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Women's Basketball
vs Western Colorado (EXHIBITION)
Saturday, December 10
Salt Lake City, Utah
3:00 PM
University of Utah
81
vs
54
Gonzaga
Thorburn, Smith Lead Utah Over Gonzaga, 81-54
12/10/2005 12:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 10, 2005
SALT LAKE CITY - The No. 22/23 University of Utah women's basketball team got a pair of double-doubles from its senior stars Saturday afternoon. Shona Thorburn (Hamilton, Ont.) and Kim Smith (Mission, B.C.) led the Utes to an 81-54 victory over Gonzaga at the Jon M. Huntsman Center.
Thorburn tallied a game-high 22 points and a career-high 13 assists in the victory. Smith recorded eight points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. Utah's other senior -- Julie Larsen (Logan, Utah) -- also reached double-figure scoring, tacking on 11 points.
Utah (6-1) held a slim 11-5 lead seven minutes into the contest. But the Utes put together a 9-1 spurt, keyed by a traditional three-point play from Thorburn, to lead 20-7 midway through the opening period. Utah's first-half lead ballooned to as many as 20 points late in the first half. Gonzaga (3-7) got a three-pointer from Juliann Laney just before the buzzer to trim its deficit to 15 points, 41-26, at the intermission.
The Bulldogs still trailed by 15 four minutes into the second half, when Katy Ridenour scored five straight points for Gonzaga. That sparked an 8-0 run for the Bulldogs, pulling them within eight, 46-38, with 14:49 left to play. Utah's Smith and Larsen sandwiched a pair of three-pointers around a Gonzaga basket over the next three minutes. That pushed the Utes' lead back into double digits, 52-40, and the Bulldogs never got any closer.
Larsen hit another three-pointer one minute later. Her two treys started a 14-2 Utah run. When Camie Oakey (Jr., Flower Mound, Texas) scored off a feed from Thorburn with 8:33 remaining, it gave Utah a 21-point lead, 63-42. The Utes cruised from there. Utah's lead expanded to as many as 29 points late in the game, before taking the 27-point win.
Every Ute player in uniform saw action. Ten of the 13 Utah players who saw action reached the scoring column. The Utes shot .571 from the field in the first half and finished with a .450 mark from the field. Utah also recorded a season-low nine turnovers.
Gonzaga was led by 16 points from Ashley Anderson. Ridenour and Jami Bjorklund each tallied 10 for the Bulldogs.
Utah will see action again next Saturday (Dec. 17) at UNLV's Duel in the Desert tournament. The Utes open that tourney against No. 25 North Carolina State in a Noon (PST) tipoff.
-UU-
Players Mentioned
G
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