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
1/4/2004 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 4, 2004
SALT LAKE CITY -
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COMING UP:
The No. 24/25 Utah women's basketball team (9-3) travels to Pocatello, Idaho, for a 7:05 p.m. game at Idaho State (6-3) on Monday, Jan. 5. 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 All-America candidate Kim Smith had a season-high-tying 22 points as Utah extended its home winning streak to 22 with a 75-48 win over San Francisco Friday night. The Utes (9-3) shot 56 percent from the field and 73 percent from beyond the arc, while the Lady Dons (7-5) made just 32 percent of their shots. Utah also out-rebounded the Lady Dons 33 to 27 and forced 15 San Francisco turnovers.
Smith led a group of three Utes in double-figure scoring. Joining her were senior Carley Marshall with 13 and sophomore Shona Thorburn with 10. Senior Mandie Little led Utah with six rebounds, followed by Smith and senior Kelsy Stireman with five apiece and Marshall and Thorburn with four each. Thorburn also dished out a game-high five assists.
On the season, Utah is led by Smith, who averages 16.7 points and 6.3 rebounds, and Thorburn, who adds 12.8 points, 6.0 boards and 4.1 assists. The Utes are outscoring opponents 67.5 to 54.6 and out-rebounding them 34.3 to 30.1. As a team, Utah is shooting 47 percent from the field on the year.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:
Heidi Gifford scored a game-high 26 points and Idaho State never trailed in defeating Cal State Fullerton 74-58 last Wednesday. Gifford hit 13-of-19 shots from the field to top the 20-point mark for the first time this season. Three other Bengals reached double figures as Molly Hays and Christa Brossman each scored 11, while Lindy Whitley had 10. As a team the Bengals hit 46 percent of their shots, including 8-of-22 from three-point range. ISU also had 21 assists against just 16 turnovers.
On the season, Idaho State has four players -- Brossman, Whitley, Hays and Gifford -- averaging 10 or more points per game. The four average 14.3, 13.6, 12.0 and 10.8, respectively. Hays pulls down a team-high 10.3 rebounds per game as the Bengals out-rebound opponents 42.0 to 33.2.
SERIES SHORTS:
In 25 meetings, Utah is undefeated all-time against the Bengals. The last time the two teams met, on Dec. 14, 2002, Utah won 91-52 at home. The Utes are 14-0 at home and 11-0 away vs. Idaho State.
MWC STANDINGS:
W L Pct.UNLV 10 2 .833UTAH 9 3 .750 BYU 7 4 .636 Colorado State 7 4 .636 New Mexico 7 5 .583 San Diego State 4 7 .364 Wyoming 3 7 .300 Air Force 3 8 .273
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 (.465), three-point field goal percentage (.407), rebounding defense (30.4) and three-point field goal average (6.6), and ranks second in assist/turnover ratio (1.0) and scoring defense (55.2), third in scoring margin (+11.6), rebounding margin (+4.1), free throw percentage (.677), assists (14.9), turnover margin (+2.4) and steals (9.3), and fourth in scoring (66.8).
Individually, sophomore Kim Smith ranks second in three-point field goal percentage (.488), third in scoring (16.2), fourth in three-point field goal average (1.9), fifth in field goal percentage (.519), and 10th in rebounding (6.4), steals (1.6) and offensive rebounds (2.4). Sophomore Shona Thorburn ranks third in both assists (4.0) and assist/turnover ratio (1.4), fourth in three-point field goal percentage (.444), fifth in three-point field goal average (1.8), eighth in scoring (13.0) and defensive rebounds (4.6), 11th in rebounding (6.2) and 14th in field goal percentage (.415). Senior Kelsy Stireman leads the league in steals (2.7), while senior Carley Marshall is fourth in field goal percentage (.521). Sophomore Julie Wood is first in three-point field goal percentage (.516) and ninth in three-point field goal average (1.5). Senior Mandie Little is third in field goal percentage (.533) and eighth in offensive rebounds (2.5), while junior Lana Sitterud is 10th in steals (1.6) and 15th in three-point field goal percentage (.282).
HOME SWEET HOME:
Utah, 6-0 at home this season, has now won 22 games in a row at home, dating back to the 2001-02 season. 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 Utah fell 79-71 to UNLV.
LIVE BY THE THREE, DIE BY THE THREE:
In the Utes' last two games, the team has shot 73 percent and 64 percent, respectively, from three-point range. As a result, Utah won those two games by 27 and 24 points, respectively. In the Utes' win over Weber State on Dec. 20, Utah was 0-for-10 from three-point range. It ended a streak of 184 games with a trey for the Utes. Coincidentally, the last time Utah failed to make a shot from downtown was in its season opener on Nov. 21, 1997, also against Weber State.
TURNOVER TERRITORY:
In last Sunday's game at Northern Arizona, the two teams combined for a total of 45 turnovers on the game. Utah's 23 and the Lumberjacks' 22 turnovers in the game were the most on the season for both the Utes and for a Utah opponent. What's more, 31 of the 45 turnovers were committed in the first half, a turnover total higher than that of six of Utah' 11 games this season.
DEFENSIVE HIGHS AND LOWS:
On Dec. 20, Utah held Weber State to 38 points, the lowest scoring total by an opponent all season. The Utes also had 15 steals, four blocks and forced 21 Wildcat turnovers. However, in the Utes' Dec. 16 loss at Oregon State, the Beavers shot a blistering 63 percent from the field on the game. The last time Utah allowed an opponent to shoot 60 percent or higher was Jan. 23, 1992, when Creighton connected on 32-of-52 from the field for a 62 percent field goal percentage.
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 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. Stone is also the host of the "Redzone," an hour-long show devoted to Ute sports that airs from 9-10 a.m. Monday-Friday. 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. 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 travel to Missoula, Mont., for a 7:30 p.m. game at Montana next Saturday, Jan. 10.
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