WBB: Utah Tech Trailblazers 2025-2026 Preview
The Trailblazers had a tough campaign in 2024-2025, playing without the Warren Twins, but their return plus the returns of a couple of key pieces from last year should give fans reason for optimism...
Last year was the toughest campaign at Utah Tech since their first full season of Division I play in 2021-2022 for JD Gustin and his team.
However, with the returns of Maddie and Macie Warren and key pieces from last year’s young roster sticking around there is reason to be hopeful for a bounce-back, winning campaign in St. George.
Head Coach:
JD Gustin (10th season at school, 16th as a head coach)
Career Record:
250-214 overall, 129-126 conference
At Utah Tech: 104-131 overall, 65-81 conference
Last Year:
6-25 overall, 1-15 WAC (T8, won play-in game in WAC tournament before losing to GCU in quarterfinals)
Returners:
8
Maddie and Macie Warren-
Utah Tech’s offense wasn’t the same without the pair of 5’10” guards who combined to average 30.5 points per game in 2023-2024 while connecting on 123 made 3-pointers at a 37 percent rate but missed last year recovering from ACL injuries. With them back in the fold expect the Trailblazers to climb up the WAC leaderboard and contend for a title.
Calyn Dallas-
Scored 10 points against New Mexico State in the Trailblazers first game against a Division I opponent last year and also had a season high for minutes with 25 but cleared 20 minutes just three times after that.
Brie Crittendon-
Some of Crittendon’s best performances were against Utah Tech’s toughest opponents including 14 points/4 rebounds against Colorado, 12 points/7 rebounds against Rice, 15 points/4 rebounds against UTEP and 16 points/5 rebounds against Pitt. However, she found double-digit scoring just once in the last ten games.
Chardonay Hartley-
Hartley came over from Niagra, a WNIT team in 2023-2024, and very quickly made an impact with her ability as a passer. In fact, she finished sixth nationally in assists per game and also was tied for the team lead in steals last year.
Paige Cofer-
Cofer made her debut in early January against UT Arlington and finished with six double-digit scoring games in her last 12. She also won a WAC Newcomer of the Week award on March 3 after scoring a career high 25 points to go with 11 rebounds in a loss against CBU.
Ellie Taylor-
Taylor was one of the conference’s best freshman a season ago, averaging 12.5 points per game and shooting 41.8 percent in WAC play. At one point she was in double-digit scoring for six straight games and eight out of ten from mid-January to mid-February.
Lauren Crocker-
Appeared in 24 games last year and had 35 total rebounds with 14 rebounds in limited duty (averaging just over six minutes per game).
Key Losses:
Emily Isaacson (12.7 points, 5.5 rebounds per game on 41 percent 3-point shooting, team leader in made 3-pointers…joined the Trailblazer coaching staff after graduation)
Aaliyah Ibarra (7.8 points, 2.1 rebounds per game…transfer to Seattle U)
Newcomers:
Andjela Colic-
Comes to Utah Tech with international experience from the Serbian National Program and also played with Karaburma Beograd, a club team, in 2023-2024. She averaged 12.6 points, 4.8 assists, and 3.2 rebounds in that campaign. Used her redshirt year last season.
Mattie Olson-
The Idaho State transfer entered eight games during her lone active season in Pocatello and then used a redshirt year before coming to Utah Tech.
Rose Boisnel- Has international experience from the Villeneueve D’Ascq ESB Lillie Metrople Club in the French Ligue Feminine de Basketball (FLB). Also played in the FIBA Open de France 3x3 junior league.
Annalyse Shimada- Was a three-time Utah High School Activities Association all-region and all-state selection who scored 789 points at the HS level and also was an all-region and all-state selection.
Kaylee Borden- Spent three seasons at Nevada, entering all 32 games during the Wolfpack’s 2023-2024 season. Her career-mark in scoring is twice reaching 13 points. In High School she was part of a 4A Oklahoma state title in 2019 at Andarko HS.
Outlook:
Utah Tech’s offense gets instantly better with the Warren twins’ return.
Can the Trailblazer defense come up with enough stops to win close games is the question? Five of their 15 conference losses were by ten or fewer points with a pair of those by two or fewer possessions.
A year ago, in conference play, Utah Tech gave up nearly 76 points per game and was seventh in field goal percentage defense with opposing teams shooting nearly 44 percent (36 percent from 3-point range). In addition they were last in rebounding margin with a -7.5 rate.
If they make enough headway on that side of the ball with the Warren twins’ back to bolster an already impressive offense they should be considered title contenders.
Scheduling Tidbits:
Utah Tech’s non-conference schedule is very home date heavy, with nine of their 11 games being played in the confines of Burns Arena.
That includes a five game pre-Christmas homestand. Making visits during the month of December are Westminster, McNeese State, New Mexico State, UC Santa Barbara, and Chicago State.
Two of the four DI teams in that stretch had winning records a year ago in New Mexico State and UC Santa Barbara. In fact, Jody Adams’ Aggies won a first round game in the WNIT.
The two away games are to Weber State, where they’ll see former associate head coach Nicole Yazzie along with former player Nicole Willardson. Also, a trip to Tempe to visit former GCU head coach Molly Miller and her Arizona State team.
After a trip to Cedar City to open WAC play the Trailblazers will get their three game conference homestand around the New Year…welcoming ACU, CBU, and Utah Valley to St. George.
They’ll play UT Arlington twice in nine days to start February and finish with two of three on the road, closing regular season play at Utah Valley.