Completed Event: Women's Basketball at Eastern Kentucky on March 19, 2026 , Loss , 58, to, 72
Final Score
Women's Basketball
58
at Eastern Kentucky
72
The University of Utah Athletics
Utah Women's Basketball Notes
2/14/2003 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 14, 2003
LARAMIE, Wyo. -
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COMING UP:
The league-leading University of Utah women's basketball team (17-4, 7-1) travels to Laramie, Wyo., for a match-up against the Wyoming Cowgirls (15-6, 5-3) at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 14, at the Auditorium Arena.
A QUICK LOOK AT UTAH:
Utah suffered its first conference loss of the season Thursday night, falling 56-44 at Colorado State. The Utes struggled offensively on the night, connecting on just 14-of-50 shots from the field (28 percent), tying a season low set in the first of two games (a loss) against Montana. The loss snapped a nine-game winning streak for the Utes.
Freshman Kim Smith led Utah with 17 points, followed by sophomore Shona Thorburn with 16. The next closest Utah scorer was sophomore Lana Sitterud with five points. Thorburn and junior Carley Marshall each pulled down nine rebounds to lead Utah.
On the season, the Utes are paced by Smith, who averages 17.0 points and 7.3 rebounds. Thorburn adds 15.1 points and a team-high 3.3 assists, while junior Carley Marshall contributes 10.3 points and 5.9 rebounds. Junior Mandie Little pulls down 6.0 boards per game.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:
In a defensive battle, the Cowgirls (15-6, 5-3) defeated Brigham Young 66-59 in Laramie on Thursday night. It was the first time in head coach Cindy Fisher's career that she has defeated the Cougars, and first time since the 1997-98 season that a Cowgirl team has defeated a BYU team.
Cowgirl senior Ann McColl led all scorers with 18 points. She was 7-of-9 from the field and 4-of-6 from the free throw line in 20 minutes of play. Ashley Elliott and Brenda Pickup also finished in double-figures with 13 and 10 respectively. Elliott also finished the night with a team-leading six rebounds. Wyoming shot 42 percent (20-of-48) from the field and 24-of-32 (.750) from the free throw line.
On the season, the Cowgirls are led by senior Carrie Bacon, who averages 13.0 points and 6.4 rebounds. McColl and Elliott add 11.9 and 11.8 points per game, respectively. Elliott and Pickup lead Wyoming with 3.3 assists per game averages.
SERIES SHORTS:
* Utah leads the all-time series with the Cowgirls 46-6. In their last meeting on Jan. 16, 2003, the Utes won easily, 63-47, at the Huntsman Center. The Utes are 24-1 at home, 20-5 away and 2-0 at a neutral site vs. Wyoming.
MWC STANDINGS
Conference Overall W L Pct. W L Pct.UTAH 7 1 .875 17 4 .810Wyoming 5 3 .625 15 6 .714 BYU 5 3 .625 14 7 .667 UNLV 4 3 .571 13 7 .650 New Mexico 3 4 .429 13 7 .650 Colorado State 3 5 .375 12 10 .545 San Diego State 2 5 .286 8 11 .421 Air Force 1 6 .143 7 13 .350
FEBRUARY 10, 2003 ASSOCIATED PRESS TOP 25
Rank School 02-03 Total Last (1st-place Votes) Record Points Week1 Connecticut (44) 22-0 1,100 1 2 Duke 21-1 1,041 2 3 Tennessee 20-3 996 3 4 LSU 20-1 974 4 5 Kansas State 21-2 886 5 6 Stanford 19-2 845 6 7 Texas Tech 19-2 840 7 8 North Carolina 21-2 834 7 9 Purdue 19-3 742 10 10 Louisiana Tech 19-2 734 9 11 Texas 15-5 642 11 12 Penn State 20-5 600 13 13 Arkansas 18-5 539 14 14 Georgia 16-5 476 17 15 South Carolina 17-5 432 16 16 Mississippi State 16-6 429 12 17 Minnesota 17-4 327 15 18 Vanderbilt 15-7 311 18 19 Villanova 17-4 282 22 20 UC Santa Barbara 17-3 279 19 21 Wisconsin-Green Bay 19-3 225 21 22 Ohio State 17-5 203 25 23 Rutgers 14-5 122 - 24 Arizona 16-6 113 - 25 Boston College 15-6 96 23
Others receiving votes: UTAH 58, Oklahoma 43, Washington 41, DePaul 21, Colorado 15, Charlotte 12, George Washington 8, Virginia Tech 8, Indiana State 7, Illinois 5, Tulane 4, Auburn 3, Austin Peay 2, Xavier 2, Baylor 1, Cincinnati 1, Montana State 1.
