WBB: Mid-Season Grades; First Half Review
WBB: Mid-Season Grades; First Half Review
Some thoughts through the first two months of the season.
It’s the Christmas holiday, which means in college basketball we’ve reached the halfway point in ‘23-’24 and it’s time to hand out some mid-season grades along with reviewing the first two months of play.
Teams are listed in order of the WAC standings as of December 21.
California Baptist: 10-1 overall, 2-0 WAC
Grade: A-
Notes: Only a tough shooting night in Louisiana kept the Lancers from an A+ at the Christmas Break.
Despite losing Trinity San Antonio to GCU along with Sila Finau, Brittany Klaman, and Dorcas Wu to graduation, CBU just reloads and moves forward under longtime coach Jarrod Olson.
Chloe Webb has taken her scoring output to another level, ranking in the top-40 nationally at 35th with 19.5 points per game.
Behind Webb, it’s been different players stepping up to provide support in the scoring column with Filipa Barros, Khloe Lemon, Grace Schmidt, Nhug Bosch Duran, and Kinsley Barrington all stepping up in key moments during the opening stretch.
Nationally, the Lancers are 87th in scoring at 73.4 points per game. CBU is 22nd in this week’s collegeinsider.com Mid-Major poll.
Grand Canyon: 8-3 overall, 2-0 WAC
Grade: B-
Molly Miller’s team started with the target on their backs and although the record isn’t bad with a win over Arizona State, they’ve needed two buzzer-beaters by Naudia Evans to get by Saint Mary’s and Idaho who are both 150 or lower in the NET rankings.
Liberty, who the Lopes lost to on Wednesday, is 145th in NET rankings. At the holiday break, GCU is posting the highest 3-point shooting percentage made under Miller (35.1%) in her tenure and is just outside the top-100 in national field goal percentage at 42.7%.
However, other than a dominating win at UT Arlington, the Lopes have yet to put together a full 40 minutes in a win.
Stephen F. Austin: 7-5 overall, 2-0 WAC
Grade: B
There was a lot of unknown in Nacogdoches when Mark Kellogg left for West Virginia with Jordan Harrison, Zya Nugent, and Avery Brittingham also hitting the portal.
However, the Ladyjacks have gotten off to a nice start under first year head coach Leonard Bishop with wins at Austin Peay (4th ASUN preseason poll), and against Portland (2nd WCC preseason poll).
They also have an overtime loss to Liberty (2nd CUSA preseason poll).
Kurstyn Harden, Kyla Deck, and Destini Lombard are all averaging in double figures at the break.
Tyler McCliment-Call, Avery Van Sickle, and Zoe Nelson have stepped up in key moments behind them and the Ladyjacks are proving that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Three of their five losses have been in blowouts, though, which means there is some consistency that is lacking.
Utah Tech: 7-5 overall, 1-1 WAC
Grade: B
Outside of the win against Oregon in their Trailblazer Classic, Utah Tech doesn’t really have a victory that just has that wow factor.
They hung with CBU for three and a half quarters except for a late Lancer run right before the half, which they spent the rest of the game trying to overcome and got blown out by UNLV.
Their other non-conference wins were against teams picked to finish in the lower halves of their conferences.
Breaunna Gillen is living up to her billing as Preseason Player of the Year by averaging 16.4 points, 6.8 rebounds, and just over five assists per game while shooting 36% from beyond the arc and 48% total.
Maddie and Macie Warren are back to their pre-injury selves, combining to average just over 30 points while Maggie McCord is also in double-digit scoring.
Abilene Christian: 5-5 overall, 1-1 WAC
Grade: Incomplete
In their seven games against Division I competition, there are some good, close losses against teams picked to finish towards the top of their conference but no wins.
Navy was picked to finish last in the Patriot League preseason poll while UT Arlington was picked 8th in the WAC.
Most of the reason for the incomplete grade is going over the limit on non-Division 1 games.
Payton Hull is the Wildcats leading scorer as a freshman while Bella Earle, Aspen Thornton, and Addison Martin are all off to good starts this year.
Southern Utah: 3-7 overall, 1-1 WAC
Grade: C
The Thunderbirds have gone without Tomekia Whitman and Jaeden Brown this season and managed to hang with some conference favorites but not get wins.
Megan Smith has been impressive to start the year, averaging 17.2 points and 6.7 rebounds in 28 minutes while taking over the feature big role from Lizzy Williamson.
Ava Uhrich is making an argument for a spot on the All-WAC Newcomer Team while Daylani Ballena is also off to a nice start.
It has been a struggle from the 3-point line so far with two players shooting above 30% and that’s a category that will need to improve going into the bulk of WAC play.
Tarleton: 3-7 overall, 1-1, WAC
Grade: C
Last year was a year that Tarleton fans would care to forget.
However, first-year coach Bill Brock has the Texans in a much more competitive spot so far in 2023-24.
Their seven losses are by a combined 62 points.
Teresa Da Silva picked up where she left off and is pacing Tarleton in scoring at 11 points per game.
Faith Acker has scored in double-digits in three of her first six games while Jakoriah Long won Newcomer and Player of the Week for her performance against McNeese.
Next step for the Texans is to turn some of those close losses into wins.
Seattle: 1-9 overall, 1-1 WAC
Grade: D
It’s been a mixed bag so far for first-year head coach Skyler Young with five losses by 16 points or fewer along with a number of blowouts.
Mya Moore and Irena Korolenko are combining to average 23 points and 14 rebounds a game so far.
After missing some time early in the year, Julianna Walker has averaged 11 points while shooting 50% from beyond the arc in her first four games back.
