WBB: Opening Night Takeaways
The road to #WACVegas opened Monday with CBU, Southern Utah, and Tarleton State defending home floor...
Home teams went 3-0 on Monday night as the road to #WACVegas started and two of those wins were of the comeback variety. Here are some takeaways from the conference openers…
Are the Lancers back?
December wasn’t the kindest month to CBU women’s basketball coach Jarrod Olson and team, going 0-6 before Monday’s 31 point win over Utah Valley that was the program’s ninth straight win in Riverside over the Wolverines.
Is CBU back though?
The Lancers missed tying a season-high in made 3-pointers by one but tied their season high in assists with 24 on 30 made field goals.
Utah Valley came into Monday with America’s number one defense in terms of turnovers forced but lost the turnover battle by five and rebounding battle by four.
Filipa Barros scared a triple-double, Lauren Olsen had her fourth 20+ point game of the season in her 14th game, Khloe Lemon ended a four-game streak where she didn’t reach double-digit scoring, and Grace Schmidt had her second double-digit scoring game of the season after returning from injury.
Monday night we saw what the Lancer offense can do when it’s fully operational.
We also saw a fully healthy CBU roster. Something that hasn’t happened too often in these last couple of years.
Can the Lancers capitalize on home court advantage and start 3-0? We’ll find out on Saturday after they welcome UT Arlington and Tarleton State.
Utah Valley returns home to host Tarleton State on New Years Day and preseason favorite ACU on Saturday.
Texans rally from early deficit to defeat UT Arlington:
It wasn’t the best of starts for Tarleton State on Monday night, but Bill Brock’s team responded and got a close win at home against UT Arlington.
This, after the Texans dropped their non-conference finale to Montana in overtime at Abilene Christian’s Christmas Classic despite leading the Lady Griz by 15 at one point.
Elodie Lutbert and Shadasia Brackens showed that they have the potential to be one of the WAC’s best post tandems, combining for 25 points and 18 rebounds.
Kyriana Jones is showing that she is one of the conference’s most improved players from a year ago, reaching double-digit scoring for a third time in five games.
And preseason all-WAC selection Jakoriah Long seems to be finding her groove, with a fourth double-digit scoring night in five games. She’s connected on 11 of her 14 made 3-pointers in that span.
When the year started Tarleton State’s biggest question was if they’d have enough firepower to compete with the WAC’s top offenses?
They appear to have answered that question with a resounding yes…
Tarleton State will hit the road for a pair of games to finish their opening week at Utah Valley and CBU.
UT Arlington visits CBU on Thursday and then hosts Southern Utah on Saturday.
TBirds rally from early deficit to defeat Trailblazers:
Through the non-conference slate Southern Utah had the WAC’s top scoring offense.
On Monday, that offense was slow to appear. But the TBirds still had enough to defeat Utah Tech with relative ease in the AFEC.
Brooklyn Fely returned after a two-game absence and reminded everyone why she’ll be a contender for Newcomer of the Year with a 14 point and 12 rebound effort.
Sierra Chambers continues to show that she’s one of mid-major women’s basketball’s most improved guards with a 19 point, four rebound and three assist evening. And Ava Uhrich missed a triple-double by five assists.
Southern Utah thoroughly dominated the rebounding margin with a +25 differential, and held Utah Tech to just two offensive rebounds for the evening. The Tbirds, as of Tuesday morning, are 19th nationally in rebounding margin at +11.
Defensively, they held Utah Tech to just under 31% field goal shooting for the second half. The biggest question for the Trailblazers is can they win games when they aren’t scoring 65 or more points? So far, the answer to that question is no as they are 1-5 when scoring under that mark.
The TBirds, like several teams around the WAC had questions about their offense after struggling to score with a veteran lineup last year. They’ve answered those questions playing with a tempo that rivals CBU, ACU, and Utah Tech as among the fastest in the conference.
Southern Utah will be idle on Thursday and visit UT Arlington on Saturday. Utah Tech hosts preseason favorite ACU on Thursday and is idle to finish the week.