FEBRUARY 11, 2003 USA TODAY/ESPN COACHES POLL
Rank School 02-03 Total Last (1st-place Votes) Record Points Week1 Connecticut (40) 22-0 1000 1 2 Duke 22-1 947 2 3 Tennessee 20-3 915 3 4 LSU 20-1 880 4 5 Kansas State 21-2 836 5 6 Stanford 19-2 750 7 7 North Carolina 21-2 746 6 8 Texas Tech 19-2 737 8 9 Purdue 19-3 665 9 10 Louisiana Tech 19-2 629 10 11 Texas 15-5 549 12 12 Penn State 20-5 537 14 13 Arkansas 18-5 501 13 14 Mississippi State 16-6 422 11 15 South Carolina 17-5 397 15 16 Georgia 16-5 393 18 17 UC-Santa Barbara 17-3 351 17 18 Minnesota 17-4 286 16 19 Vanderbilt 15-7 280 19 20 Villanova 17-4 265 22 21 Wisconsin-Green Bay 19-3 157 23 22 Boston College 15-6 144 20 23 Arizona 16-6 105 25 24 Ohio State 17-5 90 NR 25 Rutgers 14-5 71 NR
Others receiving votes: Oklahoma (14-8) 51; UTAH (17-3) 45; Liberty (19-3) 34; Washington (17-5) 25; Charlotte (16-5) 21; Florida International (15-6) 18; Auburn (16-6) 14; Cincinnati (17-5) 14; Colorado (17-4) 14; DePaul (17-7) 14; Indiana State (17-3) 14; Santa Clara (15-6) 14; Tulane (14-7) 11; Virginia Tech (16-5) 11; Chattanooga (18-4) 10; Florida State (15-6) 9; Notre Dame (13-8) 7; Illinois (14-6) 5; Georgia Tech (14-7) 3; Montana State (16-4) 3; Marquette (12-9) 2; Miami (Fla.) (14-7) 2; Pepperdine (16-6) 2; Maine (16-4) 1; Saint Joseph's (14-8) 1; Western Illinois (13-6) 1; Xavier (15-7) 1.
MWC PRESEASON MEDIA POLL
Rank Team (first-place votes) Points1 BYU (8) 110 2 Colorado State (7) 103 3 New Mexico (1) 914 UTAH 70 5 UNLV 69 6 Wyoming 49 7 San Diego State 31 8 Air Force 17
MWC LEADERS:
As a team, the Utes lead the conference in five statistical categories: scoring defense (50.4), scoring margin (+15.6), rebounding defense (33.8), turnover margin (+4.57) and three-point field goal average (7.8). Utah ranks second in three-point field goal percentage (.361), field goal percentage defense (.366), free throw percentage (.750) and assist/turnover ratio (0.96), and third in rebounding margin (+2.5) and steals (9.6).
Individually, freshman Kim Smith leads the conference in three-point field goal percentage (.455), ranks third in rebounding (7.3), fourth in scoring (17.0) and three-point field goal average (2.4), fifth in both offensive rebounds (2.8) and defensive rebounds (4.5), eighth in free throw percentage (.786), ninth in field goal percentage (.460) and 12th in blocked shots (0.4).
Sophomore Shona Thorburn is second in assist/turnover ratio (1.9), third in three-point field goal average (2.5), fourth in defensive rebounds (4.6), fifth in assists (3.3), sixth in scoring (15.1), 10th in free throw percentage (.757) and three-point field goal percentage (.351) and 11th in rebounding (5.6).
Junior Carley Marshall is fifth in blocked shots (1.1), seventh in field goal percentage (.471) and free throw percentage (.790), ninth in rebounding, tied for ninth in defensive rebounds (4.0), 10th in offensive rebounds (1.9) and 17th in scoring (10.3).
