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
3/7/2003 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 7, 2003
SALT LAKE CITY -
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COMING UP:
The No. 25 Utes (21-5, 11-2) travel to Colorado Springs, Colo., tomorrow, March 8, for a 1 p.m. game against the Air Force Falcons (7-19, 1-12). The two teams will face each other again next week in the first round of the Mountain West Conference Tournament in Las Vegas, Nev., with Utah as the No. 1 seed and the Falcons as the No. 8 seed.
A QUICK LOOK AT UTAH:
In front of the largest crowd it's faced all season (12,333), Utah suffered just its second conference loss of the season, falling 51-48 at the University of New Mexico Thursday night. Utah shot 37 percent from the field on the game, while the Lobos shot 37.5 percent. New Mexico edged the Utes on the boards - 36 to 35 - but committed 21 turnovers to the Utes' 19.
Freshman Kim Smith led all scorers with 15 points and was the only Ute to reach double figures scoring. Junior Carley Marshall led the Utes with eight boards, followed by junior Mandie Little with six. Junior point guard Kelsy Stireman dished out a game-high seven assists and also nabbed four steals.
On the season, the Utes are led by Smith, who averages 17.2 points and 6.7 rebounds. Sophomore Shona Thorburn adds 14.9 points and a team-high 3.2 assists, while Marshall averages 10.2 points and 6.3 rebounds.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:
Air Force suffered its ninth consecutive loss Thursday night, falling to BYU 96-55. The Falcons played tough for much of the first half, but the Cougars offensive fire power was too much in the end. After falling behind 7-0, Air Force went on an 11-0 run to take the lead. At the 9:00 mark, the Falcons trailed by just one point when Kestlee Nelson made a three-pointer to extend the Cougar lead to four points. BYU slowly pulled away, hitting 60 percent (17-of-28) of its shots to take a 48-33 lead. Air Force shot a solid 50 percent for the half. BYU continued its offensive dominance in the second half, shooting 57 percent (19-of-33) from the field. The 96 points is the most surrendered by the Falcons this season.
The Falcons finished the game shooting 37.5 percent (18-of-48). Shawna Neff led Air Force in scoring with 19 points. Freshman Briana Thomas notched a team-high six boards and Jennifer Roesch added 10 points.
On the season, the Falcons are led by Neff and Thomas, who average 12.6 points and 5.1 rebounds per game, respectively.
SERIES SHORTS:
* Utah has never lost to Air Force and holds an all-time series record with the Falcons of 11-0. In their last meeting on Feb. 6, 2003, Utah won 68-39. The Utes are 5-0 at home, 4-0 away and 2-0 at a neutral site vs. Air Force.
MWC STANDINGS
Conference Overall W L Pct. W L Pct.UTAH 11 2 .846 21 5 .808New Mexico 8 5 .615 18 8 .692 BYU 8 5 .615 17 9 .654 Wyoming 7 6 .538 17 9 .654 UNLV 7 6 .538 16 10 .615 Colorado State 7 6 .538 16 11 .593 San Diego State 3 10 .231 9 16 .360 Air Force 1 12 .077 7 19 .269
MARCH 4, 2003 USA TODAY/ESPN COACHES POLL
Rank School 02-03 Total Last (1st-place Votes) Record Points Week1 Connecticut (40) 28-0 1,000 1 2 Duke 28-1 954 2 3 Tennessee 26-3 924 3 4 Kansas State 27-2 875 5 5 LSU 24-3 814 4 6 Louisiana Tech 25-2 745 6 7 Texas 21-5 715 10 8 Stanford 23-4 667 9 9 North Carolina 25-4 644 7 10 Texas Tech 23-4 628 8 11 Mississippi State 22-6 581 11 12 Purdue 23-5 527 12 13 South Carolina 21-6 479 13 14 Minnesota 23-4 457 14 15 Penn State 23-7 427 15 16 Vanderbilt 19-8 360 18 17 UC-Santa Barbara 21-4 314 19t 18 Villanova 21-5 298 17 19 Georgia 19-8 295 16 20 Rutgers 20-5 208 23 21 Arkansas 20-9 203 19t 22 Wisconsin-Green Bay 24-3 178 22 23 Boston College 19-6 147 21 24 Arizona 20-7 121 24 25 UTAH 21-4 84 25
Others receiving votes: Liberty (23-3) 77; George Washington (21-6) 46; Chattanooga (23-4) 35; Washington (21-6) 22; Virginia Tech (18-8) 21; Maine (21-4) 17; Ohio State (18-8) 15; Colorado (20-6) 14; DePaul (21-8) 14; Tulane (19-8) 14; Georgia Tech (18-9) 10; Virginia (15-12) 9; Western Kentucky (18-8) 9; Pepperdine (20-7) 8; Austin Peay (23-3) 7; Charlotte (20-7) 6; Cincinnati (21-6) 5; Florida State (16-11) 5; N.C.-Wilmington (22-4) 4; Oklahoma (18-10) 4; Notre Dame (17-9) 3; Holy Cross (21-7) 2; New Mexico (17-8) 2; UCLA (17-10) 2; Harvard (20-4) 1; Saint Joseph's (18-9) 1; Western Michigan (15-11) 1; Xavier (19-8) 1.
