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
3/12/2004 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 12, 2004
DENVER, Colo. -
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COMING UP:
No. 2-seed Utah (24-6) faces top-seeded New Mexico (22-7) in the championship game of the Mountain West Conference at 4 p.m. Saturday, March 13, at the Pepsi Center. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN2 on tape delay at 10 p.m. (MDT). The game will be broadcast live on KALL-700 AM and on the Internet at www.utahutes.com.
A QUICK LOOK AT UTAH:
Utah avenged last week's overtime home loss to UNLV with a 59-55 victory over the Lady Rebels in the semifinals of the MWC Tournament Friday afternoon. Sophomore All-America candidate Kim Smith scored her 1,000th career point at the 9:46 mark in the first half. She now has 1,008 career points, making her the all-time sophomore scoring leader at Utah. Utah shot 47 percent from the field, but just 29 percent from three-point range. Meanwhile, the Lady Rebels connected on 42 percent from the field and 57 percent from downtown. UNLV also out-rebounded the Utes 31 to 26. Sophomore Shona Thorburn led Utah with 23 points, while senior Kelsy Stireman added 13 points, five assists and four steals. Smith finished with 10 points and a team-high six rebounds.
On the season, Utah is led by Smith, who averages 15.6 points and 7.6 rebounds, and Thorburn, who adds 12.0 points, 5.4 boards and 4.1 assists per game. As a team, Utah is holding opponents to 53.9 points per game and has an average margin of victory of 11.6 points.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:
New Mexico put together a 51-44 come-from-behind win over Wyoming Friday at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colo. The Cowgirls had a 27-24 lead going into the half and built their lead to 33-27 with 16:34 left in the game. The Lobos fought back with a 9-4 run to take the lead for good. New Mexico shot 38 percent from the field and 47 percent from three-point range, compared to the 29 and 22 percent of Wyoming. The Lobos also won the rebounding battle 37 to 28. Junior forward Lindsey Arndt led the Lobos with 16 points, eight of them scored in the last seven minutes, and nine rebounds. Junior guard Mandi Moore added 11 points and four assists.
The Lobos are led by Arndt and Melissa Forest, who average 10.3 and 10.2 points per game, respectively. Arndt adds a team-high 7.1 rebounds per game, while Forest averages 6.8 boards. As a team, New Mexico is shooting 40 percent from the field and out-rebounding opponents 39.8 to 35.1.
SERIES SHORTS:
Utah leads the all-time series with the Lobos 39-12. The last time the two teams met, on Feb. 19 of this year, New Mexico won 49-46 in Albuquerque. The Utes are 26-0 at home, 12-12 away and 1-0 at a neutral site vs. New Mexico.
MWC LEADERS:
As a team, the Utes rank in the top half of nearly every statistical category. Utah leads the conference in scoring margin (+11.9), field goal percentage (.448), three-point field goal percentage (.385), rebounding defense (30.4), assists (15.3), assist/turnover ratio (1.2) and turnover margin (+2.6), and ranks second in scoring defense (53.9), free throw percentage (.714) and three-point field goal average (6.9), third in scoring (65.8) and rebounding margin (+3.9), and fourth in field goal percentage defense (.395).
In conference games only, the Utes rank in the top half of every statistical category but rebounding, three-point field goal percentage defense, blocked shots, steals and offensive rebounds.
Individually, sophomore Kim Smith ranks second in defensive rebounds (4.9), third in rebounding (7.7), fourth in scoring (15.8) and three-point field goal percentage (.388), fifth in defensive rebounds (2.7) and three-point field goal average (1.6), seventh in field goal percentage (.503) and 10th in free throw percentage (.697). Sophomore Shona Thorburn ranks third in assist/turnover ratio (2.0), fourth in assists (4.1), seventh in three-point field goal average (1.5), ninth in three-point field goal percentage (.341), 11th in scoring (11.6) and 14th in rebounding (5.4). Senior Kelsy Stireman ranks second in steals (2.2), fifth in assist/turnover ratio (1.5) and sixth in assists (3.5), while senior Carley Marshall is eighth in field goal percentage (.477). Sophomore Julie Wood leads the league in three-point field goal percentage (.469) and ranks 12th in three-point field goal average (1.3), while senior Mandie Little is sixth in field goal percentage (.505), 10th in offensive rebounds (2.0) and 18th in rebounding (4.3). Junior Lana Sitterud is 11th in three-point field goal percentage (.321) and 14th in three-point field goal average (1.2).