Point guard Kelsy Stireman is sixth in assist/turnover ratio (1.3), eighth in steals (1.7) and ninth in assists (3.1). Meanwhile, junior Mandie Little ranks third in offensive rebounds (2.9), eighth in rebounding (6.0) and 15th in blocks (0.4).
Sophomore Lana Sitterud is 12th in three-point field goal average (1.1), tied for 13th in steals (1.5) and 14th in three-point field goal percentage (.319), while freshman Julie Wood is fourth in three-point field goal percentage (.404) and 10th in three-point field goal average (1.2).
In conference-only statistics, as a team, the Utes lead the conference in three categories and rank in the top four in every statistical category but three. Individually, several Utes rank in the Top 5: Smith is third in scoring, third in rebounding, tied for third in three-point field goal made and second in defensive rebounds; Thorburn is fifth in scoring, fourth in assists, tied for third in three-point field goals made, fourth in defensive rebounds and third in assist/turnover ratio; Marshall is tied for fourth in blocked shots and tied for fifth in free throw percentage; and Little is third in offensive rebounds.
FRESHMAN PHENOM:
Freshman Kim Smith is putting up remarkable numbers. With 17.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, she leads the team in scoring, rebounding, field goals made, three-point field goal percentage and free throws made. She also leads all MWC freshmen in points and ranks second in rebounds, having had three games with 10 or more boards. The frosh is the only player in the conference to score double figures in every game and has had four games with 20 points or more. Her scoring average is the most-ever by a freshman in the history of the Mountain West. Additionally, with 358 points on the season, she is just 51 shy of breaking the MWC freshman scoring record (409), set by BYU's Erin Thorn in 1999-2000.
RANKING NATIONALLY:
Utah currently leads the nation in scoring defense, and ranks 13th in scoring margin and 25th in average margin of victory. Individually, freshman Kim Smith ranks tied for second nationally in three-point field goal percentage in statistics through Feb. 10.
DEFENSIVE DOMINANCE:
Utah has held eight of its last 10 opponents to 50 points or less and has held all but three of its opponents this season under 60 points. The Utes, who are shooting 41 percent from the field this season, have only allowed four opponents (New Mexico State, Mississippi State, Weber State and New Mexico) to reach that mark.
In conference games, the Utes are holding opponents to just 37 percent from the field while shooting 39 percent. In addition, only two Mountain West teams (New Mexico and Colorado State) have surpassed 50 points vs. Utah.
HOME SWEET HOME:
The Utes, 10-0 at home this season, have the longest home winning streak in the Mountain West at 13 straight. The last time the Utes lost in the Huntsman Center was Jan. 31, 2002, when they fell to UNLV 79-71.
THORBURN MWC PLAYER OF THE WEEK JAN. 12-18:
Sophomore Shona Thorburn was named Mountain West Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 12-18, marking her first career award. A 5-10 guard from Hamilton, Ontario (Westdale HS), Thorburn recorded a career-high 29 points in a 73-50 victory over Colorado State last Saturday, including 7-of-15 from three-point range. She also grabbed four rebounds and four steals vs. the Rams. Thorburn scored a game-high 19 points in the 63-47 conference opening win over Wyoming, while connecting on 6-of-9 field goals. For the week, Thorburn averaged 24 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.5 blocks per game, while shooting 50 percent from the field (15-of-30) and 42 percent from beyond the arc (8-of-19).
ELLIOTT JOINS 400-WIN CLUB:
Head Coach Elaine Elliott became just the 38th Division I women's basketball coach to reach 400 career victories with a win over Wyoming on Jan. 16. Elliott has averaged better than 20 wins a year in her 20 seasons at Utah.
UTES ON THE RADIO:
Utah's game against Wyoming will be broadcast live on KALL 910-AM. The game will be called by Chris Tunis, who served as the president of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association from 1999-2001. A graduate of San Diego State, Tunis has been selected as Utah Sportscaster of the Year seven times by his peers.
UP NEXT:
The Utes return home for a pair of games against San Diego State and UNLV. Utah hosts the Aztecs at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 20, and the Rebels at 3 p.m. next Saturday, Feb. 22.
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