WBB: Week 1 News and Notes
For a final time WAC play opened during the New Year's week, and there's a lot to uncover...
While everyone was watching college football this last week WAC women’s basketball teams embarked on their final season in the current configuration.
Let’s take a look at the week that was and what’s to come in this week’s edition of the WAC Hoops Nation Women’s basketball notebook.
Week in Review:
Home teams were an impressive 7-2 this week with an average margin of victory of 16.9 points per game.
CBU was the first to have a three game homestand and the Lancers took advantage with wins over Utah Valley, UT Arlington, and Tarleton State. After 15 games the Lancers were a +5.2 in scoring margin. However, on the week, they quadrupled that to a +21.3 points per game margin, holding opponents to 61 points per game and 37.4% field goal shooting (31% from 3-point range).
Filipa Barros had three straight double-doubles on the week.
Southern Utah was the conference’s other undefeated team this week, with wins against Utah Tech in the AFEC and then on the road against UT Arlington.
The TBirds this week held opponents to 58 points per game on 40% shooting and were a cumulative +43 in total rebounding.
After a 31 point loss at CBU on Monday, Utah Valley bounced back to end the week with wins over Tarleton State and preseason favorite Abilene Christian.
Amanda Barcello averaged 18.5 points per game in the two wins and Kylee Mabry had a career day in Saturday’s win over ACU with 23 points. Mabry was last year’s WAC Co-Sixth Woman of the Year Award winner as voted by the head coaches.
ACU split their games this week with a blowout win against Utah Tech and a tough loss at Utah Valley. Preseason Player of the Year Payton Hull averaged 17 points per game for the Wildcats on the week.
UT Arlington and Utah Tech struggled to winless weeks at 0-3 and 0-2 respectively. The Lady Mavs were -33 in cumulative scoring margin on the week. Meanwhile, the Trailblazers allowed 41% opponent shooting in their two losses.
Weekly Award Winners:
CBU’s Lauren Olsen swept the weekly awards as announced on Monday afternoon by WAC officials. Olsen averaged 21 points per game in the Lancers three wins over Utah Valley, UT Arlington, and Tarleton State.
She is the eighth different player to win Player of the Week honors this season and sixth different player to earn Newcomer of the Week accolades.
Olsen ties UT Arlington’s Kira Reynolds with two Newcomer of the Week selections.
WAC Student-Athletes/Teams on NCAA Leaderboards:
Utah Valley dropped to fourth as of Monday morning in the turnovers forced per game column at 27.64 while ACU is 17th at 23.27
CBU’s Filipa Barros and Utah Tech’s Chardonay Hartley are both in the nation’s top 50 for assists per game. Barros is T32 at 5.1 while Hartley is T47 at 4.8.
UT Arlington’s Kira Reynolds and CBU’s Emma Johansson are in the nation’s top 10 for blocked shots per game while Tarleton State’s Elodie Lutbert is in the top 30. Reynolds is fourth at 2.93 while Johansson is 10th at 2.56. Lutbert is 29th at 1.92. Utah Tech’s Lauren Crocker is also in the top 50, T49 at 1.67.
After three straight double-doubles a week ago, Barros is also T8 nationally with seven double-doubles. Tarleton State’s Shadasia Brackens is T19 with six. Kira Reynolds is T36 with 5 along with the Southern Utah duo of Ava Uhrich and Brooklyn Fely.
Southern Utah’s Sierra Chambers is 20th in the country for free throw percentage at 89.47%.
Utah Valley’s Amanda Barcello is eighth in 3-pointers made per game after connecting on six Saturday afternoon against ACU. She’s at 3.18 per game.
The Wolverine’s Cambree Blackham and Saige Gibb are also within the top 50 for steals per game. Blackham is 21st at 3.29 per game while Gibb is 50th at 2.64
Week 1 By the Numbers:
85: Number of rebounds grabbed by Southern Utah in a pair of wins last week.
37: Number of 3-pointers CBU hit en route to sweeping their opening three game homestand.
21: Number of steals by Utah Valley in two home wins against Tarleton State and ACU.
7: Number of wins by home teams last week as conference play fired up.
Career Milestones:
A pair of WAC women’s basketball players hit career milestones this week as CBU’s Grace Schmidt scored her 1,000th career point in Monday’s win over Utah Valley.
Also, Tarleton State’s Jakoriah Long connected on her 100th career 3-pointer.
Power Rankings:
1. CBU (9-7, 3-0): The Lancers came back from Christmas Break and swept the week, leading by north of 20 points in all three wins. CBU starts the week with the first of two trips to St. George in 14 days and then finishes with their lone trip to Cedar City.
2. Southern Utah (10-4, 2-0): The TBirds were impressive in a Monday win against Utah Tech and then had to hang on in their lone visit to the College Park Center for a narrow win.
3. Utah Valley (9-5, 2-1): Dan Nielsen’s team responded nicely after a 31 point loss at CBU on Monday with home wins against Tarleton State and ACU.
4. ACU (10-5, 1-1): The Wildcats got an impressive opening night win in St. George but dropped a close one in Orem, dropping to 1-5 in games decided by 10 points or less.
5. Tarleton State (7-7 overall, 1-2 WAC): The Texans got off to a good start in WAC play with a home win against UT Arlington but fell behind early in road losses to Utah Valley and CBU.
6. UT Arlington (6-9 overall, 0-3 WAC): The Lady Mavs dropped a pair of games by ten points or less against Tarleton State in Stephenville and Southern Utah at home to finish the week. In between, they trailed by as many as 20 points against CBU before falling by 21.
7. Utah Tech (5-7 overall, 0-2 WAC): The Trailblazers struggled in losses against Southern Utah and preseason favorite ACU. Kaylee Borden averaged 13 points and five rebounds while Maddie Warren averaged 12 points per game.
Standings through January 3, 2026:
Southern Utah 10-4 overall, 2-0 WAC
California Baptist University 9-7 overall, 3-0 WAC
Utah Valley 9-5 overall, 2-1 WAC
Abilene Christian 10-5 overall, 1-1 WAC
Tarleton State 7-7 overall, 1-2 WAC
Utah Tech 5-7 overall, 0-2 WAC
UT Arlington 6-9 overall, 0-3 WAC
The Week Ahead:
Thursday, January 8, 2026:
6 P.M. CT» Tarleton State at Abilene Christian University
6:30 P.M. MT»Utah Valley at Southern Utah
7 P.M. MT»California Baptist University at Utah Tech
Idle: UT Arlington
Saturday, January 10, 2026:
1 P.M. CT»UT Arlington at Abilene Christian University
2 P.M. MT»California Baptist University at Southern Utah & Utah Valley at Utah Tech
Idle: Tarleton State