WBB: Week 5 News and Notes
CBU leads the regular season title chase at the halfway mark, ACU and Tarleton State prepare for marathon weeks, Fely and Barros earn the weekly awards with big performances and more...
Last week marked the halfway point of conference play.
CBU has the lead in the race for the regular season title with ACU and Southern Utah in hot pursuit.
And Tarleton State has given themselves a little bit of separation from Utah Valley, UT Arlington, and Utah Tech in the race to avoid Wednesday’s opening round game in Las Vegas.
However, there is still a round and a half of play left until the regular season concludes.
Let’s take a look at WAC players and teams on the NCAA leaderboards, the weekly awards, current standings, and what’s ahead in this week’s WAC Hoops Nation Women’s Basketball notebook.
WAC Players/Teams on the NCAA Leaderboard:
Note: All stats as of Monday, February 2, 2026…
Utah Valley and Abilene Christian maintain their top 20 national rankings in turnovers forced per game at fifth (26.70 per game) and 16th (22.70 per game) respectively.
CBU and Southern Utah are T73 in assists per game as a team at 15.2 per game.
The Lancers are also tied for eighth nationally in blocks per game at 5.9 while UT Arlington is T21 at 5.0 per game.
Southern Utah is also in the national top 20 for rebounding margin, sitting T14 at +9.8 per game while Tarleton State is also T57 at +5.6.
Abilene Christian is 36th nationally in scoring margin at +15.9.
The Wildcats and TBirds are both also in the top-75 for scoring offense. ACU is T64 at 73.7 points per game while Southern Utah ranks 66th at 73.4 points per game.
Utah Valley is second in the nation for steals per game at 16.6 while ACU is T20 at 12.0 a contest.
CBU is eighth in 3-pointers attempted per game at 29 while Utah Tech is 18th at 26.8. ACU is also T29th at 25.8. In made 3-pointers per game CBU is T26 at 8.6 while the Trailblazers are T67 at 7.5. ACU is just inside the top-100 at T96, averaging 7.1 made 3-pointers a game.
Utah Valley and ACU are also both top-15 nationally in turnover margin. The Wolverines are 10th at +8.7 a game while ACU is 15th at +7.71 per contest.
CBU’s Filipa Barros continues to stay inside the national top-40 for assists per game at 4.9 (T38). Just outside the top-50 is Utah Tech’s Chardonay Hartley at 4.7 per contest while just inside the top-100 is Utah Valley’s Cambree Blackham at 4.2 (T92).
Emma Johansson has taken the lead in total blocks nationally at 67 and is second nationally at 3.05. Meanwhile, UT Arlington’s Kira Reynolds is T8 in total blocks per game at 56 and seventh in blocks per game at 2.67. Tarleton State’s Elodie Lutbert is T23 in blocks per game at 2.11 and T28 in total blocks at 40.
Barros is also T27 nationally for double-doubles at nine. T49 are the Southern Utah duo of Ava Uhrich and Brooklyn Fely along with Tarleton State’s Shadasia Brackens at seven.
ACU’s Meredith Mayes continues to stay second nationally in field goal percentage at 68.24%.
Southern Utah’s Sierra Chambers and Utah Valley’s Amanda Barcello are T48 in free throw percentage at 85.71%.
ACU’s Payton Hull is the lone WAC women’s basketball player in the top-100 for points per game at 16.9, which is T74.
Uhrich, who last week crossed the career 1,000 point scored mark, also is T22 in rebounds per game at 10.
Barros and Blackham are T30 for total steals at 59 while Saige Gibb is T36 at 58. Blackham is T24 in per game steals at 2.95 with Gibb’s 2.90 mark good for 27th. Barros’ 2.68 steals per game mark is good for 40th.
Barcello is also 27th for 3-point percentage at 41.74%.
Career Milestones:
Southern Utah’s Ava Uhrich crossed the career 1,000 points scored mark in Saturday afternoon’s thrilling win over ACU from the AFEC.
The TBirds Brooklyn Fely and CBU’s Filipa Barros also set new career-highs for scoring on Saturday afternoon, leading their teams to critical wins in the regular season race. Southern Utah visits CBU a week from Thursday.
