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The University of Utah Athletics
Utah Women's Basketball Notes
12/30/2003 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 30, 2003
SALT LAKE CITY -
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COMING UP:
The No. 24/25 Utah women's basketball team (8-3) hosts San Francisco (7-4) at 7 p.m. this Friday, Jan. 2, in the Huntsman Center. The game will 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 defeated Northern Arizona 69-45 on the road last Sunday. The Utes committed a season-high 23 turnovers in the win, but shot 49 percent from the field on the game and connected on 64 percent from three-point range. Utah also out-rebounded the Lumberjacks 43-22 as all 11 Utes played. Sophomore Kim Smith led a group of four Utes in double-figure scoring with 15. She added five rebounds and four assists. Senior point guard Kelsy Stireman and senior Carley Marshall added 13 points apiece, while senior Mandie Little finished with 10. Little and sophomore Shona Thorburn grabbed a team-high eight rebounds apiece, while Marshall added seven. Stireman nabbed a team-high three steals, while Little, junior Lana Sitterud and freshman Camie Allen had two each.
On the season, Utah is led by Smith, who averages 16.2 points and 6.4 rebounds, and Thorburn, who adds 13.0 points, 6.2 boards and 4.0 assists.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:
USF improved to 7-4 with a 54-40 win over Iona Monday night at home. Freshman forward Jessy Preston posted a career-high 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting and added six rebounds. Senior forward Carey Sauer tallied her third career double-double with 12 points and a season-high 10 rebounds. Sophomore guard Joy Hollingsworth scored 11 points and pulled down six rebounds, while junior guard Toni Russell had five points, five rebounds, eight assists and a steal. San Francisco hit at a .411 (23-of-56) clip for the game.
The Lady Dons are led this season by Sauer, who averages 13.5 points and 5.0 rebounds. Hollingsworth adds 12.5 points, while Mary Jane Krueger pulls down a team-high 8.4 rebounds per game. San Francisco is out-rebounding opponents 37.8 to 34.4 and shooting 40 percent from the field as a team.
SERIES SHORTS:
Utah leads the all-time series with the Lady Dons 5-2. The last time the two teams met, on Dec. 30, 2001, Utah fell 65-56 on the road. The Utes are 3-0 at home, 1-1 away and 1-1 at a neutral site vs. San Francisco.
ESPN/USA TODAY POLL DEC. 30, 2003
Rank School 03-04 Total Last (first-place votes) Record Points Week1. Connecticut (40) 9-0 1,000 1 2. Texas Tech 12-0 939 3 3. Texas 11-1 909 5 4. Duke 9-1 887 4 5. Tennessee 7-1 855 2 6. Minnesota 10-0 791 6 7. Stanford 9-2 718 7 8. Purdue 8-1 707 8 9. Penn State 7-2 651 9 10. Louisiana Tech 7-1 632 10 11. Georgia 9-2 594 11 12. Kansas State 7-2 539 12 13. Colorado 9-1 505 13 14. North Carolina 9-1 471 14 15. Virginia Tech 10-0 420 15 16. Oklahoma 9-1 401 16 17. Ohio State 8-1 395 17 18. LSU 10-2 306 18 19. TCU 9-1 260 19 20. Boston College 9-1 207 20 21. DePaul 11-1 185 21 22. Michigan State 9-1 81 NR 23. Vanderbilt 10-1 76 NR 24. Utah 8-3 75 25 25. Arizona 10-2 65 NR
Others receiving votes: UC Santa Barbara 59; Auburn 41; Clemson 41; Houston 38; Washington 19; Rutgers 18; Villanova 18; Baylor 15; Southern Mississippi 13; Oregon 12; Miami (Fla.) 9; Virginia 8; Marshall 7; California 6; Old Dominion 6; George Washington 5; Notre Dame 4; Southwest Missouri State 4; Arizona State 3; Montana 3; Florida 1; Loyola Marymount 1.
AP TOP 25 POLL DEC. 29, 2003
Rank School 03-04 Total Last (first-place votes) Record Points Week1. Connecticut (46) 8-0 1,173 1 2. Texas Tech 12-0 1,082 3 3. Texas (1) 11-1 1,075 5 4. Duke 8-1 1,057 4 5. Tennessee 7-1 1,008 2 6. Minnesota 9-0 892 7 7. Purdue 8-1 884 6 8. Louisiana Tech 7-1 816 8 9. Stanford 8-2 800 9 10. Penn State 7-2 772 10 11. Kansas State 7-2 684 11 12. Georgia 8-2 644 12 13. Colorado 9-1 551 13 14. North Carolina 9-1 538 14 15. Oklahoma 9-1 495 15 16. Virginia Tech 9-0 457 16 17. LSU 10-2 423 17 18. Ohio State 8-1 401 18 19. TCU 8-1 252 19 20. DePaul 11-1 226 22 21. Auburn 9-2 173 20 22. Boston College 9-1 137 25 23. Michigan State 8-1 120 24 24. Vanderbilt 10-0 109 NR 25. Utah 8-3 90 23
Others receiving votes: UC Santa Barbara 62, Baylor 61, Villanova 50, Rutgers 45, Arizona 40, Oregon 38, George Washington 23, Miami 21, Florida 15, Clemson 14, Nebraska 8, Notre Dame 8, Virginia 6, Old Dominion 5, Southwest Missouri State 5, Washington 5, South Carolina 4, Montana 3, California 2, Idaho 1.
