Utah Up Next In MWC Action

Picking up two conference wins at home was just what the Cougar women needed to get right back into the race for the Championship. This week it's a quick trip to Salt Lake City for a showdown with instate rival Utah (16-2, 5-0). BYU (10-7, 2-2) was the only MWC team to beat the Utes on their home floor last season.

Tip off: BYU vs Utah is 3:07 p.m.

Arena: Jon Huntsman Center

BYU-Utah Game On KJZZ-TV

This Saturday's game between the Cougars and Utes will be broadcast live on KJZZ-TV, Chan. 14. Steve Brown will do the play by play for the game.

BYU Probable Starters - 2000-01 stats

l 31 Lisa Osguthorpe - 6-0 Jr, F (5.2 ppg, 5.0 rpg)

l 44 Caroline Beus - 6-1 Sr, C/F (8.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg)

l 23 Chanell Rose - 6-0 So, F (6.8 ppg, 3.6 rpg)

l 11 Erin Thorn - 5-10 So, G (16.6 ppg, 5.0 rpg)

l 22 Stacy Jensen - 5-6 Jr, G (9.1 ppg, 3.2 rpg)

BYU Players Off the Bench- 2000-01 stats

l 04 Kaly G. Shippen - 5-6 Sr, G (4.2 ppg)

l 14 Julie Whetten - 5-8 Fr, G (4.4 ppg, 1.4 rpg)

l 50 Heather Cheesman - 6-1 Fr, F (8..8 ppg, 4.4 rpg)

l 21 Jennifer Lietner - 6-0 Fr, F (2.2 ppg, 2.8 rpg, played in six games to date)

Player Injury Update

# 15 Jorja Cox has suffered a knee injury and is out of the lineup indefinitely.

#20 Brittany Larson was diagnosed with mono and is out of the lineup indefinitely.

Quickie BYU Stats - 2000-01 Season

l Shooting from the field - .415 (401-966)

l Shooting from the free-throw line - .725 (216-298)

l Shooting from the three-point arc - .389 (115-296)

l Averaged 66.6 points per game

Season Highlights To Date

TEAM

l Most points scored - 90 @ Washington State on 11/30/00

l Most field goals made - 32 @ Washington State on 11/30/00

l Most free-throws made - 22 vs Northern Iowa on 12/07/00

l Most three-pointers made - 12 vs SMU on 12/30/00

l Most rebounds made - 49 vs SMU on 12/30/00

l Most assists made - 22 vs SMU on12/30/00

l Most steals made - 14 @ Idaho State on 12/28/00

INDIVIDUAL

l Most points - Erin Thorn (36) @ Arizona 11/18/00

l Most field goals made - Erin Thorn (12) @ Arizona 11/18/00

l Most three-pointers made - Erin Thorn (8) @ Arizona 11/18/00

l Most free-throws made - Heather Cheesman (9) @ Gonzaga 12/02/00

l Most rebounds made - Heather Cheesman and Erin Thorn (9) @ Gonzaga 12/02/00

l Most assists made - Julie Whetten (7) vs UCLA 11/25/00/ and Erin Thorn (7) @ Idaho State on 12/28/00

l Most steals made - Erin Thorn (6) vs Northern Iowa on 12/07/00 and Stacy Jensen (6) vs Idaho State on 12/28/00

l Most blocked shots - Caroline Beus (2) @ Washington State 11/30/00

Last Game Recap

The Cougars got back on the winning column with two conference wins at home against Wyoming and Colorado State. All-American Erin Thorn had 20 points against the Cowgirls and 13 against the Rams. Chanell Rose sparked the BYU team in both games getting a season and career high 16 points in the win over CSU. The Cougars set a new attendance record in the game against the Rams with 3,821 fans. The victory over CSU was the first regular season win over the Rams for Coach Shippen since taking over the BYU program.

Scouting Utah

The University of Utah has a perfect record in conference play (5-0) heading into Saturday's matchup against BYU and they've only got one loss at home, against Loyola Marymount back on January 2nd. At the top of the scoring column is junior Lauren Beckman who's averaging 11.4 points and leads the team in rebounds with an average of 7.8 boards a game. Three other starters are also scoring threats for the Utes with Kristina Anderson averaging 9.8 points, followed by Amy Ewert picking up 9.7 and finally Lindsay Herbert who contributes 8.1 points a game. Utah is averaging 39.1 rebounds a game to opponents 32.8. They are scoring 67.6 points a game and holding opponents to just over 50 points a contest. The Utes shoot 43 percent from the field and 74 percent from the free-throw line.

