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
2/18/2003 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 18, 2003
SALT LAKE CITY -
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COMING UP:
The league-leading University of Utah women's basketball team (18-4, 8-1) hosts San Diego State (8-12, 2-6) at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 20, in the Jon M. Huntsman Center.
A QUICK LOOK AT UTAH:
The Utes remained 2 ? games ahead of the competition in the Mountain West Conference with a 70-59 win over Wyoming in Laramie last Saturday. Utah shot 49 percent from the field on the game, while the Cowgirls connected on 20-of-47 shots (43 percent). The Utes also made an amazing 26-of-27 from the free throw line (96 percent), out-rebounded Wyoming 25-24 and forced 15 Cowgirl turnovers, including 12 in the second half.
Freshman Kim Smith led all scorers with 28 points. She also added three rebounds and two blocks. Sophomore Shona Thorburn added 14 points, while Carley Marshall finished with 11. Marshall also pulled down a team-high five rebounds, while junior point guard Kelsy Stireman dished out five assists.
On the season, the Utes are led by Smith, who averages 17.5 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. Thorburn adds 15.0 points and a team-high 3.3 assists per game, while Marshall averages 10.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:
UNLV's Constance Jinks scored a game-high 20 points to lead the Lady Rebels past the Aztecs, 81-61, last Saturday. Aztec senior guard Jamey Cox led the team in scoring for the ninth time this season, recording 16 points, including four three-pointers. Freshman forward Ashlee Dunlap tallied double-figures in her fifth straight game, putting up 14 points and nine boards to just miss her MWC-leading ninth double-double of the season before fouling out with a little over three minutes remaining. Senior Tynisha King was the third SDSU player to record double-digits with a career best 11 points on 4-for-4 shooting from the field.
The first half went back and forth through the first nine minutes as the two teams traded leads and were tied five times each. At the 9:37 mark, Jinks hit a free throw to give her team a 18-17 advantage. Five minutes later, UNLV built its lead up to double-figures as a three-point field goal by Infini Robinson sparked a 9-2 Lady Rebel run to go up at the half by 14 points, 38-24. Out of the locker room, the Aztecs appeared to get a lift on offense, scoring nine of the first 11 points to get to within seven points at 40-33, their smallest deficit since the 4:30 mark of the first half. Just as SDSU got itself back into the game, the Lady Rebels went on another scoring run, jumping out to a lead as great as 20 points twice, including at the game's conclusion, 81-61.
Cox leads the Aztecs on the season with 14.0 points, followed by Dunlap with 10.9. Dunlap also leads the team in rebounding with a 9.0 per game average.
SERIES SHORTS:
* Utah leads the all-time series with the Aztecs 16-10. The last time these two teams met, on Jan. 25, 2003, Utah won 59-44 in San Diego. The Utes are 10-2 at home, 5-6 away and 1-2 at a neutral site vs. San Diego State.
FEBRUARY 18, 2003 USA TODAY/ESPN COACHES POLL
Rank School 02-03 Total Last (1st-place Votes) Record Points Week1 Connecticut(40) 24-0 1000 1 2 Duke 24-1 953 2 3 Tennessee 22-3 911 3 4 LSU 22-1 883 4 5 Kansas State 23-2 844 5 6 North Carolina 23-2 766 7 7 Louisiana Tech 21-2 692 10 8 Stanford 20-3 678 6 9 Texas Tech 20-3 653 8 10 Purdue 20-3 620 9 11 Texas 17-5 596 11 12 Mississippi State 18-6 493 14 13 Penn State 21-6 472 12 14 Arkansas 19-6 413 13 15 South Carolina 18-6 409 15 16 Georgia 17-6 392 16 17 Minnesota 19-4 353 18 18 UC-Santa Barbara 18-4 346 17 19 Vanderbilt 17-7 318 19 20 Villanova 18-4 290 20 21 Wisconsin-Green Bay 20-3 170 21 22 Boston College 16-6 158 22 23 Rutgers 16-5 119 25 24 Arizona 17-7 72 23 25 Washington 19-5 62 NR
Others receiving votes: Liberty (20-3) 43; Colorado (18-4) 38; UTAH (18-4) 33; Chattanooga (20-4) 29; Cincinnati (18-5) 29; DePaul (18-7) 25; Auburn (17-7) 21; Ohio State (16-7) 21; Oklahoma (15-9) 19; Maine (17-4) 15; Virginia Tech (17-6) 13; Tulane (16-7) 10; Florida International (16-7) 8; Santa Clara (16-7) 8; Charlotte (17-6) 6; Notre Dame (15-8) 5; Florida State (15-8) 3; George Washington (17-6) 3; Pepperdine (18-6) 3; Creighton (16-6) 2; Austin Peay (18-3) 1; UCLA (14-9) 1; Xavier (17-7) 1.