SMITH REACHES 1,000-POINT MILESTONE VS. UNLV:
Forward Kim Smith reached the 1,000-point milestone in the first half of the semifinal win over UNLV on Friday. The sophomore currently has 468 points on the year and 1,008 on her career, making her the 18th Ute and just the second sophomore ever to reach 1,000 points. She is also the all-time sophomore scoring leader at Utah, surpassing the 1,002 of Julie Krommenhoek in her first two seasons.
ALL-CONFERENCE HONOREES:
Utah sophomore Kim Smith was named MWC Player of the Year for the second year in a row. Meanwhile, sophomore Shona Thorburn was a second-team All-MWC pick for the second consecutive season and senior Kelsy Stireman was named to the third-team. Senior Carley Marshall was named honorable mention.
RANKING NATIONALLY:
In NCAA statistics through March 8, Utah ranks third nationally in turnovers per game (12.8), fifth in both three-point field goal percentage (.386) and scoring defense (54.0), seventh in personal fouls per game (14.1), 21st in won-lost percentage (.786), 22nd in three-point field goal average (6.9), 26th in scoring margin (11.7) and 28th in field goal percentage (.449).
WINNING THE REBOUNDING BATTLE:
Utah has out-rebounded its opponent in all but nine games this season, and four of the Utes' six losses came when they were out-rebounded by their opponent.
LIVE BY THE THREE, DIE BY THE THREE:
Utah, which is shooting 38 percent from three-point range this season, has connected on 30 or more percent of its treys in all but eight games this season, with three of those eight games resulting in losses for the Utes. Utah has shot 50 percent or better from downtown nine times this season and won those games by an average of 21.0 points.
In addition, Utah is one of just five schools nationally (Stanford, Pennsylvania, Iowa State and Idaho are the others) to have four players with 30 or more three-pointers on the season.
TAKING CARE OF THE BALL:
Utah, which currently ranks third nationally in turnovers per game, has only committed more turnovers than its opponent on six occasions this season. The Utes have committed 10 or fewer turnovers in eight games and 15 or fewer in 23 of 30 games this season.
CONSISTENCY IN THE STARTING LINEUP:
Utah is the only team in the Mountain West Conference to have the same five players start every game this season. The Utes start three seniors - Mandie Little, Carley Marshall and Kelsy Stireman - and two sophomores - Kim Smith and Shona Thorburn. Stireman has started all but two games on her career (118 of 120), while Smith and Thorburn have started all 61 games since coming to Utah.
STEADY SMITH:
Sophomore Kim Smith has reached double digits scoring in 57 of 61 games on her career at Utah. She also has one or more treys in 53 of 61 career games. This season alone, Smith has at least one three-pointer in 25 of 30 games and has pulled down five or more rebounds in 28 of 30 games.
THORBURN DOES IT ALL:
Shona Thorburn, who ranks second on the team in scoring and rebounding, has reached double figures scoring 19 times this season and has scored five or more points in 29 of 30 games. The guard also has at least one assist in 29 of 30 games, one three-pointer in 23 of 30 games and five or more rebounds in 18 of 30 games.
MARSHALL AND LITTLE DEPENDABLE INSIDE:
Senior post players Mandie Little and Carley Marshall have come up big for the Utes this season. Marshall has shot 50 percent or better from the field in 17 games, while Little has done the same in 16 of 30 games. In addition, Marshall has four or more rebounds in 18 games and Little has four or more boards in 17 of 30 games this season.
STIREMAN RUNS THE POINT, DEFENDS WELL:
Senior point guard Kelsy Stireman has at least one steal in 26 of 30 games this season. She grabbed three steals in five games, four steals in five games and nabbed a career-high seven steals against both Weber State and San Diego State. She also has three or fewer turnovers in 23 of 30 games and at least one assist in 28 of 30 games.
UP NEXT:
Utah will await its postseason fate during the NCAA Tournament Selection Show at 3 p.m. (MDT) Sunday, March 14. The show will air live on ESPN.
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