Utah Probable Starters

# 21 Kristina Andersen - F 6-1, Sr (9.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg)

# 25 Lindsay Herbert - F/G 5-11, Jr (8.1 ppg,3.7 rpg)

# 52 Lauren Beckman - F/C 6-2, Jr (11.4 ppg, 7.8 rpg)

# 14 Kelsy Stireman - G 5-7, Fr (6.2 ppg, 2.6 rpg)

# 24 Amy Ewert - G/F 6-0, Sr (9.7 ppg, 3.8 rpg)

Series Record: 26-44 favoring hosts Utah. The Cougars are 6-32 at the Huntsman Center.

Last Meeting: In last year's home and away series, BYU won in Salt Lake City and Utah won in Provo. The Cougar win at the Huntsman Center was the only victory by a MWC team in last year's inaugural season with the score of 46-41. Prior to last year's victory in Salt Lake City, the previous Cougar victory on the road dates back to a win in 1986 with a 83-68 BYU victory.

MWC Standings as of 1/21/01

SCHOOL ALL GAMES MWC GAMES

Utah 16-2 5-0

New Mexico 12-6 3-1

UNLV 12-4 2-2

BYU 10-7 2-2

San Diego State 10-7 2-2

Colorado State 12-4 1-2

Wyoming 8-8 0-3

Air Force 3-13 0-3

Coach Shippen vs MWC Opponents

vs Utah: 4-4

vs Wyoming: 3-1

vs CSU: 1-4

vs SDSU: 5-0

vs UNLV: 4-0

vs Air Force: 4-0

vs UNM: 3-5

Shippen Quotes

On BYU team: We're relatively healthy after last week's very tough games. The two wins at home were huge for us and it helped us get back on track and to have some momentum going into Saturday's game against Utah.

On Utah: The University of Utah is an excellent team. They have good depth, they can substitute freely with a solid bench. The players understand their roles well and play excellent defense to go along with their good outside shooting. We can't just key in on one player because another one is right there ready to step in. We will have to play our very best game in order for us to pick up a win on their home floor. They are extremely tough at home.

Head Coach Trent Shippen

Trent Shippen enters his fourth season at the helm of BYU's women's basketball program. The 22 wins last year are a first for the Cougar program since the 1992-93 season when BYU finished with a 24-5, 13-1 record and made its last NCAA Championships appearance.

This is Shippen's first Division I coaching assignment. Shippen came to BYU after a three year stint as head coach at Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho. While at Ricks, he led his 1995 team to a fifth place finish in the NJCAA Tournament, and was voted Region 18 Coach of the Year. He was also the recipient of the Alberta Lee Cox Sportsmanship Award at the 1995 NJCAA Tournament. He played college hoops at Ricks College and at Colorado State University. At Ricks he earned All-Region 18 Coach of the Year. He was also the recipient of the Alberta Lee Cox Sportsmanship Award at the 1995 NJCAA Tournament. He played college hoops at Ricks College and at Colorado State University. At Ricks he earned All-Region 18 honors as a sophomore and was a member of the 1983-84 Viking team that placed sixth at the NJCAA Tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas.

During his career at CSU he helped the Rams place third in the NIT Tournament in 1988, where Shippen set the Madison Square Garden single-game record with six three-pointers. The following year he helped CSU win the league title, advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament, was selected Academic All-WAC, and averaged 7.6 points and 2.9 assists.

Shippen File

BYU

2000-01 10-7 RICKS COLLEGE

1999-00 22-8 1994-95 33-3

1998-99 16-13 1995-96 19-11

1997-98 15-14 1996-97 19-12

Totals 63-42 (.600) Totals 71-26 (.731)

Did You Know....Cougar Family Connections

Kaly Gillette Shippen (#04) is coach Shippen's sister-in-law. She married his younger brother Ty Shippen who walked on to this year's men's basketball team.

Chanell Rose (#23) is BYU's men's assistant basketball coach Dave Rose's daughter. She transferred from playing one year at neighboring Utah Valley State College.

As of Dec. 16, Utah transfer Trent Whiting became eligible to play on the men's team. His wife Amber who is a transfer from Weber State is part of the women's team. She'll be redshirting this season.

BYU Home Practice Schedule

At home the BYU team practices daily from 1p.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily. This week the team will not practice on Wednesday, Jan. 24. Coach Shippen and player interviews can be done prior to or after practice and must be scheduled in advance through the women's basketball contact, Norma Collett. She can be contacted at 801-378-4908 or via e-mail at: norma_collett@byu.edu No interviews will be done 24-hours prior to games.

Ahead for the Cougars

The Cougars are on the road for their next two MWC games. After playing in Salt Lake City, their next conference games are at Air Force on Feb. 1 and at New Mexico on Feb. 3. The next home conference games are on Feb. 8 and 10 against SDSU and UNLV.