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
2/7/2003 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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Feb. 7, 2003
SALT LAKE CITY -
COMING UP:
The league-leading University of Utah women's basketball team (16-3, 6-0) hosts the New Mexico Lobos (13-6, 3-3) at 3 p.m. tomorrow, Feb. 8, at the Huntsman Center.
A QUICK LOOK AT UTAH:
Despite a sluggish performance, the Utes continued to roll through Mountain West Conference play with a 68-39 win over Air Force Thursday night at the Huntsman Center. It was the eighth consecutive victory for Utah and ninth win at home this season. Utah, which held Air Force to just 30 percent from the field on the game, has yet to allow a conference opponent to score more than 50 points. The Utes barely edged the Falcons on the boards - 40 to 39 - but forced 25 Air Force turnovers (which resulted in 35 Utah points), while committing just eight of their own.
Freshman Kim Smith led all scorers with 19 points, 17 of which came in the second half, followed by junior Carley Marshall with 14 and sophomore Shona Thorburn with 10. Marshall also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds, while Smith and junior Mandie Little pulled down seven apiece. Thorburn dished out four assists, while point guard Kelsy Stireman finished with three assists and three steals.
On the season, the Utes are paced by Smith, who averages 17.2 points and 7.4 rebounds. Thorburn adds 14.9 points and a team-high 3.4 assists, while Marshall contributes 10.9 points and 5.8 rebounds.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:
New Mexico could never overcome a first-half scoring drought that lasted nearly 10 minutes as it suffered a 57-46 loss at BYU Thursday night. UNM got off to a great start, making eight of its first 14 shots to grab an 18-8 lead following a Jordan Adams basket with 9:55 left in the first half. UNM would not score again in the period, though, missing its final 13 shots before halftime. The Cougars tallied 18 unanswered points for the 26-18 halftime advantage.
The second half started like the first as the Lobos connected on five of their first six field goals to trim BYU's lead to 30-29. It was 32-31 in the Cougars' favor before they tore off 10 straight points to take a 42-31 advantage. The lead grew to 47-35 with 8:41 remaining before UNM mounted another charge. A Lauren McLeod three-pointer shaved the deficit to 47-43 with four minutes left, but the Lobos turned the ball over on their next three possessions, nixing any chance of a comeback.
New Mexico committed 19 turnovers and was out-rebounded, 47-37. That difference in the boards proved costly as BYU held a 16-7 edge on the offensive end, converting numerous second chances into points. Adams led New Mexico with 16 points and nine rebounds while Lindsey Arndt added 14 points. The Lobos shot 37 percent (20-of-54) from the floor and held the league's top three-point shooting team to just 2-of-24 (8.3 percent) accuracy from beyond the arc.
On the season, New Mexico is led by Adams, who averages 15.6 points and 6.3 rebounds, and Grear, with 11.7 points per game and 6.3 rebounds per game averages. Moore dishes out a team-high 6.8 assists.
SERIES SHORTS:
* Utah leads the all-time series with the Lobos 37-10. In their last meeting on Feb. 14, 2002, Utah won 67-59. The Utes are 24-0 at home, 12-10 away and 1-0 at a neutral site vs. New Mexico.
QUOTING HEAD COACH ELAINE ELLIOTT:
On the game against New Mexico - "I expect them to give us all we can handle. We're going to have to play really well in order to beat them."
MWC STANDINGS
Conference Overall
W L Pct. W L Pct.
UTAH 6 0 1.000 16 3 .842
BYU 4 2 .667 13 6 .684
New Mexico 3 3 .500 13 6 .684
Wyoming 3 3 .500 13 6 .684
UNLV 3 3 .500 12 7 .632
Colorado State 2 4 .333 11 9 .550
San Diego State 2 4 .333 8 10 .444
Air Force 1 5 .167 7 12 .368
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 Wisconsin-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 six statistical categories: scoring defense (49.5), scoring margin (+17.7), rebounding defense (33.3), three-point field goal percentage (.368), turnover margin (+4.8) and three-point field goal average (7.7). Utah ranks second in field goal percentage defense (.361), free throw percentage (.747) and assist/turnover ratio (0.97), and third in scoring offense (67.3), rebounding margin (+3.3) and steals (9.6).
Individually, freshman Kim Smith leads the conference in three-point field goal percentage (.469), ranks fourth in scoring (17.2), rebounding (7.4), three-point field goal average (2.4) and offensive rebounds (2.8), fifth in defensive rebounds (4.6), seventh in free throw percentage (.778), 10th in field goal percentage (.471) and 12th in blocked shots (0.5).
Sophomore Shona Thorburn is third in both three-point field goal average (2.5) and assist/turnover ratio (1.9), sixth in scoring (14.9), seventh in defensive rebounds (4.4), tied for seventh in assists (3.4), ninth in free throw percentage (.774) and three-point field goal percentage (.359) and 13th in rebounding (5.4).
Junior Carley Marshall is tied for fifth in blocked shots (1.2), sixth in field goal percentage (.491), eighth in free throw percentage (.776), tied for 10th in rebounding (5.8) and offensive rebounds (2.0), 11th in defensive rebounds (3.8) and 17th in scoring (10.9).
Point guard Kelsy Stireman is seventh in assist/turnover ratio (1.4), eighth in steals (1.7) and 11th in assists (3.1). Meanwhile, junior Mandie Little ranks seventh in offensive rebounds (2.7) and ninth in rebounding (5.8).
Sophomore Lana Sitterud is tied for 11th in steals (1.6) and tied for 15th in three-point field goal average (1.0), while freshman Julie Wood is fourth in three-point field goal percentage (.412) and ninth 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. Individually, several Utes rank in the Top 5: Smith is third in scoring, second in rebounding, fourth in three-point field goal made and second in defensive rebounds; Thorburn is fifth in scoring, fourth in assists, three-point field goals made and assist/turnover ratio; Marshall is fifth in field goal percentage and fourth in blocked shots; Stireman is fifth in steals; and Sitterud is third in three-point field goal percentage.
FRESHMAN PHENOM:
Freshman Kim Smith is putting up remarkable numbers. With 17.2 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, she leads the team in scoring, rebounding, field goals made, three-point field goals made and three-point field goal percentage. 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 17.4 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 13th in scoring margin and 24th in average margin of victory. Individually, freshman Kim Smith ranks ninth nationally in three-point field goal percentage in statistics through Feb. 3.
DEFENSIVE DOMINANCE:
Utah has held each of its last eight 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 35 percent from the field while shooting 42 percent. In addition, no Mountain West team has surpassed 50 points vs. Utah.
HOME SWEET HOME:
The Utes, 9-0 at home this season, have the longest home winning streak in the Mountain West at 12 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 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 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 New Mexico 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 travel to Colorado and Wyoming for a pair of games against conference rivals Colorado State and Wyoming. Utah faces CSU at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 13, and Wyoming at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 15.
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