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
2/4/2003 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 4, 2003
SALT LAKE CITY -
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COMING UP:
The league-leading University of Utah women's basketball team (15-3, 5-0) hosts the Air Force Falcons (7-11, 1-4) at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 6, at the Huntsman Center.
A QUICK LOOK AT UTAH:
The Utes remained the only undefeated team in conference play with a 67-50 win over Brigham Young in Provo last Saturday. Utah shot 50 percent from the field on the game, including a blazing 65 percent in the second half. In the meantime, Utah held the Cougars to 35 percent and out-rebounded BYU 33-28.
Freshman Kim Smith led Utah with 19 points on 50 percent shooting, and 10 rebounds, for her third double-double of the season. Sophomore Lana Sitterud added 13 points, while Shona Thorburn also added a double-double - 12 points and a career-high 11 rebounds, with all 12 points coming in the second half. Junior Sarah Wobbe added season-highs eight points and two steals.
On the season, Utah is led by Smith, who averages 17.1 points and 7.4 rebounds. Thorburn adds 15.2 points and a team-high 3.3 assists, and Marshall contributes 10.7 points and 5.6 rebounds. As a team, the Utes are holding opponents to just 50.1 points a game, which leads the nation.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:
After winning its first conference game under Head Coach Ardie McInelly last Thursday night against UNLV, the Falcons suffered a disappointing loss to San Diego State, 73-55, on Saturday. Air Force committed a season-high 37 turnovers in the loss. The Falcons finished the game shooting 20-of-41 (48.8 percent) from the field. Gwen Grove led the Falcons with 15 points. Emily Gross and Jennifer Roesch each had eight points, while Shawna Neff and Briana Thomas each notched a team-high five rebounds.
Last Friday, Latoya Howell, who led the team in scoring, rebounding, steals and assists, was suspended for the remainder of the season for violating Academy rules.
SERIES SHORTS:
* Utah leads the all-time series with the Falcons 10-0. In their last meeting on Feb. 16, 2002, Utah won 71-53. The Utes are 4-0 at home, 4-0 away and 2-0 at a neutral site vs. Air Force.
QUOTING HEAD COACH ELAINE ELLIOTT:
"We have nine games left to play in the conference season. I want to take it one game at a time. This team has a right to just develop. There's nothing to base expectations on with them."
MWC STANDINGS
Conference Overall
W L Pct. W L Pct.
UTAH 5 0 1.000 15 3 .833
New Mexico 3 2 .600 13 5 .722
Wyoming 3 2 .600 13 5 .722
BYU 3 2 .600 12 6 .667
UNLV 2 3 .400 11 7 .611
Colorado State 2 3 .400 11 8 .579
San Diego State 1 4 .200 7 10 .412
Air Force 1 4 .200 7 11 .389
FEBRUARY 3, 2003 ASSOCIATED PRESS TOP 25
Rank School 02-03 Total Last
(1st-place Votes) Record Points Week
1 Connecticut (44) 20-0 1,100 2
2 Duke 20-1 1,038 1
3 Tennessee 18-3 997 4
4 LSU 18-1 953 5
5 Kansas State 19-2 890 3
6 Stanford 17-2 847 6
T-7 North Carolina 19-2 838 7
T-7 Texas Tech 18-2 838 8
9 Louisiana Tech 17-2 742 9
10 Purdue 18-3 740 10
11 Texas 14-5 610 11
12 Mississippi State 16-4 581 13
13 Penn State 18-5 540 14
14 Arkansas 17-5 502 12
15 Minnesota 16-3 482 15
16 South Carolina 16-4 465 16
17 Georgia 14-5 342 18
18 Vanderbilt 13-7 289 17
19 UC Santa Barbara 15-3 227 22
20 Washington 17-3 222 25
21 Wisconsin-Green Bay 17-3 208 21
22 Villanova 15-4 196 20
23 Boston College 15-4 179 -
24 Oklahoma 13-7 109 19
25 Ohio State 15-5 83 23
Others receiving votes: Rutgers 64, Arizona 56, UTAH 33, DePaul 27, Illinois 16, Tulane 15, Cincinnati 13, Colorado 12, Auburn 11, Florida State 10, George Washington 10, Indiana State 6, Notre Dame 4, Michigan State 2, Chattanooga 1, Montana State 1, New Mexico 1.
