WBB: Week 4 News and Notes
The second round of conference play got underway last week as Southern Utah got back on track with a pair of wins while CBU swept their most recent Utah trip to stay atop the standings
The second round of WAC play got started with one of the closest weeks of competition thus far. We take a look at what happened, the WAC tournament finals schedule, WAC teams and players in this week’s national leaderboards, and the week ahead in this week’s Women’s Basketball notebook.
WAC Student-Athletes/Teams on the NCAA Leaderboards:
Utah Valley and Abilene Christian continue to be within the national top-20 for turnovers forced per game. UVU is T4th at 26.89 per game while ACU is 16th at 22.63 a game. They are also in the national top-20 for steals per game at 16.5 (second) and 12.3 (18th) respectively.
CBU’s Filipa Barros is T36 nationally at 5.0 assists per game. Utah Tech’s Chardonay Hartley is just outside the national top 50 (T51) for assists per game at 4.7.
Emma Johansson from CBU is T2 for blocks per game nationally at 2.95 while Kira Reynolds of UT Arlington is fourth at 2.89 blocks a contest. Tarleton State’s Elodie Lutbert also has worked her way into the top 25. Her 2.06 blocks per game average is good for 24th.
Barros is also T19 in double-doubles with nine so far. Southern Utah’s Ava Uhrich and Tarleton State’s Shadasia Brackens are T36 in double-doubles with seven.
Uhrich is also T18 in rebounds per game at 10.3.
Despite missing the last three games, ACU’s Meredith Mayes has moved to second nationally in field goal percentage at 68.24%.
Southern Utah’s Sierra Chambers is 27th nationally in free throw percentage at 87.96% (95 of 108) while Utah Valley’s Amanda Barcello is 40th at 86.27% (44 of 51).
ACU’s Payton Hull is T73 nationally in points per game at 17.0 points per game.
Five WAC players are in the national top-75 for steals per contest led by Utah Valley’s Cambree Blackham at 3.00. The Wolverines’ Saige Gibb is right behind her with 2.89 steals per game. Hull (2.68, 40th), Barros (2.57, T51), and Barcello (2.44, T68) finish off the list.
Barcello is also 22nd in 3-point percentage at 42.45% (45 of 106) and 27th in made shots from behind the arc per game at 2.81.
Three WAC teams are in the top-100 for assists per game led by ACU at 15.1 (T78). Joining them are CBU and Southern Utah at T83 with 14.9.
CBU is also T14 in blocks per game as a team at 5.7 with UT Arlington and Tarleton State also in the top-50 at 5.0 per game (T23) and 4.5 (T44) respectively.
ACU is 64th in team field goal percentage at 44.26% and the only team in the top-100. The Wildcats are also 30th nationally in scoring margin at +17.3 points per game.
The Lancers also T49 in field goal percentage defense at 37.1% while Tarleton State is the only other team in the top-100 at 38.1% (T83).
Home teams continue impressive dominance:
After three days of second round play, without the Tarleton State at Abilene Christian game from Moody Coliseum that still needs to be made up as a result of weather, home teams are currently 18-8 so far.
Three of last week’s five games were decided by ten points or less.
Tarleton State and UT Arlington were on a collision course for a similar ending last Wednesday, but the Texans defense held UT Arlington without a field goal in the fourth quarter en route to a 14 point win.
14 games so far have been decided by 10 points or less (53.9%) with the conference-wide average of victory at 12.6 points per game after 26 games.
Home teams are winning their games by an average of 13.3 points per game while road teams are winning by an average of 9.8 points per game.
CBU leads the WAC with four road wins so far.
Power Rankings:
1. Abilene Christian (14-5 overall, 5-1 WAC): Wildcats are coming off of a 10+ day layoff as they visit Utah for a pair of games this week against Utah Tech and Southern Utah (2nd time in two weeks).
2. California Baptist Univeristy (13-8 overall, 7-1 WAC): After dropping what became a thriller at Fowler Events Center against ACU on Education Day, the Lancers got a pair of wins in Utah to maintain position at the top of the WAC standings.
3. Southern Utah (13-7 overall, 5-3 WAC): After a disappointing trip to Texas the TBirds bounced back with a pair of wins against in-state schools to stay two games out of first place.
4. Tarleton State (10-8 overall, 4-3 WAC): Bill Brock’s team swept their most recent homestand and has a little bit of separation over the three teams fighting over one last bye out of Wednesday’s opening round on March 11.
5. UT Arlington (8-11 overall, 2-5 WAC): After taking care of business during a two game homestand against Utah Valley and Utah Tech, the Lady Mavs dropped their second road game at Tarleton State to reach the five loss plateau.
6. Utah Valley (9-10 overall, 2-6 WAC): After starting 2-1 in WAC play with the two point win over Abilene Christian, Utah Valley has dropped five straight by an average of nine points per game.
7. Utah Tech (6-12 overall, 1-7 WAC): The Trailblazers have dropped four straight by an average margin of 7.8 points per contest.
WAC Tournament Scheduling Update:
The WAC has released tip off times for this year’s tournament championship games to be played on March 14 at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
Our women’s championship game will be in the mid-afternoon broadcast window with a 12:30 P.M. local time tipoff.
Meanwhile, it’ll be a long wait for the men’s championship game as that matchup is slated for a 9 P.M. local time tipoff. Which means that if a Texas team makes the men’s final and you’re watching from the Lone Star State, rest up because it’ll be a long night.
Network assignments and broadcast crews will be released by ESPN at a later date.
Weekly Awards:
On Monday afternoon the WAC office announced that Southern Utah’s Brooklyn Fely swept both the Newcomer and Player of the Week awards.
Fely, who transferred to Southern Utah after spending time at Umpqua Community College, averaged 15.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game across two Thunderbird victories against Utah Valley and Utah Tech. The victories kept Southern Utah two full games behind league leader CBU and two games in the loss column behind Abilene Christian, who they’ll play Saturday.
She is the ninth different student-athlete to win Player of the Week honors, seventh different Newcomer of the Week, and it’s also her second sweep of the weekly awards (week of November 10).
Standings:
1. California Baptist Univeristy 13-8 overall, 7-1 WAC
2. Abilene Christian 14-5 overall, 5-1 WAC
3. Southern Utah 13-7 overall, 5-3 WAC
4. Tarleton State 10-8 overall, 4-3 WAC
5. UT Arlington 8-11 overall, 2-5 WAC
6. Utah Valley 9-10 overall, 2-6 WAC
7. Utah Tech 6-12 overall, 1-7 WAC
Monday evening’s makeup game at Moody Coliseum between Tarleton State and Abilene Christian was postponed by the league office and has been rescheduled for Tuesday, February 3 with a 6pm CT tipoff. Andy Penney and the ACUTV crew will have the ESPN+ call with Clayton Neville on the call for the Tarleton Sports Network.
The Week Ahead:
Thursday, January 29, 2026»
6:00 P.M. MT: Tarleton State at Utah Valley
6:30 P.M. MT: UT Arlington at Southern Utah
7:00 P.M. MT: Abilene Christian at Utah Tech
Idle: California Baptist University
Saturday, January 31, 2026»
1:00 P.M. PT: UT Arlington at California Baptist University
2:00 P.M. MT: Abilene Christian at Southern Utah and Tarleton State at Utah Tech
Idle: Utah Valley