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 - Game 17 vs. Wyoming
1/14/2005 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 14, 2005
Game #17
University of Utah (12-4, 1-0 MWC) vs. Wyoming (10-4, 1-0 MWC)
3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 15, 2005 - Jon M. Huntsman Center (15,000)
Salt Lake City, Utah
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Utah-Wyoming Fast Breaks
> This is the 56th meeting between Utah and Wyoming on the women's basketball hardwood.
> Utah leads the series 49-6.
> Utah has won 26 straight meetings against the Cowgirls.
> Utah swept the season series last year. The Utes won 57-39 in Laramie on Jan. 15 and took a 59-45 victory over Wyoming in Salt Lake City.
> Wyoming's last victory in the series was a 69-66 triumph in Laramie on Feb. 23, 1990.
> The Cowgirls' last and only victory in the Huntsman Center also came during the 1989-90 season. Wyoming defeated Utah 63-62 on Feb. 10, 1990 in Salt Lake City.
> Utah holds a 25-1 all-time record against Wyoming at the Huntsman Center.
Utah Head Coach Elaine Elliott
University of Utah head women's basketball coach Elaine Elliott is in her 22nd season at the helm of the Ute program.
Elliott has a career record of 449-182. She is the winningest coach in Utah basketball history. Elliott has led the Utah women to 11 NCAA Tournament appearances, eight regular-season conference titles, three divisional crowns and five conference tournament championships. Elliott has been regarded for years as one of the best women's basketball coaches in the country. She has the longest tenure of any coach in the Mountain West Conference.
In 21 years, Elliott has had an astounding 20 winning seasons. She has been named her conference's coach of the year eight different times. Elliott has coached 28 first-team all-conference players and six Players of the Year.
Elliott was named the John and Nellie Wooden National Coach of the Year following the 2000-01 season.
Wyoming Head Coach Joe Legerski
Joe Legerski is in his second season as the head coach of the Wyoming Cowgirls.
Legerski posted a record of 11-18 in his first year in Laramie. However, the Cowgirls are 10-4 this season.
For 12 seasons prior to taking over the Wyoming program, Legerski served as an assistant at Utah under head coach Elaine Elliott. He also has coaching experience as an assistant at Wyoming. Legerski was the head coach for one season at Western Wyoming College. He was also the head girls basketball coach at Rock Springs (Wyo.) High School.
The Utah connections don't stop there. Wyoming assistant coach Jaime White was an assistant at Utah for two seasons. Current Utah assistant coach Matt Legerski is Joe Legerski's nephew.
Utah Update
Utah opened up Mountain West Conference play with a big victory over Colorado State Thursday. The Utes used a strong defensive effort to stop the Rams, who entered the game as the second-highest-scoring team in the league.
Utah forced 23 Colorado State turnovers and converted those turnovers into 32 points. The Utes outscored CSU 32-16 in points off turnovers. The Rams were also held to a shooting percentage of just .340, well below their season average.
Meanwhile, the Utes got double-figure scoring from four starters. Shona Thorburn led Utah with a game-high 18 points and eight assists. Kim Smith tallied her sixth double-double this season with 15 points and 11 boards. Lana Sitterud added 12 points, including three three-pointers. Jessica Perry added 10 points and nine rebounds.
Smith continues to lead the way for Utah, averaging 16.9 points and 9.4 rebounds a game.
Scouting Wyoming
Wyoming is 10-4 overall and 1-0 in the Mountain West Conference. The Cowgirls opened MWC action with a 74-63 victory over BYU Thursday night in Provo. Freshman Hanna Zavecz scored a career-high 32 points in the victory over the Cougars. Ashley Elliott and Erin Hicks were also in double figures, with 16 and 11 points, respectively.
Elliott, a senior, leads the Cowgirls with an average of 17.4 points per game. Zavecz improved her output to 15.8 points per outing. She also pulls down 7.1 rebounds per game. Wyoming's top rebounder is Erin Hicks, who averages 7.5 boards a contest and also scores 10.6 a game.
The Utah game wraps up a seven-game road swing for the Cowgirls.
The Defense Does Not Rest
Utah has held its last four opponents to 50 points or less, dropping the Utes' scoring defense average to 53.8 points per game. Utah is now No. 2 in the Mountain West Conference in scoring defense.
Over the Utes' current four-game winning streak, opponents are averaging 42.25 points per contest.
Coming into this week, Utah was ranked 28th in the nation in scoring defense. The Utes have held seven of 16 opponents to 50 points or less. Ten Utah opponents have scored 56 or less.
Women of Steal
For much of the season, Utah has been ranked seventh or eighth in the Mountain West Conference in steals. However, the Utes have become very adept at picking pockets as of late, moving up to No. 4 in the league.
Through the first eight games of the season, Utah averaged 5.4 steals per contest and reached double figures in one game. Through the last eight games, the Utes are averaging 11.6 takeaways. Utah has been in double digits for steals in seven of its last eight games. That improvement has pushed the Utes' season average to 8.5 steals per contest.
All Over the Charts
The Mountain West Conference's women's basketball statistics report lists 12 categories. Of those 12, Utah junior forward Kim Smith is ranked in the top 10 in all but one of them.
Smith is currently the league's leading rebounder (9.4 rpg) and second-leading scorer (16.9 ppg). The two-time MWC Player of the Year is also ranked in free-throw percentage (3rd, .857); defensive rebounds (2nd, 6.06); offensive rebounds (3rd, 3.31); field-goal percentage (6th, .480); three-point percentage (6th, .387); three-point field goals (7th, 1.50); steals (9th, 1.69); assists (10th, 2.81); and blocked shots (10th, 0.69).
Smith is the only MWC women's basketball player to be ranked in the top 10 in each of those 11 categories. The only category Smith does not appear in is assist-turnover ratio.
A Little Assistance?
Junior guard Shona Thorburn dished out eight assists Thursday night against Colorado State. Her first helper of the game came less than four minutes into the contest and was her 100th of the season.
With her 100th assist, Thorburn became the quickest to the century mark in assists, since Alli Bills reached that plateau in 1997-98. Bills tallied her 100th that season in the Utes' 13th game, while it took Thorburn just 16 games.
Thorburn has led Utah in assists in each of her first two seasons, despite not actually taking over the point guard role until this year. She is tops in the MWC with 6.7 per game.
Players Mentioned
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