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
2/6/2004 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 6, 2004
LAS VEGAS, Nev. -
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COMING UP:
The league-leading Utah women's basketball team (15-4, 5-0) travels to Las Vegas, Nev., for a 12 p.m. (PDT) game this Sunday, Feb. 8, at second-place UNLV (16-3, 5-1). The game will be televised live on Fox Sports Rocky Mountain as the third of Utah's five televised regular-season games. 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 (16-4, 6-0) extended its winning streak to six with a 27-point win (66-29) over San Diego State on Thursday. The Utes shot 40 percent from the field on the game and held San Diego State to just 19 percent. Utah also out-rebounded the Aztecs 42 to 27. Sophomore All-America candidate Kim Smith posted her fourth double-double of the year, finishing with 16 points and 13 rebounds. She also added two blocks and two steals. Sophomore Julie Wood added 11 points as the only other Ute to reach double figures scoring with 11 points. Sophomore Shona Thorburn pulled down nine rebounds to go along with seven points, four assists and two steals. Senior Carley Marshall added seven boards, six points and four assists.
On the season, Utah is led by Smith, who averages 15.9 points and 7.4 rebounds, and Thorburn, who adds 11.9 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists. As a team, Utah is out-rebounding its opponents 35.0 to 30.7 and outscoring them by 13.1 points per game.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:
The Lady Rebels (16-3, 5-1) overcame a one-point halftime deficit for a 77-64 win over Brigham Young at home on Thursday night. UNLV scored 50 points in the second half en route to its 11th win in the last 12 games. Junior forwards RanDee Henry and Sherry McCracklin combined for 45 points and 33 rebounds. The key to the game was the rebounding battle, as UNLV dominated the boards 49 to 33, including 24 to 10 on the offensive side. Henry set a new career-high with 20 rebounds and added 25 points. McCracklin also posted a double-double with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Sophomore Sheena Moore added 19 points and four assists in the win.
UNLV has three players who average 10 or more points per game this season, led by Henry with 20.2. Moore and McCracklin add 14.9 points apiece. McCracklin also pulls down a league-high 11.2 rebounds per game. As a team, UNLV is shooting 45 percent from the field this season and pulling down nearly 10 more rebounds per game than its opponents.
SERIES SHORTS:
Utah leads the all-time series with the Lady Rebels 14-10. The last time the two teams met, on Feb. 22, 2003, Utah won 58-39 in Salt Lake City. The Utes are 8-2 at home, 6-7 away and 0-1 at a neutral site vs. UNLV.
MWC STANDINGS
Conference Overall W L Pct. W L Pct.UTAH 6 0 1.000 16 4 .800UNLV 5 1 .833 16 3 .842 New Mexico 4 2 .667 12 7 .632 Wyoming 4 2 .667 8 11 .421 Colorado State 2 4 .333 11 8 .579 San Diego State 2 4 .333 7 12 .368 BYU 1 5 .167 11 9 .550 Air Force 0 6 .000 3 16 .158
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 (.448), three-point field goal percentage (.403), rebounding defense (30.7), assists (15.2), turnover margin (+2.4), three-point field goal average (7.2) and assist/turnover ratio (1.2), and ranks second in scoring (66.1), scoring margin (+13.1) and scoring defense (53.0), third in rebounding margin (+4.2) and field goal percentage defense (.386), and fourth in free throw percentage (.692) and steals (7.7).
In conference games only, the Utes rank in the top half of every statistical category but field goal percentage, free throw percentage and blocked shots.
Individually, sophomore Kim Smith ranks third in scoring (15.9) and three-point field goal average (1.8), fourth in field goal percentage (.496), fifth in rebounding (7.3), three-point field goal percentage (.434), offensive rebounds (2.6) and defensive rebounds (4.8) and 11th in free throw percentage (.683). Sophomore Shona Thorburn ranks third in assists (3.7) and assist/turnover ratio (1.6), seventh in three-point field goal average (1.5), ninth in scoring (11.9), 11th in three-point field goal percentage (.357), 13th in rebounding (5.7), and 15th in both field goal percentage (.390) and free throw percentage (.636). Senior Kelsy Stireman ranks third in steals (2.2), fifth in assist/turnover ratio (1.3) and ninth in assists (3.1), while senior Carley Marshall is sixth in field goal percentage (.486). Sophomore Julie Wood leads the league in three-point field goal percentage (.507) and ranks fourth in three-point field goal average (1.8), while senior Mandie Little is fifth in field goal percentage (.492).
RANKING NATIONALLY:
In NCAA statistics through Feb. 2, Utah ranks third nationally in three-point field goal percentage (.404), fourth in turnovers per game (12.9), ninth in scoring defense (54.3), 10th in personal fouls per game (14.3), 11th in three-point field goal average (7.2), 28th in both won-lost percentage (.789) and scoring margin (12.4) and 30th in field goal percentage (.451).
HOME SWEET HOME:
Utah, 8-0 at home this season, has won 24 games in a row at the Huntsman Center, dating back to the 2001-02 season. That is tied with Arizona and Western Illinois for the second longest home win streak in the nation behind Texas (31).
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.
STEADY SMITH:
Sophomore Kim Smith has reached double digits scoring in 48 of 51 games on her career at Utah. She also has one or more treys in 45 of 51 career games. This season alone, Smith has at least one three-pointer in 17 of 20 games and has pulled down five or more rebounds in 18 of 20 games.
WINNING THE REBOUNDING BATTLE:
Utah has out-rebounded its opponent in all but five games this season (UC Santa Barbara, Fresno State, Oklahoma, Oregon State and Brigham Young), 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 40 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, with two of those three games resulting in losses for the Utes. Utah has shot 50 percent or better from downtown seven 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 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. The Feb. 21 and March 6 games can be heard live on 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 MAKE FIVE TELEVISION APPEARANCES:
Utah is making a school-record five regular-season appearances on television this season. ESPN2 televised the New Mexico at Utah match-up on Jan. 25, and will also broadcast the title game of the MWC Tournament. Fox Sports Net regionally televised Utah's win at CSU on Jan. 17 and will air two other regular-season contests - Utah at UNLV (this Sunday, 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 return home for games against Colorado State and Wyoming next Thursday and Saturday, Feb. 12 and 14. Thursday's game starts at 7 p.m., while Saturday's game begins at 3 p.m.
Players Mentioned
Utah: 66, Cincinnati: 73 | Big 12 Tournament | Utah Basketball Postgame Press Conference
Wednesday, March 11
Utah: 75, Baylor: 101 | Utah Basketball Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, March 08
Utah: 78, Colorado: 92 | Utah Basketball Postgame Press Conference
Wednesday, March 04
Utah: 81, Colorado: 67 | Women's Basketball Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, March 01