WBB: Redhawks Late Run Falls Short, Creates Momentum for Final WAC Campaign
WBB: Redhawks Late Run Falls Short, Creates Momentum for Final WAC Campaign
Seattle U made a late run at a WAC tournament spot in 2023-24, but came up a game short in the crowded race for that eighth and final spot.
Some growing pains were expected for Seattle U’s women’s basketball team a season ago as first year head coach Skyler Young, and his team got familiar with each other.
And that did indeed happen, with the Redhawks at one point enduring a 14-game losing streak.
However, Seattle U won five of their final eight games to finish the season with momentum, nearly earning a WAC tournament berth on the regular season’s final day.
The Redhawks were part of a five-team race for two spots race that came down to the final Saturday of the regular season.
The Redhawks opened 2023-24 on a six-game losing streak, which included an overtime loss at Cal State Northridge where Seattle U led by eight points after three quarters in Young’s debut.
The Redhawks also had competitive losses to Washington and Portland during that opening stretch.
On November 29, the Redhawks broke into the win column, giving Young his first win at the Redhawk Center with a 58-48 win over Utah Valley. Peyton Howard and Mya Moore each had 12 points in the win while Julianna Walker added 10.
Handling success is hard sometimes.
Seattle U showed just that over the next two months. The Redhawks went more than two months without a win, losing 14 straight games, including a double-overtime loss at preseason favorite Grand Canyon, and a three-point loss at Utah Valley.
Also in that stretch were close non-conference losses to San Diego State (Mountain West finalist), and UTSA (American Athletic Conference semifinalist).
The average margin of defeat during that losing streak was 15 points.
“We definitely had our opportunities to get wins during that streak,” Young said. “But after every one of those losses, they dusted themselves off, went back to practice and kept competing. That’s all you can ask for.”
The streak ended on February 10 in Stephenville, Texas as Seattle defeated Tarleton 61-57. Julianna Walker hit six shots from beyond the arc in that win.
One of the tenets of a Skyler Young coached team is unity and a 14-game losing streak can test that in so many ways.
“What I’ll remember about that win is the team bonding that happened on that trip,” Young said on the Straight Outta WAC Podcast.
“The bus broke down while we were traveling between Abilene and Stephenville. During the two hour wait for a replacement, they were playing touch football in a truck stop parking lot. The prep for that game was also very limited, and was heavy on film as a result of that delay.”
It sparked the Redhawks over that final month as Seattle, just six years removed from an NCAA tournament berth after winning the 2018 WAC tournament under Young’s predecessor Suzy Barcomb, made a run at postseason play.
However, a five-point loss at home in their season finale against Tarleton meant that the Redhawks came up short in that quest for a WAC tournament berth.
It was another game in which Seattle U was outscored in the final quarter, this time 24-14, to end their season.
2024-25 will be the Redhawks final campaign as a WAC member before moving to the West Coast Conference with GCU.
It’ll be a return to a previous home for Seattle U when they were first a member of NCAA Division I, competing in the West Coast Athletic Conference (predecessor to the WCC) from 1950-1971.
Walker and Sheridan Liggett will be back for that final season, leading a retooled roster of five portal transfers and four true freshmen.
However, the Redhawks lost five of their top six scorers from a season ago to the transfer portal.
With the WAC down to nine teams, everyone goes to the WAC Tournament. Is it possible for a team with basically an entirely new roster to make a run in a loaded Western Athletic Conference in 2024-25?