WBB: Holiday News and Notes
We take a look at the happenings at a couple of holiday tournaments, the power rankings as conference play begins, WAC standouts on the NCAA leaderboard, and some other notes...
Merry Christmas to all of our WAC Hoops Nation readers out there.
The presents have been opened, everyone is working through their leftovers while watching college football bowl games, and WAC play is three days away.
As the break comes to a close it’s time for a holiday edition of the WAC Hoops Nation women’s basketball notebook.
WAC Women’s Basketball Players/Teams on the NCAA Leaderboards:
Checking on the national leaderboards there was a lot of WAC representation at the Christmas Break.
Utah Valley leads the country in turnovers forced at just under 29.5 per game while Abilene Christian also finds themselves in the national top 25 at 22.3 per game (23rd nationally).
The Wolverines also lead nationally in steals per game at 18.1 with ACU checking in at 31st in the country, averaging 12 steals per game.
Southern Utah’s Sierra Chambers is in the top 20 for free throw percentage, checking in this week at 17th with a 89.7% percentage (52 of 58).
CBU’s Filipa Barros is 32nd in the country for total assists at 67, and T36 for assists per game at 5.2.
Meanwhile, the Lancers’ Emma Johansson is seventh nationally in blocks per game at 2.85 and fourth in total blocks with 37. UT Arlington’s Kira Reynolds isn’t far behind at 35 total blocks (T6) and T4 in blocks per game at 2.92.
Tarleton State’s Shadasia Brackens and Kira Reynolds are T21 in double-doubles with five. T45 in double-doubles at four are Barros, Johansson, Southern Utah’s Ava Uhrich & Brooklyn Fely,
Utah Valley’s Cambree Blackham is 21st in the country for steals per game at 3.36 while Saige Gibb is 52nd at 2.64 per game.
ACU’s Payton Hull is 93rd in made 3-pointers per game at 2.42. The WAC’s leader in made 3-pointers per game, Utah Valley’s Amanda Barcello at 3.13 per game, does not appear in the NCAA report but would be 14th if listed.
ACU’s Meredith Mayes is third in the country in field goal percentage at 67.89%.
Holiday Tournaments:
There’s no place like home for the Abilene Christian women’s basketball team, who went 2-0 in their first annual home tournament with a 12 point win against Montana and a 24 point win against defending WNIT champion Buffalo. Payton Hull and Meredith Mayes earned all-tournament selections for the Wildcats.
Tarleton State also made the trip to Moody Coliseum and split their games, surviving a late Buffalo rally to defeat the Bulls and falling to Montana in overtime after leading by as many as 15 points at one juncture. Gia Adams earned all-tournament honors for the Texans.
Southern Utah spent the weekend before Christmas in Los Angeles, luckily before one of the worst rainstorms the Southland has seen recently arrived, and split games against Omaha and the host LMU Lions.
The Tbirds opened with Omaha and rolled to a 33 point win in a game that had only two lead changes. This was an Omaha side that Utah Tech, the TBirds conference opening night opponent, only defeated by six on November 12.
In their finale, Southern Utah fell behind by as many as 14 in the second quarter against LMU, cut the margin to one on three different occasions, but could not wrestle away the lead. Sierra Chambers and Ava Uhrich earned all-tournament honors for Southern Utah.
Collegeinsider.com Poll Update:
At the Christmas Break ACU is the only team mentioned in this week’s collegeinsider.com poll. The Wildcats, who went 2-0 at their Christmas Classic, are 5th among teams appearing on ballots and 30th overall. CBU and UT Arlington, who have appeared in the polls from recent weeks, both fell out.
The Weekly Awards:
On Monday the WAC office selected Tarleton State’s Shadasia Brackens as Newcomer of the Week and Southern Utah’s Ava Uhrich as Player of the Week.
Brackens averaged 14.5 points and nine rebounds per game as the Texans split a pair of games against defending WNIT champion Buffalo and Montana in ACU’s Christmas Classic.