MARCH 3, 2003 ASSOCIATED PRESS TOP 25
Rank School 02-03 Total Last (1st-place Votes) Record Points Week1 Connecticut (44) 28-0 1,100 1 2 Duke 28-1 1,048 2 3 Tennessee 26-3 1,019 3 4 Kansas State 27-2 958 5 5 Texas 21-5 867 10 6 LSU 24-3 865 4 6 Louisiana Tech 25-2 865 6 8 Texas Tech 23-4 756 7 9 Stanford 23-4 674 9 10 Mississippi State 22-6 673 11 11 North Carolina 25-4 653 8 12 Purdue 23-5 638 12 13 Minnesota 23-4 547 13 14 Penn State 23-7 519 15 15 Vanderbilt 19-8 449 17 16 South Carolina 21-6 443 16 17 Georgia 19-8 371 14 18 Rutgers 20-5 352 20 19 UC Santa Barbara 21-4 346 19 20 Villanova 21-5 273 18 21 Wisconsin-Green Bay 24-3 200 22 22 Arizona 20-7 157 24 23 Arkansas 20-9 146 21 24 Boston College 19-7 100 23 25 Washington 21-6 7925
Others receiving votes: UTAH 69, Ohio State 44, DePaul 21, George Washington 20, Colorado 12, Austin Peay 8, Liberty 7, Charlotte 6, N.C.-Wilmington 4, Cincinnati 3, Notre Dame 3, Creighton 2, Chattanooga 1, Oklahoma 1, St. Francis (Pa.) 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 (49.8), scoring margin (+15.5), rebounding defense (33.2), turnover margin (+4.50) and three-point field goal average (7.2). Utah ranks second in field goal percentage defense (.357), free throw percentage (.753), steals (9.9) and three-point field goal percentage (.351), and third in assist/turnover ratio (0.95), three-point field goal percentage defense (.289), rebounding offense (35.8) and rebounding margin (+2.7).
Individually, freshman Kim Smith leads the conference in three-point field goal percentage (.439), ranks third in scoring (17.2), rebounding (6.7) and three-point field goal average (2.4), fifth in offensive rebounds (2.5), seventh in both field goal percentage (.471) and free throw percentage (.791), and eighth in defensive rebounds (4.2).
Sophomore Shona Thorburn is fourth in assist/turnover ratio (1.87), three-point field goal average (2.3) and defensive rebounds (4.7), fifth in scoring (14.9), assists (3.2) and free throw percentage (.806), 10th in three-point field goal percentage (.339) and rebounding (5.6), and 15th in steals (1.4) and field goal percentage (.377).
Junior Carley Marshall is fifth in blocked shots (1.1), sixth in free throw percentage (.803) and rebounding (6.3), seventh in defensive rebounds (4.4), 10th in field goal percentage (.451), 11th in offensive rebounds (1.9) and 17th in scoring (10.2).
Point guard Kelsy Stireman is fourth in steals (2.0), fifth in assist/turnover ratio (1.4) and sixth in assists (3.2). Meanwhile, junior Mandie Little ranks fourth in offensive rebounds (2.9) and ninth in rebounding (5.8).
Sophomore Lana Sitterud is 12th in steals (1.5) and 14th in three-point field goal average (1.0), while freshman Julie Wood is fifth in three-point field goal percentage (.404) and 12th in three-point field goal average (1.0).
In conference-only statistics, as a team, Utah leads the conference in four categories and ranks in the top four in 12 others. Individually, several Utes rank in the Top 5: Smith is third in scoring and three-point field goals made, and fifth in rebounding; Thorburn is third in defensive rebounds, fourth in scoring and assists, and fifth in three-point field goals made assist/turnover ratio; Marshall leads the conference in defensive rebounds, is third in rebounding and free throw percentage, and fourth in blocked shots; Stireman is third in steals and fourth in assists; and Little is fourth in offensive rebounds.
NEW MWC FRESHMAN SCORING LEADER:
In Utah's win over UNLV, freshman Kim Smith became the Mountain West Conference freshman scoring leader. She now has 446 points on the season. Smith, who leads the team in scoring, rebounding, field goals made, three-point field goals made, free throws made, field goal percentage and three-point field goal percentage, is the only player in the conference to score double figures in every game with a MWC-record 26 straight.
RANKING NATIONALLY:
Utah, currently ranked 20th in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) RPI, leads the nation in scoring defense, and ranks 13th in scoring margin and 20th in average margin of victory. Individually, freshman Kim Smith ranks 17th nationally in three-point field goal percentage in statistics through March 3.
DEFENSIVE DOMINANCE:
Utah has held all but four of its opponents this season under 60 points. The Utes, who are shooting 41 percent from the field this season, have only allowed six opponents (New Mexico State, Mississippi State, Weber State, New Mexico, Wyoming and Brigham Young) to reach that mark.
HOME SWEET HOME:
The Utes, which boasted a perfect 13-0 record at home this season, have the longest home winning streak in the Mountain West at 16 straight. 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.
UP NEXT:
The Utes, the No. 1 seed in the Mountain West Conference Tournament, face No. 8 seed Air Force at noon next Wednesday, March 12, at the Thomas and Mack Center on the UNLV campus in Las Vegas.
Players Mentioned
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