebounding (7.6), and sixth in both scoring (14.0) and three-point field goal percentage (.478). Senior Kelsy Stireman ranks second in steals (2.8) and seventh in both assists (3.6) and assist/turnover ratio (0.95), while senior Carley Marshall is 11th in field goal percentage (.471). Sophomore Julie Wood is first in three-point field goal percentage (.579) and second in three-point field goal average (2.2). Senior Mandie Little is tied for first in field goal percentage (.625).
CLEARING THE BENCH:
In Tuesday's win over Saint Mary's, all 11 members of the team played. Newcomers Camie Allen and Kim Hemenway each played eight minutes, while freshmen Shauna Brouillard and Heidi Carlsen logged 10 and 12 minutes, respectively.
DANGEROUS FROM DOWNTOWN:
The Utes were on fire from three-point range last weekend at the Fresno State Classic. Not only did Utah tie the school record for treys (13) in its win over Fresno State, but the Utes shot a blistering 83 percent from downtown in the second half of the Western Kentucky game. Sophomore Julie Wood hit 75 percent of her shots from beyond the arc, while Kim Smith shot 73 percent from three-point range. On the week, Utah shot 62 percent from downtown, compared to the 27 percent in its first two games.
DARLING OF THE DISH:
Sophomore Shona Thorburn dished out 15 assists (including a career-high-tying nine against Western Kentucky) in the two games of the Fresno State Classic last weekend for a 7.5 per game average. On the season, Thorburn is averaging 4.4 assists per game.
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 '03-04 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 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 18 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 in Salt Lake City. 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.
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 road games are called by Chris Tunis, who served as the president of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association from 1999-2001. Tunis has been Utah Sportscaster of the Year seven times.
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/.
UTES TO MAKE FIVE TELEVISION APPEARANCES:
Utah will make a school-record five regular-season television appearances this season. ESPN2 will televise the New Mexico at Utah game on Jan. 25, along with the title game of the conference tournament. Fox Sports Net will regionally televise three regular-season contests - 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 travel to Norman, Okla., where they will face No. 16/17 Oklahoma at 2 p.m. (CDT) this Sunday, Dec. 7.
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