Uhrich averaged 24.5 points on 67.9% shooting as Southern Utah split a pair of games against Omaha and LMU in the Loyola Marymount tournament.
After seven weeks we’ve had seven different Player of the Week selections and six Newcomer of the Week’s.
Records in games decided by 10 points or less:
With the non-conference slate ending and one of the tightest regular season races in recent history about to commence let’s take a look at how each team did in games decided by 10 points or less.
Southern Utah: 3-2 (1-0 OT)
ACU: 1-3
Utah Valley: 3-2
Tarleton State: 2-2 (1-2 OT/2OT)
UT Arlington: 3-0
Utah Tech: 3-3
CBU: 1-3
Team Thoughts and Power Rankings:
1. ACU (8-4): The Wildcats rolled to comfortable victories against WNIT defending champion Buffalo and Big Sky tournament runner-up Montana. Although, the Wildcats aren’t shooting from 3-point range as well as they’d like, ACU’s defense will always keep them in games. Meredith Mayes is third nationally in field goal percentage, Payton Hull is living up to her Preseason Player of the Year nomination, and the duo of Emma Troxell and Erin Woodson also are off to nice starts this year.
2. UT Arlington (6-6): The Lady Mavs got off to a shaky start against Texas Southern but found a way to pull it out. Nya Threatt missed the game against LSU and UT Arlington struggled to handle the ball, turning it over 33 times without her. Kira Reynolds has gotten off to a good start while Mila Reynolds and Kali Haizlip are a combined 29 of 61 from beyond the arc so far.
3. Southern Utah (8-4): The TBirds rolled Omaha and cut a 14 point deficit against LMU to one before falling in Los Angeles. Brooklyn Fely did not play in either game during their trip to LA. Hopefully, she returns for the conference opener against Utah Tech. Southern Utah leads the WAC in scoring offense
4. Tarleton State (6-5): It’s crazy to think about how close the Texans were to going 9-2 this non-conference slate. Gia Adams and Shadasia Brackens are a nice 1/2 punch offensively, complimented by Elodie Lutbert and Kyriana Jones. Jones, a returner from last year’s WNIT team, has taken her scoring up by 6.4 points per game from a season ago.
5. Utah Valley (7-4): Halle Nelson and Amanda Barcello have missed time this non-conference slate but are back. The Wolverines dropped two of their last three games against Division I competition, both by 10 points or less, and their defense will be tested on Monday against a CBU side looking to break a six game losing streak.
6. Utah Tech (5-5): The Trailblazers went into Christmas Break with a double-digit win over former WAC member Chicago State. Kaylee Borden will be a candidate for Newcomer of the Year, leading the Trailblazers in scoring at just over 16 points per game (second in the WAC) and Brie Crittendon goes into conference play off back-to-back double-digit scoring performances. Maddie Warren struggled down the stretch of non-conference, failing to reach double-digit scoring in four straight games and shooting 7-31 in that span.
7. CBU (6-7): The Lancers go into WAC play on a six game losing streak, but three of those six were in games decided by ten points or less. And even the loss to Nebraska, in Lincoln, was a 10 point game after three quarters. In her second game back, Grace Schmidt went off against Denver to the tune of 22 points on 10-13 shooting. If the Lancers can stay healthy, this is a team with enough firepower to challenge for another regular-season title.
The Week Ahead:
Monday, December 29:
1pm CT Nelson at Abilene Christian
6pm PT Utah Valley at California Baptist University
6:30pm MT Utah Tech at Southern Utah
7pm CT UT Arlington at Tarleton State
Thursday, January 1:
1pm PT UT Arlington at California Baptist University
2pm MT Abilene Christian at Utah Tech and Tarleton State at Utah Valley
Idle: Southern Utah
Saturday, January 3:
1pm PT Tarleton State at California Baptist University
2pm CT Southern Utah at UT Arlington
2pm MT Abilene Christian at Utah Valley
Idle: Utah Tech