FEBRUARY 17, 2003 ASSOCIATED PRESS TOP 25
Rank School 02-03 Total Last (1st-place Votes) Record Points Week1 Connecticut (44) 24-0 1,100 1 2 Duke 23-1 1,044 2 3 Tennessee 22-3 1,002 3 4 LSU 22-1 981 4 5 Kansas State 23-2 915 5 6 North Carolina 23-2 878 8 7 Louisiana Tech 21-2 784 10 8 Texas Tech 20-3 762 7 9 Stanford 20-3 743 6 10 Texas 17-5 722 11 11 Purdue 20-4 664 9 12 Penn State 21-6 541 12 13 Georgia 17-6 473 14 14 Mississippi State 18-6 464 16 15 Arkansas 19-6 426 13 16 Minnesota 19-4 415 17 17 South Carolina 18-6 414 15 18 Vanderbilt 17-7 391 18 19 UC Santa Barbara 18-4 348 20 20 Villanova 18-4 347 19 21 Wisconsin-Green Bay 20-3 213 21 22 Rutgers 16-5 199 23 23 Washington 19-5 130 - 24 Boston College 16-6 118 25 25 Arizona 17-7 39 24
Others receiving votes: Ohio State 34, Colorado 31, UTAH 25, DePaul 24, George Washington 14, Oklahoma 14, Charlotte 7, Cincinnati 7, Austin Peay 6, Baylor 6, Auburn 5, Liberty 3, Michigan State 3, Virginia Tech 3, Indiana State 2, Tulane 2, Xavier 1.
MWC STANDINGS
Conference Overall W L Pct. W L Pct.UTAH 8 1 .889 18 4 .818UNLV 5 3 .625 14 7 .667 Wyoming 5 4 .556 15 7 .682 BYU 5 4 .556 14 8 .636 New Mexico 4 4 .500 14 7 .667 Colorado State 4 5 .444 13 10 .565 San Diego State 2 6 .250 8 12 .400 Air Force 1 7 .125 7 14 .333
MWC PRESEASON MEDIA POLL
Rank Team (first-place votes) Points1 BYU (8) 110 2 Colorado State (7) 103 3 New Mexico (1) 91 4 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 four statistical categories: scoring defense (50.8), scoring margin (+15.4), rebounding defense (33.4) and three-point field goal average (7.6). Utah ranks second in three-point field goal percentage (.359), field goal percentage defense (.368), free throw percentage (.765), turnover margin (+4.32), steals (9.5) and assist/turnover ratio (0.95), and third in rebounding offense (35.8), rebounding margin (+2.5) and three-point field goal percentage defense (.293).
Individually, freshman Kim Smith leads the conference in three-point field goal percentage (.458), ranks third in scoring (17.5), rebounding (7.1) and three-point field goal average (2.5), fifth in offensive rebounds (2.7), sixth in free throw percentage (.800), seventh in defensive rebounds (4.4), eighth in field goal percentage (.466) and 11th in blocked shots (0.5).
Sophomore Shona Thorburn is third in assist/turnover ratio (1.85), fourth in three-point field goal average (2.4), fifth in assists (3.3), sixth in both scoring (15.0) and defensive rebounds (4.5), ninth in free throw percentage (.785), 11th in three-point field goal percentage (.346) and 12th in rebounding (5.5).
Junior Carley Marshall is fifth in blocked shots (1.1) and free throw percentage (.806), sixth in field goal percentage (.472), ninth in defensive rebounds (4.1), 10th in rebounding (5.8), 12th in offensive rebounds (1.8) and 17th in scoring (10.4).
Point guard Kelsy Stireman is sixth in assist/turnover ratio (1.4), eighth in assists (3.1) and ninth in steals (1.7). Meanwhile, junior Mandie Little ranks third in offensive rebounds (2.8) and ninth in rebounding (5.9).
Sophomore Lana Sitterud is 14th in steals (1.5), three-point field goal average (1.1) and three-point field goal percentage (.319), while freshman Julie Wood is fourth in three-point field goal percentage (.396) and 11th in three-point field goal average (1.1).
In conference-only statistics, as a team, Utah leads the conference in two categories and rank in the top four in nine others. Individually, several Utes rank in the Top 5: Smith is second in defensive rebounds, and third in scoring, rebounding and three-point field goals made; Thorburn is fourth in scoring, assists and three-point field goals made, and fifth in assist/turnover ratio; Marshall is fourth in blocked shots and fifth in free throw percentage; Little is fourth in offensive rebounds; and Stireman is fifth in assists.
FRESHMAN PHENOM:
Freshman Kim Smith is putting up remarkable numbers. With 17.5 points and 7.1 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 six games with 20 points or more. Furthermore, her 17.5 scoring average is the most-ever by a freshman in the history of the Mountain West, and with 386 points on the season, she is just 24 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 15th in scoring margin and 27th in average margin of victory. Individually, freshman Kim Smith ranks seventh nationally in three-point field goal percentage in statistics through Feb. 17.
DEFENSIVE DOMINANCE:
Utah 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 five opponents (New Mexico State, Mississippi State, Weber State, New Mexico and Wyoming) to reach that mark.
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 San Diego State will be broadcast live on KALL 910-AM. The game will be called by Brad Stone, Sports Director. In his 13th year with the station, Stone is also the host of the Ute men's basketball and football game broadcasts, as well as the "Redzone," an hour-long show devoted to Ute sports that airs from 1-2 p.m. Monday-Friday.
UP NEXT:
The Utes host UNLV for a 3 p.m. game on Saturday, Feb. 22, at home.
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