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
2/21/2003 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 21, 2003
SALT LAKE CITY -
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COMING UP:
The league-leading University of Utah women's basketball team (19-4, 9-1) hosts third-place UNLV (14-8, 5-4) at 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22, in the Jon M. Huntsman Center. A win will guarantee the Utes at least a tie for the regular-season MWC Championship.
A QUICK LOOK AT UTAH:
Utah solidified its first-place national ranking in scoring defense with a 66-22 rout of San Diego State Thursday night. The Aztecs' 22 points is the lowest point total ever by a Ute opponent in the 28-year history of the program. Utah, which shot 44 percent from the field on the game, outscored the Aztecs 57-8 over the last 31:50 of the game. The Utes also out-rebounded San Diego State 38-32 and forced 28 Aztec turnovers. Up 14-9 just under eight minutes in, San Diego State would make just two of its last 30 shots.
Junior Carley Marshall led Utah with a double-double - 11 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. She also blocked four shots, nabbed two steals and dished out two assists. Freshman Kim Smith also finished with 11 points, while freshman Julie Wood added nine points, and junior Mandie Little and sophomore Shona Thorburn each had eight. Thorburn also finished with a team-high six assists and grabbed six rebounds. Junior Hanna Green and freshman Meghan Woster each had seven points, a career-high for Woster.
On the season, the Utes are led by Smith, who averages 17.3 points and 6.9 rebounds a game. Thorburn adds 14.7 points and a team-high 3.4 assists, while Marshall averages 10.4 points and 6.2 rebounds.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:
BYU's Erin Thorn scored a game-high 19 points to lead the Cougars to a 63-51 win over UNLV last night at the Marriott Center. The Lady Rebels quickly opened scoring with a 6-0 run, but were later answered by Thorn and teammate Ambrosia Anderson's two consecutive makes from behind the arc, which tied the game up at 14:51. Seconds later, Anderson, who scored all of her 14 points of the game in the first half of play, gave the Cougars the lead for good on her third three-pointer of the night.
BYU converted 8-of-18 three-pointers for the game. The Cougars took a 40-20 lead into halftime and led by as many as 25 points with 7:07 remaining.
Senior All-America candidate Constance Jinks was the only Lady Rebel to score in double figures with 13 points. Sophomore Sherry McCracklin added six points and 11 rebounds, while older sister Dishawn McCracklin and senior reserve InFini Robinson each contributed seven.
Jinks leads UNLV on the season with 20.4 points, followed by Sherry McCracklin with 11.0. She also leads the team in rebounding with an 8.5 per game average. Senior Julia Gray averages 4.6 assists and 3.3 steals per game to lead the Lady Rebels.
SERIES SHORTS:
* Utah leads the all-time series with the Lady Rebels 13-10. In their last meeting on Jan. 23 of this year, Utah won 56-49 in Las Vegas. The Utes are 7-2 at home, 6-7 away and 0-1 at a neutral site vs. UNLV.
MWC STANDINGS
Conference Overall W L Pct. W L Pct.UTAH 9 1 .900 19 4 .826BYU 6 4 .600 15 8 .652 New Mexico 5 4 .556 15 7 .682 UNLV 5 4 .556 14 8 .636 Wyoming 5 5 .500 15 8 .652 Colorado State 5 5 .500 14 10 .583 San Diego State 2 7 .222 8 13 .381 Air Force 1 8 .111 7 15 .318
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.
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.
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 five statistical categories: scoring defense (49.5), scoring margin (+16.7), rebounding defense (33.3) turnover margin (+4.78) and three-point field goal average (7.5). Utah ranks second in three-point field goal percentage (.359), field goal percentage defense (.362), free throw percentage (.761), three-point field goal percentage defense (.285), steals (9.7) and assist/turnover ratio (0.96), and third in rebounding offense (35.9), rebounding margin (+2.6).
Individually, freshman Kim Smith leads the conference in three-point field goal percentage (.455), ranks third in rebounding (6.9) and three-point field goal average (2.4), fourth in scoring (17.3), fifth in free throw percentage (.802) and offensive rebounds (2.6), seventh in field goal percentage (.465) and defensive rebounds (4.4) and 11th in blocked shots (0.5).
Sophomore Shona Thorburn is third in assist/turnover ratio (1.90), fourth in three-point field goal average (2.4), fifth in assists (3.4), sixth in scoring (14.7) and defensive rebounds (4.5), eighth in free throw percentage (.785), 10th in three-point field goal percentage (.353), 12th in rebounding (5.5) and 15th in steals (1.4).
Junior Carley Marshall is fifth in blocked shots (1.2), sixth in free throw percentage (.797), field goal percentage (.466) and rebounding (6.2), eighth in defensive rebounds (4.3), 11th in offensive rebounds (1.9) and 18th in scoring (10.4).
Point guard Kelsy Stireman is sixth in assist/turnover ratio (1.3), seventh in assists (3.1) and ninth in steals (1.7). Meanwhile, junior Mandie Little ranks fourth in offensive rebounds (2.7) and 11th in rebounding (5.7).
Sophomore Lana Sitterud is tied for 11th in steals (1.5), tied for 13th in three-point field goal average (1.0) and 14th in three-point field goal percentage (.311), 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, Utah leads the conference in three categories and ranks in the top four in 10 others. Individually, several Utes rank in the Top 5: Smith is third in scoring, three-point field goals made and defensive rebounds, fourth in rebounding and fifth in free throw percentage; Thorburn is fourth in scoring, assists and three-point field goals made, and fifth in assist/turnover ratio; Marshall is second in defensive rebounds, third in rebounding and fourth in blocked shots; and Little is fifth in offensive rebounds.
FRESHMAN PHENOM:
Freshman Kim Smith is putting up remarkable numbers. She leads the team in scoring, rebounding, field goals made, three-point field goals made, three-point field goal percentage, free throws made and free throw percentage. 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 17.3 scoring average is the most-ever by a freshman in the history of the Mountain West, and with 397 points on the season, she is just 13 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 28th 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, 11-0 at home this season, have the longest home winning streak in the Mountain West at 14 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 UNLV 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 in-state rival Brigham Young for a 3 p.m. game next Saturday, March 1, at the Huntsman Center.
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