Upcoming Event: Women's Basketball versus Western Colorado (EXHIBITION) on October 27, 2025 at TBD
TBD
Women's Basketball
vs Western Colorado (EXHIBITION)
Saturday, March 13
Denver, Colo. (Pepsi Center)
4:00 PM
University of Utah
50
at
71
New Mexico (MWC Tournament)
Utah Women Fall to New Mexico in MWC Title Game
3/13/2004 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 13, 2004
DENVER, Colo. - The Utah women's basketball team suffered its worst defeat of the season, a 71-50 loss to New Mexico in the championship game of the Mountain West Conference Tournament at the Pepsi Center this evening. Utah falls to 24-7 overall and will wait until tomorrow afternoon to find out its fate in the NCAA Tournament.
"I think the credit goes to New Mexico, they played a great game," Head Coach Elaine Elliott said. "They shot lights out and every kid that came in contributed. They deserve the credit, so kudos to them."
"We carried the burden of expectation all season, and until you've been there I don't think you quite understand what it is to be the front runner," she continued. "I'm just extremely proud of these kids and the way they've held up this season."
Utah shot a season-low 31 percent from the field and just 23 percent from beyond the arc on the game. The Utes were also out-rebounded 32 to 31.
Sophomore Shona Thorburn led the Utes with 13 points, followed by sophomore All-America candidate Kim Smith with 12 points. Both players also pulled down six boards apiece. Senior Kelsy Stireman dished out a game-high four assists.
The Utes trailed by as many as eight early in the first half, but slowly chipped away at the Lobo lead, taking the lead (20-19) for the first time at the 8:07 mark on a Marshall layup. Utah built its lead to as many as six, 29-23, but New Mexico used a 9-3 run to close out the half and the two teams went into the locker room knotted at 32 apiece.
Utah shot 38 percent from the field and just 22 percent from downtown on the half, compared to the 44 and 63 percent, respectively, of the Lobos. The Utes out-rebounded New Mexico 19 to 14 and forced 10 Lobo turnovers. Smith led Utah with eight points, followed by Sitterud with seven. Marshall pulled down a game-high five boards on the half.
New Mexico scored the first six points of the second half as part of a 26-5 run that put them up by 21, 58-37, essentially putting the game out of reach for Utah. The Lobos shot 64 percent from the field and 63 percent from downtown on the half, more than doubling the Utes in scoring (39 to 18). Meanwhile, Utah shot 31 percent from the field and a dismal 23 percent from downtown. New Mexico also pulled down six more rebounds than the Utes.
UP NEXT:
Utah awaits its NCAA Tournament fate at 3 p.m. (MDT) tomorrow, March 14. The NCAA Selection Show will air live on ESPN.
Players Mentioned
G
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