MWC STANDINGS:
W L Pct.UNLV 8 2 .800UTAH 8 3 .727 BYU 6 3 .667 Colorado State 6 4 .600 New Mexico 6 4 .600 San Diego State 4 6 .400 Air Force 3 7 .300 Wyoming 1 7 .125
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 (.465), three-point field goal percentage (.407), rebounding defense (30.4) and three-point field goal average (6.6), and ranks second in assist/turnover ratio (1.0) and scoring defense (55.2), third in scoring margin (+11.6), rebounding margin (+4.1), free throw percentage (.677), assists (14.9), turnover margin (+2.4) and steals (9.3), and fourth in scoring (66.8).
Individually, sophomore Kim Smith ranks second in three-point field goal percentage (.488), third in scoring (16.2), fourth in three-point field goal average (1.9), fifth in field goal percentage (.519), and 10th in rebounding (6.4), steals (1.6) and offensive rebounds (2.4). Sophomore Shona Thorburn ranks third in both assists (4.0) and assist/turnover ratio (1.4), fourth in three-point field goal percentage (.444), fifth in three-point field goal average (1.8), eighth in scoring (13.0) and defensive rebounds (4.6), 11th in rebounding (6.2) and 14th in field goal percentage (.415). Senior Kelsy Stireman leads the league in steals (2.7), while senior Carley Marshall is fourth in field goal percentage (.521). Sophomore Julie Wood is first in three-point field goal percentage (.516) and ninth in three-point field goal average (1.5). Senior Mandie Little is third in field goal percentage (.533) and eighth in offensive rebounds (2.5), while junior Lana Sitterud is 10th in steals (1.6) and 15th in three-point field goal percentage (.282).
HOME SWEET HOME:
Utah, 5-0 at home this season, has now won 21 games in a row at home, dating back to the 2001-02 season. Last year, the Utes 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 Utah fell 79-71 to UNLV.
TURNOVER TERRITORY:
In last Sunday's game at Northern Arizona, the two teams combined for a total of 45 turnovers on the game. Utah's 23 and the Lumberjacks' 22 turnovers in the game were the most on the season for both the Utes and for a Utah opponent. What's more, 31 of the 45 turnovers were committed in the first half, a turnover total higher than that of six of Utah's 11 games this season.
DEFENSIVE HIGHS AND LOWS:
On Dec. 20, Utah held Weber State to 38 points, the lowest scoring total by an opponent all season. The Utes also had 15 steals, four blocks and forced 21 Wildcat turnovers.
However, in the Utes' Dec. 16 loss at Oregon State, the Beavers shot a blistering 63 percent from the field on the game. The last time Utah allowed an opponent to shoot 60 percent or higher was Jan. 23, 1992, when Creighton connected on 32-of-52 from the field for a 62 percent field goal percentage.
0-FER FROM DOWNTOWN:
In the Utes' win over Weber State on Dec. 20, Utah was 0-for-10 from three-point range. It ended a streak of 184 games with a trey for the Utes. Coincidentally, the last time Utah failed to make a shot from downtown was in its season opener on Nov. 21, 1997, also against Weber State.
UTES PICKED TO WIN MOUNTAIN WEST:
The Utah women's basketball team was selected as the unanimous favorite by the league's head coaches and select media to win the 2003-04 Mountain West Conference 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.
SMITH RECOGNIZED BY ESPN:
Utah sophomore All-America candidate Kim Smith was honored by espn.com as the sixth-best wing in the nation. Wings are classified as "those players who make that pull-up jumper seem easy and slash to the hoop better than just about anybody else."
Listed ahead of Smith were the nation's leading scorer last season, two of the best players in the SEC, the best player in the Pac-10 and one of the top athletes in the Big Ten (Chandi Jones of Houston, Seimone Augustus of LSU, Tan White of Mississippi State, Nicole Powell of Stanford and Shereka Wright of Purdue).
UTES ON THE RADIO:
All but two of Utah's remaining games this season will be broadcast on KALL-700 AM in Salt Lake City. 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. Stone is also the host of the "Redzone," an hour-long show devoted to Ute sports that airs from 9-10 a.m. Monday-Friday. Color commentary for Utah home games is done by Utah's all-time leading scorer, Julie Krommenhoek.
Utah's 2003-04 road games will be called by Chris Tunis, who served as the president of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association from 1999-2001. Tunis has been selected as Utah Sportscaster of the Year seven times by his peers.
The two games that won't be on KALL are Feb. 21 and March 6. However, those three games will be broadcast via 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 TO MAKE FIVE TELEVISION APPEARANCES:
Utah will make a school-record five regular-season appearances on television this season. ESPN2 will televise the New Mexico at Utah match-up on Jan. 25, along with the title game of the conference tournament. Fox Sports Net will regionally televise three regular-season contests, including Utah at Colorado State (Jan. 17), Utah at UNLV (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 travel to Pocatello, Idaho, for a 7:05 p.m. game next Monday, Jan. 5. In 25 meetings, Utah has never lost to the Bengals.
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