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Women's Basketball
vs Western Colorado (EXHIBITION)
Thursday, March 4
Salt Lake City, Utah
7:00 PM
University of Utah
60
vs
68
UNLV*
Utah Loses in Overtime to UNLV, 68-60
3/4/2004 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 4, 2004
SALT LAKE CITY - The Utah women's basketball team saw its 27-game home winning streak come to an end at the hands of UNLV, the same team that beat them at the Huntman Center last, more than two years ago on Jan. 31, 2002. The Lady Rebels beat the Utes 68-60 in overtime tonight. With the loss, Utah falls to 21-6 overall and 12-2 in Mountain West Conference play.
Both teams shot 40 percent from the field on the game. However, Utah was just 6-of-24 (25 percent) from three-point range. The Utes were also out-rebounded 40 to 38 and took 14 fewer free throws than UNLV.
"Vegas did a nice job - you have to give them credit," Head Coach Elaine Elliott said. "They made the big plays - they hit big shots, got big rebounds and made their free throws."
"We reacted to the game, we didn't anticipate it," she continued. "We needed to penetrate and that didn't happen. We're not taking threes at the right time."
Sophomore All-America candidate Kim Smith led Utah with 17 points and 10 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the season. Seniors Carley Marshall and Mandie Little and sophomore Shona Thorburn each added 11 points apiece. Marshall and senior Kelsy Stireman pulled down six boards each. Stireman also dished out seven assists and nabbed three steals on the game.
Utah trailed by as many as seven points (19-12) in the first half, but later used a 6-0 run to tie the game at 21 and went into halftime knotted at 23 apiece. The Utes shot 40 percent from the field and 22 percent from three-point range on the half. Meanwhile, UNLV connected on 36 percent from the field and just 17 percent from downtown. The Lady Rebels edged Utah on the boards 18 to 17. Marshall scored a game-high eight points on the half, followed by Smith with seven.
After a close start to the second half, UNLV used a pair of 5-0 runs to take a nine-point lead (41-32). Utah answered with seven straight points to cut the lead to two. The Utes later tied it at 46 on a Thorburn three with 1:27 left in the game. After the Lady Rebels failed to score, Utah had a chance to take the lead, but Thorburn's shot was partially blocked and UNLV got the ball with 3.9 seconds left. RanDee Henry's half court shot was too high, sending the game into overtime.
UNLV scored the first seven points in the overtime period, essentially taking Utah out of the game. The Utes were forced to foul for the remainder, but the strategy didn't work as the Lady Rebels made 13 of 14 free throws in the overtime period alone.
UP NEXT:
Utah closes out the regular season with a 3 p.m. game against San Diego State on Saturday, March 6, at the Huntsman Center.
At 12-2 with one game left in MWC regular-season play, Utah is now tied with New Mexico for first place. Therefore, if Utah wins on Saturday and New Mexico loses to Colorado State, the Utes will be the regular-season champions. If Utah loses and New Mexico wins, the Lobos will be the regular-season champs. If both teams win or if both teams lose, they would both co-champions. However, for seeding in the MWC Tournament, the tie is broken based on performance against the third place team, currently UNLV. The Utes split with the Lady Rebels, while the Lobos swept the series. Therefore, New Mexico would be the No. 1 seed and Utah would be the No. 2 seed.
"We wanted to win this thing outright, but we didn't have the game to prove it," Elliott said.
Players Mentioned
G
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