Upcoming Event: Women's Basketball versus Western Colorado (EXHIBITION) on October 27, 2025 at TBD
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Women's Basketball
vs Western Colorado (EXHIBITION)
Sunday, March 23
Raleigh, N.C. (Reynolds Coliseum)
10:20 AM
University of Utah
73
vs
64
DePaul (NCAA Tournament)
Utah Women Defeat DePaul on Kim Smith's 35 Points
3/23/2003 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 23, 2003
RALEIGH, N.C. - Freshman Kim Smith scored a career-high 35 points to lead the Utah women's basketball team (24-6) past DePaul, 73-64, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at North Carolina State in Raleigh, N.C., this afternoon.
"I'm obviously very pleased to get the win," Head Coach Elaine Elliott said. "As a young team, we weren't sure how we might react to the circumstances. Although I never thought it would be factor, it wasn't even an issue."
Smith went 11-for-16 (69 percent) on the game, including 3-for-5 from three-point range. Her 35 points ties for second place all-time in single game scoring at Utah. She also set the Utah freshman scoring record, moving her season total to 520 points.
"Kim is the type of player every coach wants," Elliott said. "We had good match-ups for her today. The team did a great job of understanding where they could find her."
Sophomore Shona Thorburn finished with a double-double -- 20 points and 10 rebounds -- her second of the season. She also dished out a game-high six assists.
"Shona's overall game wasn't secondary to Kim today," Elliott said. "She was our top rebounder and had some crucial assists."
Junior Carley Marshall added nine points, seven rebounds and three blocks.
As a team, Utah shot 50 percent from the field on the game and 82 percent from the free throw line. The Utes out-rebounded the Blue Demons 38-26 and held them to 40 percent shooting.
The game started out close, with two ties early on, before the Utes used a 7-0 run to take a 14-10 lead. During the last 7:45 of the half, Utah went on a 25-8 run to take an 18-point lead (45-27) into the locker room at halftime. The Utes also pulled down nine more boards (21-12) than the Blue Demons on the half.
Smith had 23 points on the half, just four shy of the entire DePaul team.
DePaul opened the second half with an 8-0 run. The Utes didn't score until 16:11, when Thorburn nailed a trey to make the score 48-35. The Blue Demons then scored nine unanswered points over a 3:01 span to cut the Ute lead to five with 4:08 left. Utah responded with an 8-2 run over the next 1:44 to seal the win.
UP NEXT:
Utah will face Duke, which beat Georgia State 66-48, at a time yet to be determined on Tuesday, March 25.
Players Mentioned
G
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