Upcoming Event: Women's Basketball versus Western Colorado (EXHIBITION) on October 27, 2025 at TBD
TBD
Women's Basketball
vs Western Colorado (EXHIBITION)
Thursday, March 6
Albuquerque, N.M.
7:00 p.m.
University of Utah
48
at
51
*New Mexico
No. 25 Utes Suffer Second Conference Loss of Season
3/6/2003 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 6, 2003
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - In front of the largest crowd it's faced all season (12,333), the No. 25 University of Utah women's basketball team suffered just its second conference loss of the season, falling 51-48 at the University of New Mexico tonight. The Utes, who clinched the No. 1 seed in the Mountain West Conference Tournament last week, fall to 21-5 overall and 11-2 in conference play.
Utah shot 37 percent from the field on the game, while the Lobos shot 37.5 percent. New Mexico edged the Utes on the boards - 36 to 35 - but committed 21 turnovers to the Utes' 19.
"The crowd helps everything," Head Coach Elaine Elliott said. "When you have a dry spell, you have to defend well and we didn't. That was our worst six minutes of the game defensively."
Freshman Kim Smith led all scorers with 15 points and was the only Ute to reach double figures scoring. Junior Carley Marshall led the Utes with eight boards, followed by junior Mandie Little with six. Junior point guard Kelsy Stireman dished out a game-high seven assists and also nabbed four steals.
In the first half, Utah scored first, more than three minutes in, and held the Lobos scoreless for more than six minutes. New Mexico made just two of its first 14 shots, while the Utes connected on 30 percent (6-of-20). Utah led by as many as 10 twice, but the Lobos' Tiffany Scaglione tossed up a prayer as time expired and it went in, cutting the Utah lead to seven (24-17) at halftime.
Neither team shot particularly well on the half, as Utah connected on 10-of-29 from the field, while the Lobos were 6-of-22 (27 percent). Smith led all scorers with 12 points on the half and the Utes held New Mexico's Jordan Adams, who averages 15.5 points a game, scoreless on the half.
Utah opened the second half much like the first, jumping out to a 12-point lead (34-22), but the Lobos then scored nine straight points and took their first lead of the game with 8:31 left. It was part of a 23-3 New Mexico run that put the Lobos up 45-37, and at one point saw Utah go 5:57 without scoring.
Down by eight late in the game, the Utes tried to mount a comeback, narrowing the Lobo lead to three (49-46). Sophomore Lana Sitterud shot a trey, which would have tied the game, with 1.6 seconds left, but it was off the mark and time expired.
UP NEXT:
Utah closes out the regular season with a 1 p.m. game at Air Force on Saturday, March 8.
Players Mentioned
G
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