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
1/23/2004 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 23, 2004
SALT LAKE CITY -
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COMING UP:
The Utah women's basketball team (13-4, 3-0), will play in front of a live national audience when they host New Mexico (10-5, 2-0) at 1 p.m. this Sunday, Jan. 25, on ESPN2. The game will also be broadcast live on KALL-700 AM in Salt Lake City and on the Internet at www.utahutes.com.
A QUICK LOOK AT UTAH:
Utah (13-4, 3-0) easily defeated Air Force 82-42 for its 23rd straight home victory Thursday night. The Utes shot 53 percent from the field on the game, while holding the Falcons to just 26 percent from the field and 12 percent from beyond the arc. The Utes also out-rebounded Air Force 43 to 34. Senior Carley Marshall led Utah with a season-high 16 points and a season-high-tying seven rebounds. Sophomore All-America candidate Kim Smith added 15 points, while senior Mandie Little finished with 11. Sophomore Shona Thorburn had seven points, dished out six assists and nabbed two steals, while senior Kelsy Stireman finished with six points, four assists and four steals. The Utes also got good effort from the bench, as junior Lana Sitterud had seven points, three assists and two steals, and sophomore Julie Wood finished with eight points and three assists. Freshman Camie Allen pulled down six rebounds to go along with five points, one block and one assist.
On the season, Utah is led by Smith, who averages 15.6 points and 6.9 rebounds, and Thorburn, who adds 12.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists. As a team, Utah is out-rebounding its opponents 35 to 30.4 and outscoring them by a 13.1 margin.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:
New Mexico (10-5, 2-0) overcame poor shooting by out-rebounding Brigham Young 50-30 en route to a 58-52 win Thursday night in Provo. The Lobos shot just 30 percent from the field and 25 percent from three-point range on the game, but made 27-of-33 free throws, compared to the 8-of-12 of the Cougars. Junior Mandi Moore led a group of three Lobos in double-figure scoring with 17 points. Melissa Forest added 12, while Lindsey Arndt finished with 10. Forest also pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.
The Lobos are led this season by Arndt, who averages 10.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. Moore adds 8.3 points and 3.2 assists. As a team, New Mexico is shooting 38 percent from the field and 31 percent from downtown. The Lobos out-rebound opponents 43.2 to 37.4 on the season.
SERIES SHORTS:
Utah leads the all-time series with the Lobos 38-11. The last time the two teams met, on March 6, 2003, Utah fell 51-48 in Albuquerque. The Utes are 25-0 at home, 12-11 away and 1-0 at a neutral site vs. New Mexico.
MWC STANDINGS
Conference Overall W L Pct. W L Pct.UTAH 3 0 1.000 13 4 .765UNLV 2 0 1.000 13 2 .867 New Mexico 2 0 1.000 10 5 .667 Wyoming 2 1 .667 6 10 .375 Colorado State 1 2 .333 10 6 .625 San Diego State 0 2 .000 5 10 .333 Air Force 0 2 .000 3 12 .200 BYU 0 3 .000 10 7 .588
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 (.459), three-point field goal percentage (.412), rebounding defense (30.4), assists (15.4), three-point field goal average (7.2) and assist/turnover ratio (1.2), and ranks second in scoring (67.5), scoring defense (54.5) and turnover margin (+2.2), third in scoring margin (+13.1) and rebounding margin (+4.6), and fourth in free throw percentage (.684).
Individually, sophomore Kim Smith ranks third in scoring (15.6), field goal percentage (.515) and three-point field goal percentage (.438), fourth in three-point field goal average (1.7) and offensive rebounds (2.6), seventh in rebounding (6.9) and ninth in defensive rebounds (4.3). Sophomore Shona Thorburn ranks third in assist/turnover ratio (1.6) and assists (3.8), fifth in three-point field goal average (1.6), seventh in three-point field goal percentage (.365), eighth in scoring (12.5), 14th in field goal percentage (.408) and 15th in free throw percentage (.632). Senior Kelsy Stireman ranks second in steals (2.4) and ninth in assists (2.9), while senior Carley Marshall is fourth in field goal percentage (.509). Sophomore Julie Wood leads the league in three-point field goal percentage (.509) and ranks fifth in three-point field goal average (1.6), while senior Mandie Little is sixth in field goal percentage (.495).
RANKING NATIONALLY:
In NCAA statistics through Jan. 19, Utah ranks third nationally in three-point field goal percentage (.404), fifth in turnovers per game (13.1), 13th in personal fouls per game (14.6), 16th in scoring defense (55.3), 17th in three-point field goal average (7.0) and 23rd in field goal percentage (.455).
HOME SWEET HOME:
Utah, 7-0 at home this season, has now won 23 games in a row at the Huntsman Center, dating back to the 2001-02 season. That ties the Utes with Arizona for the second longest home win streak in the nation behind Texas (28). Last year, Utah 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.
STIREMAN, MARSHALL STEP IT UP FROM DOWNTOWN:
In the last seven games, senior point guard Kelsy Stireman is 13-of-19 (.684) from three-point range. In the first 10 games of the season, she was 0-of-9 from downtown.
Meanwhile, senior post player Carley Marshall has come up big from downtown, making seven treys in the last seven games and shooting 100 percent in four of the seven games. For the year, she is shooting 62 percent from beyond the arc.
STEADY SMITH:
Sophomore Kim Smith has reached double digits scoring in 44 of 47 games on her career at Utah. She also has one or more treys in 42 of 47 games during her first two seasons as a Ute. This season alone, Smith has at least one three-pointer in 14 of 17 games and has pulled down five or more rebounds in 15 of 17 games.
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), and three of the Utes' four losses came when they were out-rebounded by their opponent.
LIVE BY THE THREE, DIE BY THE THREE:
Utah, which is shooting 41 percent from three-point range this season, has connected on 30 or more percent of its treys in all but three games (UC Santa Barbara, Oklahoma, Weber State) this season, and two of those three games resulted in losses for the Utes. Utah has shot 50 percent or better from downtown six times this season and won those games by an average of 23.9 points.
UTES PICKED TO WIN MOUNTAIN WEST:
Utah was selected as the unanimous favorite by the league's head coaches and select media to win the 2003-04 MWC 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.
UTES ON THE RADIO:
All but two of Utah's remaining games this season (Feb. 21 and March 6) will be broadcast on KALL-700 AM. 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 are called by Chris Tunis, who served as the president of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association from 1999-2001.
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 this Sunday, Jan. 25, along with the title game of the conference tournament. Fox Sports Net regionally televised Utah's win at CSU last Saturday and will air two other regular-season contests - 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 travel to Provo, Utah, for a 4 p.m. game at instate rival Brigham Young next Saturday, Jan. 31.
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