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Women's Basketball
vs Western Colorado (EXHIBITION)
Friday, March 12
Denver, Colo. (Pepsi Center)
2:30 PM
University of Utah
59
vs
55
UNLV (MWC Tournament)
Utah Women Defeat UNLV 59-55 in MWC Tourney Semifinals
3/12/2004 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 12, 2004
Box Score?|? Notes?|? Photo Gallery
DENVER, Colo. - The Utah women's basketball team avenged last week's overtime home loss to UNLV with a 59-55 victory over the Lady Rebels in the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference Tournament at the Pepsi Center this afternoon. The Utes (24-6) will now face New Mexico (22-7) in the championship game at 4 p.m. tomorrow, March 13.
"It was certainly a good win for us," Head Coach Elaine Elliott said. "UNLV has really come on strong throughout the year and improved each game. They started out and it looked like we weren't even going to make a game out of it. We feel fortunate that the kids had a great second half. I'm really proud of their effort."
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.
UNLV scored the first 11 points, as the Utes were held scoreless for the first 5:48 of the game. Utah then scored seven in a row to cut the Lady Rebel lead to four (11-7). The Utes later used an 8-0 run to make it a one-point game, 16-15. It remained a five-point or less game for the remainder of the half until UNLV's InFini Robinson tossed up a prayer just over half court as time expired to put the Lady Rebels up by six, 30-24.
Utah shot 41 percent from the field and 40 percent from downtown on the half, compared to the 44 and 67 percent, respectively, of the Lady Rebels. The Utes out-rebounded UNLV 14 to 13, but Utah turned the ball over seven times, while the Lady Rebels committed just four turnovers. Thorburn led the Utes with nine points, followed by Stireman with six.
After a quick basket to start the second half, UNLV had an eight-point lead, but the Utes later scored five straight points to cut to Lady Rebel lead to one (36-35). Utah took its first lead of the game on a Thorburn lay-up at the 11:05 mark. It was part of a 9-0 run that put the Utes up by six, 44-38. Utah later extended the lead to eight, 52-44, but UNLV scored four unanswered points to make it a four-point game. That would be as close as the Lady Rebels would get, as the Utes went on to win 59-55.
Utah shot 50 percent from the field on the half and held UNLV to 38 percent. The Utes were out-rebounded 17 to 13 on the half, but forced 10 Lady Rebel turnovers.
UP NEXT:
No. 2-seed Utah faces top-seeded New Mexico at 4 p.m. Saturday, March 13, at the Pepsi Center. The game will be televised nationally on tape delay on ESPN2 at 10 p.m. (MDT).
Players Mentioned
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