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
1/13/2004 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 13, 2004
SALT LAKE CITY -
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COMING UP:
The Utah women's basketball team (10-4) opens conference play in Laramie, Wyo., with a 7 p.m. game at Wyoming (4-9) this Thursday, Jan. 15. The game will be broadcast live on KALL-700 AM in Salt Lake City and on the Internet at www.utahutes.com.
A QUICK LOOK AT UTAH:
Sophomore Shona Thorburn's three-pointer as time ran out fell short as Utah lost 61-58 at Montana Saturday night. The Utes shot 40 percent from the field on the game, compared to the 45 percent of Montana. Utah out-rebounded the Lady Griz 31-28, but committed 13 turnovers while Montana had 10. Sophomore All-America candidate Kim Smith led Utah with her second consecutive double-double, finishing with 13 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. She also added three assists. Senior Kelsy Stireman had 13 points and three steals, while senior Carley Marshall finished with 12 points, six rebounds and a career-high six assists. Sophomore Julie Wood finished with nine points, all off three-pointers, while Thorburn had four assists and two blocks.
On the season, Utah is led by Smith, who averages 16.4 points and 7.1 rebounds, and Thorburn, who adds 12.6 points, 5.9 boards and 4.1 assists. The Utes are outscoring opponents 68.1 to 56.7 and out-rebounding them 34.2 to 30.3. As a team, Utah is shooting 47 percent from the field and 42 percent from downtown on the year.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:
Wyoming (4-9) suffered a 53-30 defeat against Eastern Washington in their final non-conference game last Saturday. The leading scorer for the Cowgirls was Ashley Elliott who finished with nine points, followed by Kristen Lenhardt with seven and Brenda Pickup with five. Pickup also led the team with a career-high ten rebounds, eclipsing her previous high of seven. As a team, Wyoming shot a dismal 9-of-45 (.200) from the field and 3-of-16 (.188) from beyond the arc. The Cowgirls also committed 23 turnovers.
The Cowgirls are led this season by Elliott, who averages 16.4 points and 5.0 rebounds. Pickup averages a team-high 4.5 assists, while Michelle Lieber pulls down 7.3 rebounds per game. Wyoming is shooting 33 percent from the field on the season and averages 49.5 points per game.
SERIES SHORTS:
Utah leads the all-time series with the Cowgirls 47-6. The last time the two teams met, on Feb. 15, 2003, Utah won 70-59 in Laramie. The Utes are 24-1 at home, 21-5 away and 2-0 at a neutral site vs. Wyoming.
AP TOP 25 POLL JAN. 12, 2004
Rank School 03-04 Total Last (first-place votes) Record Points Week1. Texas Tech (29) 15-0 985 1 2. Duke (8) 13-1 955 2 3. Texas (2) 14-1 909 3 4. Connecticut (1) 11-1 900 4 5. Tennessee 12-1 839 5 6. Minnesota 14-0 802 6 7. Stanford 13-2 741 7 8. Penn State 11-3 670 8 9. Georgia 13-2 665 9 10. Purdue 12-2 627 11 11. Kansas State 11-2 608 12 12. Louisiana Tech 10-2 506 10 13. North Carolina 13-2 492 13 14. LSU 13-2 445 17 15. Colorado 12-2 416 14 16. Oklahoma 11-2 406 16 17. TCU 13-2 363 19 18. DePaul 14-1 291 21 19. Virginia Tech 12-2 266 15 20. Boston College 12-2 202 18 21. Miami (Fla.) 13-1 160 25 22. Ohio State 10-4 145 20 23. Michigan State 11-3 103 23 24. Villanova 12-2 94 NR 25. Houston 12-2 70 NR
Others receiving votes: Auburn (12-3) 49; Vanderbilt (13-2) 43; Rutgers (8-5) 39; Baylor (13-2) 38; Utah (10-4) 31; Arizona (12-4) 28; Southwest Missouri State (11-1) 19; Southern Mississippi (13-1) 16; UC-Santa Barbara (9-5) 13; Clemson (12-3) 12; Florida (11-4) 12; Oregon (9-6) 8; Notre Dame (8-6) 7; South Alabama (12-1) 6; Idaho (11-1) 3; Richmond (12-3) 3; Washington (8-7) 3; Oregon State (8-5) 2; Southern California (7-6) 2; Chattanooga (14-2) 1; Montana (11-4) 1; Nebraska (11-2) 1; Old Dominion (8-5) 1; UNLV (11-2) 1; Western Michigan (7-6) 1.
