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
2/25/2003 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 25, 2003
SALT LAKE CITY -
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COMING UP:
The No. 25 Utes (20-4, 10-1), who have secured at least a tie for the regular-season championship in the Mountain West Conference, host second-place Brigham Young (16-8, 7-4) at 3 p.m. Saturday, March 1, in the Jon M. Huntsman Center. The game, Utah's final home game of the season, will be broadcast live on KJZZ, Channel 14.
A QUICK LOOK AT UTAH:
No. 25 Utah entered the USA Today/ESPN Top 25 for the first time all year after wins last week over San Diego State and UNLV, which the Utes defeated by a combined 124-61. Utah beat UNLV 58-39 last Saturday to improve to 20-4 on the season, its eighth 20-win season in the past nine years and the 14th overall for Head Coach Elaine Elliott. The Utes shot 43 percent from the field on the game (22-of-51) and held UNLV to just 31 percent. Utah also out-rebounded the Lady Rebels 37-35 and forced 20 UNLV turnovers.
With 8:19 left in the game, freshman Kim Smith hit a lay-up, bringing her season point total to 411 and making her the Mountain West Conference freshman scoring leader, surpassing the 409 of BYU's Erin Thorn during the 1999-2000 season. With a minimum of four games left in the season, she could pass Julie Krommenhoek as Utah's freshman scoring leader. Smith has 413 points on the season, while Krommenhoek finished with 504 during the 1994-95 season.
Sophomore Shona Thorburn led the Utes with 25 points (including 10-of-12 from the charity stripe), six rebounds, two assists and two steals. Smith finished with 16 points, six rebounds and three assists. Junior Mandie Little pulled down a team-high seven boards, while junior point guard Kelsy Stireman nabbed a career-high six steals.
On the season, the Utes are led by Smith, who averages 17.2 points and 6.9 rebounds a game. Thorburn adds 15.2 points and a team-high 3.3 assists, while junior Carley Marshall averages 10.3 points and 6.1 rebounds.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:
Playing her last game in the Marriott Center, senior Erin Thorn scored 22 points, dished out seven assists and tallied three blocks to lead BYU past San Diego State 87-56, last Saturday. The Cougars had four players in double figures in their second highest scoring output of the season. Sophomore Danielle Cheesman scored 15 points on 7-13 shooting from the floor despite suffering a slight concussion at the beginning of the second half. Junior center Ashleigh Chamberlain scored 12 points in 14 minutes and freshman forward Ambrosia Anderson chipped in 10 points, her second straight game in double figures.
BYU 51 percent from the floor for the game and held the Aztecs to only 20 points in the first half on 32 percent shooting. Seven different Cougars hit a shot from behind the arc as the team finished 9-of-20.
The Cougars are led on the season by Thorn, who averages 18.5 points and 5.6 assists, followed by Cheesman with 11.4 points and a team-high 5.7 rebounds.
SERIES SHORTS:
* Utah leads the all-time series with the Cougars 48-27. In their last meeting on Feb. 1, 2003, Utah easily defeated BYU in Provo. The Utes are 25-7 at home, 16-14 away and 7-6 at a neutral site vs. the Cougars.
MWC STANDINGS
Conference Overall W L Pct. W L Pct.UTAH 10 1 .909 20 4 .833BYU 7 4 .636 16 8 .667 New Mexico 6 4 .600 16 7 .696 Wyoming 6 5 .545 16 8 .667 UNLV 5 5 .500 14 9 .609 Colorado State 5 6 .455 14 11 .560 San Diego State 2 8 .200 8 14 .364 Air Force 1 9 .100 7 16 .304
FEBRUARY 25, 2003 USA TODAY/ESPN COACHES POLL
Rank School 02-03 Total Last (1st-place Votes) Record Points Week1 Connecticut (40) 26-0 1,000 1 2 Duke 26-1 953 2 3 Tennessee 24-3 926 3 4 LSU 23-1 860 4 5 Kansas State 25-2 848 5 6 Louisiana Tech 23-2 728 7 7 North Carolina 24-3 710 6 8 Texas Tech 22-3 695 9 9 Stanford 22-3 691 8 10 Texas 19-5 611 11 11 Mississippi State 20-6 532 12 12 Purdue 21-4 522 10 13 South Carolina 19-6 456 15 14 Minnesota 21-4 415 17 15 Penn State 22-7 400 13 16 Georgia 18-7 368 16 17 Villanova 20-4 338 20 18 Vanderbilt 18-7 326 19 19 Arkansas 19-8 318 14 19 UC-Santa Barbara 19-4 318 18 21 Boston College 18-6 188 22 22 Wisconsin-Green Bay 22-3 183 21 23 Rutgers 18-5 168 23 24 Arizona 18-7 79 24 25 UTAH 20-4 52 NR
Others receiving votes: Liberty (21-3) 46; Cincinnati (20-5) 34; George Washington (19-6) 30; Tulane (18-7) 28; Chattanooga (22-4) 25; Ohio State (17-8) 23; Colorado (19-5) 22; Maine (19-4) 17; Washington (20-6) 14; Auburn (17-8) 10; DePaul (20-8) 10; Western Kentucky (17-8) 9; Georgia Tech (16-9) 8; Oklahoma (16-10) 8; Virginia Tech (17-7) 7; Pepperdine (19-6) 5; N.C.-Wilmington (20-4) 4; Austin Peay (21-3) 3; Illinois (16-8) 3; Notre Dame (15-9) 3; Charlotte (18-7) 2; Arizona State (14-11) 1; Holy Cross (19-7) 1; Western Illinois (17-6) 1; Xavier (18-8) 1.
