WBB: Feast Week Recap & Power Rankings
Feast Week has come and gone with big wins and disappointing losses...who has stood out so far?
Feast Week had a little bit of everything for WAC women’s basketball teams. Let’s take a look at the busy week that was, the week ahead, and the initial power rankings…
Lady Mavs go 2-1 in Hawaii:
A holiday trip to the Hawaiian Islands is always nice but for Shereka Wright and crew it was still a business trip, one that was very successful with wins over Texas A&M and VCU. The Lady Mavs also put a scare into Colorado before falling late, just days before Montana State got the Buffaloes at the last second. Montana State was seventh in last week’s collegeinsider.com poll.
Kira Reynolds averaged just over 12 points and eight rebounds in the three games of their Hawaiian adventure and was named to the Hawaiian North Shore Showcase all-tournament team. She also earned WAC Newcomer and Player of the Week honors as announced by the conference office on Monday afternoon.
Lancers drop first game of the season, respond in a big way against RV Sacramento State:
The opener of their home tournament didn’t go the way that CBU’s women’s basketball team wanted in a 74-49 loss to UC Santa Barbara where the Gauchos beat the Lancers at their own game.
However, the Lancers responded in the tournament’s consolation game with a 92-49 win over Sacramento State (RV #24/#49 total in last week’s collegeinsider.com Mid-Major poll). In that win the Lancers set season-high’s for assists (24), made 3-pointers (16), along with overall & 3-point field goal percentage.
Freshman Lauren Olsen was the Lancers all-tournament selection, averaging 16.5 points per game on 70% 3-point shooting for the weekend.
Wildcats drop a pair of close ones at Ft. Myers Tip-Off:
A year ago the ACU women’s basketball team was undefeated in the state of Florida. That wasn’t the case last week as the preseason favorites dropped a pair of close games with a limited national television audience watching on Ion at the Ft. Myers Tip-Off Classic.
On Friday the Wildcats dropped a 62-59 game against Northwestern of the Big Ten, holding a 60-59 lead with 6:07 left before a three minute field goal drought doomed ACU. Despite the drought ACU still gave themselves an opportunity late. Trailing 60-57 with 21 seconds left, Northwestern’s defense forced ACU to use 18 seconds before a Payton Hull layup. ACU played the foul game and had one last look at a near half court shot to force overtime that fell short.
ACU dropped a 80-74 decision against Bradley on Saturday morning despite leading by as many as 13 points. Meredith Mayes missed a double-double by a rebound to go with her 22 points while Hull went for a season-high 23 points in the loss. Natalia Chavez and Erin Woodson were also in double-digit scoring but it wasn’t enough to overcome a 42-23 Bradley run over the last quarter and change.
It takes extra time but Mason earns win 100 at Southern Utah against Cal Poly SLO:
Tracy Mason’s 100th career win at Southern Utah on November 21 against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo had a little bit of a dramatic flare as the Thunderbirds needed extra time to take care of the Mustangs by a final of 85-80.
Devyn Kiernan led the charge with 22 points, 3 blocks, 3 assists, 2 rebounds and 2 steals. Sierra Chambers added 17 points, Denver Anderson 13 points, and Ava Uhrich chipped in a double-double of 11 points with 10 rebounds.
By the Numbers:
With everyone idle on Monday I thought it’d be fun to take a look at some of the numbers so far…
Team Records in Games Decided by 10 pts or Less or Overtime»
ACU: 1-3
CBU: 1-0
UT Arlington: 1-0
Southern Utah: 2-1
Tarleton State: 1-1
Utah Tech: 3-1
Utah Valley: 2-0
Tarleton State: 1-1
4» Number of WAC teams allowing 60 points per game or less so far (Utah Valley, CBU, ACU, UT Arlington). Also, the number of categories that Filipa Barros either has an outright lead in or is tied for the lead in for WAC players (Assist/Turnover ratio, Rebounds Per Game, Assists Per Game, Steals per Game)
3» Number of WAC teams with 50 or more made 3-point shots as of Monday (CBU, Southern Utah, ACU).