Utah Valley: 5-6 overall, 0-2 WAC
Grade: C
The start has been much better for Dan Nielsen and company than in 2022-23. Of their six losses, only one has been a blowout and that was against New Mexico State, in Las Cruces.
Scoring balance is there for the Wolverines but it has just been a struggle to score for Utah Valley, who is averaging 58 points and shooting just 37% from the field and 28% from beyond the arc.
UT Arlington: 3-8 overall, 0-2 WAC
Grade: D
There’s no doubt that UT Arlington put together one of the WAC’s toughest non-conference schedules. However, it has been a tough start for Shereka Wright and company.
Three of the Lady Mavs first four losses were by 16 points or less.
But UT Arlington did hit the holiday break on a high note with wins over Sam Houston and Jacksonville State.
So far, in WAC play at least, the issue for UT Arlington has been getting stops. Abilene Christian and Grand Canyon combined to average 85 points in those two early conference games.
In scoring differential, the Lady Mavs are -13 and although some of that can be attributed to strength of schedule, it is clear that defense has been an issue early on.
Avery Brittingham, Taliyah Clark, and Gia Adams are off to good starts offensively with double figure scoring averages. Also, Adela Valkova has shown recent good form with back to back double digit scoring games.
UTRGV: 0-10 overall, 0-2 WAC
Grade: F
There was optimism to start the year in Edinburg with a ton of experience back from last year. Unfortunately, that has not translated into wins for the Vaqueros.
Seven of their 10 losses have been by 13 points or less with four by less than two possessions. The Vaqueros are a -16.6 in scoring differential, -8.8 in total rebounding, and allowing teams to shoot nearly 44 percent from the field (just under 40% from 3-point range).
Those are not numbers that will lead to success and the schedule for the Vaqueros is not kind with four out of five games away from UTRGV Fieldhouse when play resumes.
Best Wins
This first part of the year has also been filled with good wins for our women’s basketball teams. Let’s take a look at the top five wins so far in '23-’24.
1 . Utah Tech defeating Oregon (Trailblazer Classic)
It is a well known fact that Utah Tech can shoot 3-pointers at an impressive rate and they were going to need a lot of them to defeat Oregon, a Final Four team from four years ago.
That’s exactly what happened at Burns Arena on Tuesday, Dec. 19 when the Trailblazers knocked down an impressive 21 in a 92-86 win led by Breaunna Gillen’s triple-double and Maggie McCord’s career scoring day.
2 - Grand Canyon defeating Arizona State
In their last two meeting against Pac-12 schools GCU had been so close to breaking through for wins, falling by a combined sixteen points. On Dec.8 the Lopes finally broke through with a 66-59 win in Sydney Erikstrup’s return to Desert Financial Arena.
T3. CBU and SFA defeating Portland at home
Portland has been one of the top programs in mid-major women’s basketball and represented the WCC in last year’s NCAA Tournament. They’re a measuring stick for programs on their way up and on these two days the Lancers and Ladyjacks passed that test with narrow home wins.
5. SFA defeating Austin Peay on the road
It was either enter the holiday break on a four game losing streak or right the ship in their final non-conference matchup against a Division I opponent for SFA on December 21 in Tennessee.
Behind a 24-5 fourth quarter comeback which swung a double-digit deficit to a lead the Ladyjacks chose the latter.
They’ll return to Division I action on January 4 against UTRGV.
In that comeback win Tyler McCliment-Call recorded her 500th career point.
Clutch Award
How can you not give this award to GCU’s Naudia Evans after hitting two game winning buzzer-beaters in a little more than a month’s time? One capped a 22-0 fourth quarter run against Saint Mary’s in the season opener while the other ended a game in Moscow, Idaho that very nearly went to double overtime.
Top 5 Individual Performances
Here are the top 5 individual performances so far this year from non-conference play, in no random order.
1. Gillen’s triple-double against Oregon in a 92-86 win
Oregon has been where Utah Tech is trying to go, the NCAA tournament and Final Four just four years ago. It was going to take an incredible performance from the Trailblazers to knock them off and Utah Tech did just that behind 17 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists from the Preseason Player of the Year.
2. Bella’s Triple-Double Week
A triple-double is about as rare as a hole in one on the golf course. Two in a span of four days is even more rare and that’s what Abilene Christian’s Bella Earle did over Thanksgiving Break against the Midshipmen and Lady Mavs. She started with 13 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists as ACU rolled over Navy 87-62; following it up with 19 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in a 94-76 home win against UT Arlington.
3. Hull’s Career Day Against Navy
One of the best parts of a new season starting is seeing which freshman immediately make an early impact. Abilene Christian’s Payton Hull has had an otherworldly start to the year, sparked by a Sunday afternoon in Annapolis in which she hit nine 3-pointers for a career high 34 points. Hull has gone on and scored in double-digits in six straight games and eight of her first 10.
4. Webb Bails Lancers Out Against Pepperdine
On Dec. 9 in Malibu, CBU had a hard time against a Pepperdine side that had lost six straight games and was trying to figure things out after the departure of coach Tim Hays, hired in the offseason. It was Chloe Webb to the rescue, going 8-16 from the field for 28 points, nearly matching a career-high, as CBU survived an upset bid by a 60-57 final.
5. Deck’s Double-Double In Double OT Thriller
-Kyla Deck set a career high in scoring in a late November loss to Gonzaga last season.
In the Ladyjacks WAC opener, Deck set another career high with 24 points and 11 rebounds as SFA won in double overtime at home. There were a total of three 20-plus point scoring performances in this game.