Tarleton State set a program milestone on Saturday in recording their 1,00th win, dating back to 1968.
Gia Adams set a new career-high in scoring with 25 points in Thursday’s loss at Utah Valley. She is a half-dozen points away from the career 1,500 point mark.
Utah Valley’s Gracie Sorenson also set a new mark for scoring in a Division I game with eight points.
Home Teams Continue Impressive Dominance:
Through five weeks of conference play home teams have continued their impressive dominance, going 4-2 on the week. They are currently 22-10 on the season…pending today’s make-up game between Tarleton State and Abilene Christian from Moody Coliseum.
CBU leads the WAC with four road wins with ACU a game behind in that category after nearly pulling out a win in Cedar City on Saturday.
Home teams are winning their games by an average of 13.3 points per game while visitors are winning by 11.8 points a game so far at the halfway point.
Weekly Awards:
CBU’s Filipa Barros earned Player of the Week honors after a career performance against UT Arlington on Saturday afternoon in a win which kept the Lancers atop the WAC standings with a Texas road trip on tap this week.
She scored 32 points, the new high for points scored by a WAC player this season, connecting on eight 3-pointers and nine total shots from the field in 27 minutes of work. Barros also chipped in eight rebounds, five steals, and a pair of assists in the 83-55 win.
Meanwhile, Southern Utah’s Brooklyn Fely repeated as Newcomer of the Week with a double-double average of 19 points and 11 rebounds in a pair of TBird wins that kept them in the regular season championship race. Fely set new career-highs in both scoring (26 points) and rebounding (17) in a thrilling 71-68 win over ACU from the AFEC. ACU returns to Cedar City in just over three weeks for the final meeting between the two sides.
Barros is the third student-athlete to repeat as Player of the Week so far this year and the ninth different winner of the award.
This is the third selection as Newcomer of the Week for Fely, who trails UT Arlington’s Kira Reynolds by one for the league’s lead.
Standings:
1. CBU 14-8 overall, 8-1 WAC
2. ACU 15-6 overall, 6-2 WAC
3. Southern Utah 15-7 overall, 7-3 WAC
4. Tarleton State 11-9 overall, 5-4 WAC
5. Utah Valley 10-10 overall, 3-6 WAC
6. UT Arlington 8-13 overall, 2-7 WAC
7. Utah Tech 6-14 overall, 1-9 WAC
Wildcats and Texans Embark on Marathon Week:
As a result of snowmagedon, the storm that struck much of the midwest and eastern seaboard, round two of the ACU vs Tarleton State series was postponed to Tuesday, February 3.
It sets up a high-stakes marathon week for both teams in terms of their regular season positioning.
ACU is a game behind in the loss column with CBU visiting Moody Coliseum on Saturday. Before that though they’ll host the Texans and Utah Valley. The Wolverines defeated ACU in Orem by two points in their first matchup. Meanwhile, in Riverside the Wildcats raced out to a 21 point lead and then hung on as CBU made a late run before falling.
Defending home floor is imperative to winning this title as the numbers are showing so far with home teams having a .688% winning percentage so far.
Tarleton State is three games clear of UT Arlington in the race to avoid Wednesday’s opening round at WACVegas. However, the Texans are still in the thick of the race for second place and a bye all the way to Friday’s semifinals. How they handle this week’s marathon could go a long way to determining if they get one or two byes.
CBU visits the EECU Center on Thursday while Utah Valley makes the trip on Saturday from UT Arlington
The Week Ahead:
Tuesday, February 3, 2026»
6 P.M. CT: Tarleton State at Abilene Christian (Originally rescheduled from January 24 and 26)
Thursday, February 5, 2026»
6 P.M. CT: Utah Valley at Abilene Christian University
6:30 P.M. CT: Utah Tech at UT Arlington
7 P.M. CT: California Baptist University at Tarleton State
Idle: Southern Utah
Thursday, February 7, 2026»
1 P.M. CT: California Baptist University at Abilene Christian University
2 P.M. CT: Utah Valley at UT Arlington and Southern Utah at Tarleton State
Idle: Utah Tech