FEBRUARY 24, 2003 ASSOCIATED PRESS TOP 25
Rank School 02-03 Total Last (1st-place Votes) Record Points Week1 Connecticut (44) 26-0 1,100 1 2 Duke 25-1 1,050 2 3 Tennessee 24-3 1,017 3 4 LSU 23-2 956 4 5 Kansas State 25-2 928 5 6 Louisiana Tech 23-2 814 7 7 Texas Tech 22-3 812 8 8 North Carolina 23-3 795 6 9 Stanford 22-3 773 9 10 Texas 19-5 749 10 11 Purdue 21-5 562 11 12 Mississippi State 20-6 551 14 13 Minnesota 21-4 540 16 14 Georgia 18-7 478 13 15 Penn State 22-7 473 12 16 South Carolina 19-6 432 17 17 Vanderbilt 18-7 369 18 18 Villanova 20-4 358 20 19 UC Santa Barbara 19-4 352 19 20 Rutgers 18-5 258 22 21 Arkansas 19-8 219 15 22 Wisconsin-Green Bay 22-3 215 21 23 Boston College 18-6 149 24 24 Arizona 18-7 79 25 25 Washington 20-6 62 23
Others receiving votes: Ohio State 43, UTAH 40, Mississippi 25, Cincinnati 23, Colorado 23, DePaul 15, George Washington 15, Austin Peay 7, Liberty 6, Charlotte 3, N.C.-Wilmington 3, Auburn 2, Oklahoma 2, Indiana State 1, Notre Dame 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 (49.1), scoring margin (+16.8), rebounding defense (33.4) turnover margin (+4.79) and three-point field goal average (7.3). Utah ranks second in field goal percentage defense (.360), free throw percentage (.759), three-point field goal percentage defense (.277), steals (10.0) and assist/turnover ratio (0.95), and third in three-point field goal percentage (.352), rebounding offense (36.0) and rebounding margin (+2.6).
Individually, freshman Kim Smith leads the conference in three-point field goal percentage (.438), ranks third in scoring (17.2), rebounding (6.9) and three-point field goal average (2.3), fifth in free throw percentage (.806) and offensive rebounds (2.6), seventh in defensive rebounds (4.3), eighth in field goal percentage (.466) and 11th in blocked shots (0.5).
Sophomore Shona Thorburn is third in assist/turnover ratio (1.90) and three-point field goal average (2.3), fourth in assists (3.3) and defensive rebounds (4.6), fifth in scoring (15.2), seventh in free throw percentage (.791), ninth in three-point field goal percentage (.346), 12th in rebounding, 14th in steals (1.4) and 15th in field goal percentage (.388).
Junior Carley Marshall is fifth in blocked shots (1.1), sixth in free throw percentage (.797), seventh in field goal percentage (.470) and rebounding (6.1), seventh in defensive rebounds (4.3), 12th in offensive rebounds (1.8) and 17th in scoring (10.3).
Point guard Kelsy Stireman is sixth in assist/turnover ratio (1.3) and steals (1.9), and seventh in assists (3.0). Meanwhile, junior Mandie Little ranks fourth in offensive rebounds (2.8) and 10th in rebounding (5.8).
Sophomore Lana Sitterud is tied for 12th in steals (1.5) and 14th in three-point field goal average (1.0), while freshman Julie Wood is fourth in three-point field goal percentage (.404) and 12th in three-point field goal average (1.1).
In conference-only statistics, as a team, Utah leads the conference in four categories and ranks in the top four in 11 others. Individually, several Utes rank in the Top 5: Smith is third in scoring and three-point field goals made, and fourth in rebounding and defensive rebounds; Thorburn is fourth in scoring, assists, three-point field goals made, assist/turnover ratio and defensive rebounds; Marshall is tied for first in defensive rebounds, third in rebounding and fourth in blocked shots; Stireman is fourth in steals; and Little is fifth in offensive rebounds.
NEW MWC FRESHMAN SCORING LEADER:
In last Saturday's win over UNLV, freshman Kim Smith became the Mountain West Conference freshman scoring leader with 413 points. Smith, who 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, is the only player in the conference to score double figures in every game with a MWC-record 24 straight. She also leads all MWC freshmen in points and ranks second in rebounds, having had three games with 10 or more boards and six games with 20 points or more. Her 17.2 scoring average is the most-ever by a freshman in MWC history.
RANKING NATIONALLY:
Utah currently leads the nation in scoring defense, and ranks 11th in scoring margin and 20th in average margin of victory. Individually, freshman Kim Smith is tied for 12th nationally in three-point field goal percentage in statistics through Feb. 24.
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, 12-0 at home this season, have the longest home winning streak in the Mountain West at 15 straight. If they beat BYU on Saturday, the Utes will be undefeated at home for the entire 2002-03 season. The last time Utah lost in the Huntsman Center was Jan. 31, 2002, when the team fell to UNLV 79-71.
THORBURN MWC PLAYER OF THE WEEK JAN. 12-18:
Sophomore Shona Thorburn was named MWC Player of the Week for 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.
UTES ON THE RADIO:
Utah's game against BYU will be joined in progress on KALL 910-AM at the conclusion of the Ute men's game at New Mexico, which begins at 1 p.m. 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 travel to New Mexico and Colorado to close out the MWC regular season next week. Utah plays at New Mexico at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 6, and at Air Force at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 8.
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