2» Number of WAC teams ranked in the top 20 nationally for turnovers forced as of Monday (Utah Valley and ACU)
Utah Tech’s Kaylee Borden leads the WAC in scoring at 18.83 points per game. CBU’s Lauren Olsen and ACU’s Payton Hull are T2 at 15.86 with Southern Utah’s Sierra Chambers and ACU’s Meredith Mayes rounding out the top 5.
Mayes is the WAC’s leader in field goal percentage at 69%.
Southern Utah has the conference’s leading scoring offense at just under 88 points per game (77 in Division I games).
Power Rankings:
1. UT Arlington (4-4): You might be asking how a team that is 4-4 can be atop the power rankings…? Hear me out for a moment. Shereka Wright year in and year out schedules as tough as any Mid-Major coach in the country. With a young group in terms of starting experience there were bound to be some bumps early but wins over teams like Texas A&M and VCU just can’t be ignored.
2. Southern Utah (6-1): What a difference a year makes. Last season the Thunderbirds were the last WAC team to get a Division I win when they beat Seattle U on January 18. This year, with an offense that is currently leading the conference in scoring, the TBirds have a 3-1 mark in Division I games including a win over Washington State (a WNIT qualifier last year). This is the best start in Mason’s tenure at the school.
3. CBU (6-1): Jarrod Olson’s team has a pair of wins over WNIT teams from last year in UC Riverside and Pacific. The Lancers so far have also made great strides on the defensive end, currently allowing just 57 points per game (T64 nationally). Newcomers Lauren Olsen and Chance Bucher have made an immediate splash. Emma Johansson is reaping the benefits of a summer with the Swedish National Team and CBU is certainly happy to have Khloe Lemon and Filipa Barros healthy.
4. ACU (4-3): The win against North Texas in Denton is certainly impressive along with beating WNIT participant UIW. Outside of that ACU is 1-3 in games decided by 10 points or less. Payton Hull has so far justified her nod as Preseason Player of the Year. They’ll have to learn to close out the close ones if they want to live up to that preseason favorite for the regular season title billing.
5. Utah Tech (4-2): The Trailblazers opened up their home slate with a win over NAU, a WBIT team from last year and have been nearly flawless in their games that come down the stretch. Kaylee Borden has made an immediate splash for the Trailblazers, leading the conference in scoring. Maddie Warren picked up right where she left off at the time of her injury in 2024 and Chardonay Hartley continues to be one of the WAC’s top point guards.
6. Tarleton State (3-4): Gia Adams and Shadasia Brackens have been a nice 1/2 punch for the Texans while Jakoriah Long tries to get going offensively. Elodie Lutbert has the potential to be a really good post player in this league. The Texans, with 11 newcomers, are very quickly learning just how thin the line is between wins and losses having been in a pair of overtime games. Can they take those lessons to WAC play?
7. Utah Valley (5-2): The Wolverines got off to a nice start with the undefeated California road trip and even gave Utah a game for three quarters. But the Wolverines lost to Nevada before Thanksgiving by 29 as Amanda Barcello missed her second straight game due to injury. Without Barcello, a preseason all-WAC selection, the Wolverines were just 2-20 from 3-point range against Nevada.
The Week Ahead:
Tuesday, December 2»
11am CT: McMurry at Abilene Christian
7pm CT: UT Arlington at Arkansas-Little Rock & Tarleton State at Mississippi Valley State
7pm MT: McNeese State at Utah Tech
Wednesday, December 3»
6pm PT: California Baptist University at Pepperdine
Thursday, December 4»
12pm MT: New Mexico State at Southern Utah
Saturday, December 6»
1pm MT: California Baptist University at Boise State
2pm MT: Air Force at Utah Valley & New Mexico State at Utah Tech
2:30pm CT: Abilene Christian at East Texas A&M
Sunday, December 7»
1pm MT: Southern Utah at Colorado State
2pm CT: Texas A&M San Antonio at Tarleton State