Jan. 23, 2003

Box Score

LAS VEGAS - Utah's Kim Smith drained five three-pointers to lead the Mountain West Conference's top team past league rival UNLV, 56-49, Thursday night at Cox Pavilion.

Smith ended the night with a game-high 20 points, while teammate Carley Marshall registered a double-double performance with 14 points and 10 rebounds as the Utes improve to 13-3 overall and 3-0 in league play.

In the opening minutes, the Lady Rebels streaked out to a 7-0 run before Utah answered back on a layup made by Shona Thorburn at 16:08. Both teams exchanged leads four times in the first half as UNLV took a one-point lead into halftime, 27-26, on a free throw made by senior All-America candidate Constance Jinks (Chicago, Ill.), who ended the night with a team-high 14 points.

Similar to the start of the first half, the Lady Rebels went on yet another 7-0 scoring run pulling away from Utah, 33-26. Four three-pointers within the next four-minute stretch by Smith and Kelsy Stireman pushed the Utes ahead by as many as seven.

A foul by Utah's Lana Sitterud with 9:45 remaining sent sophomore Sherry McCracklin (Hazel Crest, Ill.) to the line where she hit both to give UNLV a one-point lead, 43-42. McCracklin scored all of her eight points of the night in the second half of play.

With 6:02 left, Utah used a 10-4 run in the final stretch of regulation to claim the victory. Senior Julia Gray (Riverside, Calif.) was the only other Lady Rebel to score in double-digits with 11. She also turned in one of her best defensive performances of the season with a season-high eight steals. For the game, UNLV shot 86 percent from the free throw line (12-14), but a low 30 percent from the field (18-59).

UNLV (10-5, 1-1 MWC) next hosts league rival BYU (12-4, 3-0 MWC) on Saturday, Jan. 25 at the Cox Pavilion. The game is scheduled to tip-off at 7:35 p.m.