FEBRUARY 4, 2003 USA TODAY/ESPN COACHES POLL
Rank School 02-03 Total Last
(1st-place Votes) Record Points Week
1 Connecticut (40) 20-0 1000 2
2 Duke 20-1 936 1
3 Tennessee 18-3 911 4
4 LSU 18-1 873 5
5 Kansas State 19-2 848 3
6 North Carolina 19-2 755 6
7 Stanford 17-2 733 7
8 Texas Tech 18-2 732 8
9 Purdue 18-3 678 9
10 Louisiana Tech 17-2 639 10
11 Mississippi State 16-4 564 12
12 Texas 14-5 513 13
13 Arkansas 17-5 497 11
14 Penn State 18-5 447 15
15 South Carolina 16-4 400 16
16 Minnesota 16-3 391 14
17 UC-Santa Barbara 15-3 307 19
18 Georgia 14-5 279 20
19 Vanderbilt 13-7 278 17
20 Boston College 15-4 170 25
21 Oklahoma 13-7 169 18
22 Villanova 15-4 164 21
23 Wisc.-Green Bay 17-3 138 23
24 Washington 17-3 103 NR
25 Arizona 14-6 74 22
Others receiving votes: Tulane 48; DePaul 40; Notre Dame 38; Cincinnati 33; UTAH 27; Rutgers 24; Liberty 23; Ohio State 18; Chattanooga 18; Louisville17; Auburn 17; Santa Clara 16; Florida State 11; Charlotte 10, Florida International 10; Illinois 10; Virginia Tech 9; Colorado 6, George Washington 6; Xavier 5; Indiana State 5; Montana State 3; Miami (Fla.) 2; Pepperdine 2; Maine 2; Brigham Young 1.
MWC LEADERS:
As a team, the Utes lead the conference in five statistical categories: scoring defense (50.1), scoring margin (+17.1), rebounding defense (33.0), turnover margin (+4.2) and three-point field goal average (7.6). Utah ranks second in field goal percentage defense (.364), three-point field goal percentage (.369), free throw percentage (.744), rebounding margin (+3.4) and assist/turnover ratio (0.95), and third in scoring offense (67.2).
Individually, freshman Kim Smith ranks second in three-point field goal percentage (.467), fourth in scoring (17.1), rebounding (7.4) and three-point field goal average (2.3), tied for fourth in offensive rebounds (2.8), fifth in defensive rebounds (4.7), ninth in free throw percentage (.762), 10th in field goal percentage (.474) and tied for 13th in blocked shots (0.4).
Sophomore Shona Thorburn is third in both three-point field goal average (2.5) and assist/turnover ratio (1.8), sixth in scoring (15.2), tied for sixth in defensive rebounds (4.6), eighth in free throw percentage (.767), tied for eighth in assists (3.3), 10th in three-point field goal percentage (.369), and tied for 11th in rebounding (5.6).
Junior Carley Marshall is tied for fifth in blocked shots (1.2), sixth in field goal percentage (.493), seventh in free throw percentage (.796), tied for 11th in rebounding (5.6), 12th in defensive rebounds (3.8), 13th in offensive rebounds (1.8), and 17th in scoring (10.7).
Point guard Kelsy Stireman is eighth in assist/turnover ratio (1.3), tied for ninth in steals (1.7) and 11th in assists (3.1). Meanwhile, junior Mandie Little ranks seventh in offensive rebounds (2.6) and ninth in rebounding (5.8).
Sophomore Lana Sitterud is tied for 12th in steals (1.6) and tied for 13th in three-point field goal average (1.0), while freshman Julie Wood is fourth in three-point field goal percentage (.426) and eighth in three-point field goal average (1.3).
In conference-only statistics, as a team, the Utes lead the conference in five categories and rank in the top four in every statistical category but two. Individually, Smith ranks second in the league in rebounding (8.4), and Smith, Thorburn and Marshall rank fourth, sixth and eighth, respectively, in scoring. Smith is also first in defensive rebounds and Thorburn is third in three-point field goals made and fifth in assists.
FRESHMAN PHENOM:
Freshman Kim Smith is putting up remarkable numbers. With 17.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, she leads the team in scoring and rebounding. She 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 17.1 scoring average is the most-ever by a freshman in the history of the Mountain West.
RANKING NATIONALLY:
Utah currently leads the nation in scoring defense, and ranks 14th in scoring margin and 23rd in average margin of victory. Individually, freshman Kim Smith ranks seventh nationally in three-point field goal percentage in statistics through Jan. 27.
DEFENSIVE DOMINANCE:
Utah has held each of its last seven opponents to 50 points or less and has held all but two of its opponents this season under 60 points. The Utes, who are shooting 42 percent from the field this season, have only allowed three opponents (New Mexico State, Mississippi State and Weber State) to reach that mark.
In conference games, the Utes are holding opponents to just 36 percent from the field while shooting 44 percent. In addition, no Mountain West team has surpassed 50 points vs. Utah.
HOME SWEET HOME:
The Utes, 8-0 at home this season, have the longest home winning streak in the Mountain West at 11 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:
Guard 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 sophomore 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 Air Force 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 wrap up the first half of the conference season when they host New Mexico at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 8.
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