ESPN/USA TODAY POLL JAN. 13, 2004
Rank School 03-04 Total Last (first-place votes) Record Points Week1. Duke (24) 13-1 1,115 1 2. Texas Tech (17) 15-0 1,095 2 3. Texas (5) 14-1 1,060 3 4. Connecticut 11-1 1,044 4 5. Tennessee 12-1 972 5 6. Minnesota 14-0 907 6 7. Stanford 13-2 845 7 8. Penn State 11-3 795 9 9. Purdue 12-2 738 10 10. Kansas State 11-2 732 11 11. Georgia 13-2 706 12 12. Louisiana Tech 10-2 642 8 13. North Carolina 13-2 557 13 14. LSU 13-2 547 17 15. Colorado 12-2 491 14 15. Oklahoma 11-2 491 15 17. DePaul 14-1 434 18 18. TCU 13-2 362 19 19. Villanova 12-2 187 NR 20. Auburn 12-3 178 21 21. Miami 13-1 177 24 22. Boston College 12-2 161 20 23. Virginia Tech 12-2 134 16 24. Baylor 13-2 131 24 25. Michigan State 10-3 105 23
Others receiving votes:Utah 36, Maryland 29, SMS 16, Florida 15, Idaho 13, Arizona 7, Houston 6, Clemson 4, Richmond 4, Seton Hall 4, Oregon 3, South Alabama 3, Notre Dame 2, Santa Barbara 2, USC 1.
MWC STANDINGS
W L Pct.UNLV 11 2 .846UTAH 10 4 .714 BYU 10 4 .714 Colorado State 9 4 .692 New Mexico 7 5 .583 San Diego State 5 8 .385 Wyoming 4 9 .308 Air Force 3 10 .231
MWC LEADERS:
As a team, the Utes rank in the top half of nearly every statistical category. Utah leads the conference in field goal percentage (.468), three-point field goal percentage (.424), rebounding defense (30.3), assists (15.5) and three-point field goal average (7.0), and ranks second in scoring (68.1), scoring margin (+11.4), rebounding margin (+3.9) and assist/turnover ratio (1.1), and third in scoring defense (56.7), free throw percentage (.691) and turnover margin (+1.8).
Individually, sophomore Kim Smith ranks second in scoring (16.4), third in field goal percentage (.526) and three-point field goal percentage (.463), fourth in three-point field goal average (1.8), seventh in rebounding (7.1) and defensive rebounds (4.6), and eighth in offensive rebounds (2.6). Sophomore Shona Thorburn ranks second in assists (4.1) and assist/turnover ratio (1.8), sixth in three-point field goal average (1.6), 10th in scoring (12.6) and three-point field goal percentage (.379), 13th in free throw percentage (.640), and 14th in rebounding (5.9). Senior Kelsy Stireman leads the league in steals (2.4) and 10th in assists (2.6), while senior Carley Marshall is fourth in field goal percentage (.521). Sophomore Julie Wood leads the league in three-point field goal percentage (.571) and ranks fifth in three-point field goal average (1.7). Senior Mandie Little is fifth in field goal percentage (.516) and ninth in offensive rebounds (2.4).
RANKING NATIONALLY:
In NCAA statistics through Jan. 12, Utah ranks third nationally in three-point field goal percentage (.424), eighth in turnovers per game (13.6), 16th in three-point field goal average (7.0), 17th in field goal percentage (.468) and 20th in personal fouls per game (14.7).
HOME SWEET HOME:
Utah, 6-0 at home this season, has now won 22 games in a row at the Huntsman Center, dating back to the 2001-02 season. That is the fourth longest home winning streak in the nation. Last year, the Utes went a perfect 13-0 at home. It was the ninth time Utah recorded an undefeated home season in the program's 30 years of existence. The Utes' last home loss came on Jan. 31, 2002, when the team fell 79-71 to UNLV.
WINNING THE REBOUNDING BATTLE:
Utah has out-rebounded its opponent in all but four games this season (UC Santa Barbara, Fresno State, Oklahoma and Oregon State). Three of the Utes' four losses this season came when they were out-rebounded by their opponent.
UTES PICKED TO WIN MOUNTAIN WEST:
The Utes were selected as the unanimous favorite by the league's head coaches and select media to win the 2003-04 Mountain West Conference crown. The Utes received all possible first-place votes to repeat as MWC regular-season champions (coaches cannot vote for their own team).
SMITH, THORBURN NAMED PRESEASON ALL-MWC:
Sophomore Kim Smith was tabbed as the MWC preseason Player of the Year and sophomore Shona Thorburn was also named to the preseason all-conference team. Smith earned Top Returning Player honors following a freshman campaign that saw her named MWC Player and Newcomer of the Year (a conference first), Kodak honorable mention All-America, and a Freshman All-American by both Full Court Press and womenscollegehoops.com. She is one of 35 players and just three sophomores nationally named to the Wade Trophy preseason watch list.
Thorburn, a second-team all-conference pick last year, ranked sixth in the league in scoring, averaging 14.7 points per game. She led Utah in assists (3.3 per game) and minutes played (36.5) last season.
SMITH RECOGNIZED BY ESPN:
Utah sophomore All-America candidate Kim Smith was honored by espn.com as the sixth-best wing in the nation. Wings are classified as "those players who make that pull-up jumper seem easy and slash to the hoop better than just about anybody else."
UTES ON THE RADIO:
All but two of Utah's remaining games this season will be broadcast on KALL-700 AM in Salt Lake City. Anchoring the broadcast team is KALL-700 AM Sports Director Brad Stone. In his 14th year with the station, Stone is the host of the Ute men's basketball and football game broadcasts. Color commentary for Utah home games is done by Utah's all-time leading scorer, Julie Krommenhoek.
Utah's 2003-04 road games will be called by Chris Tunis, who served as the president of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association from 1999-2001. Tunis has been selected as Utah Sportscaster of the Year seven times by his peers.
The two games that won't be on KALL are Feb. 21 and March 6. However, those three games will be broadcast via the Internet at www.utahutes.com.
INTERNET AUDIO/VIDEO BROADCASTS:
All Utah women's basketball home games are available to be seen and heard on the Internet. To get to the game broadcasts, go to http://155.99.112.235/wbball/ or go to the women's basketball page at www.utahutes.com and click on "Watch/Listen to Utah Home Games Live." To watch/listen to the broadcasts, you are encouraged to a have high-speed internet connection. You will also need to have QuickTime Player installed on your computer. QuickTime Player is free software available at http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/. Although this is an Apple product, it can be loaded onto both Apple and PC machines.
UTES TO MAKE FIVE TELEVISION APPEARANCES:
Utah will make a school-record five regular-season appearances on television this season. ESPN2 will televise the New Mexico at Utah match-up on Jan. 25, along with the title game of the conference tournament. Fox Sports Net will regionally televise three regular-season contests, including Utah at Colorado State (Jan. 17), Utah at UNLV (Feb. 8) and BYU at Utah (Feb. 28). MWC women's basketball will make its debut on College Sports Television (CSTV) when New Mexico hosts Utah on Feb. 19. CSTV will also televise the MWC Tournament semifinal games on March 12.
UP NEXT:
The Utes continue conference play at Colorado State at noon this Saturday, Jan. 17. The game will be televised live on Fox Sports Rocky Mountain. Satellite information for the game is as follows: C Band, Galaxy 3C, TR 23, Downlink: 4160 H.
Players Mentioned
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