THUNDERBIRDS TRAVEL TO WEST COAST
The Southern Utah University Thunderbirds continue their opening road trip of the season with a visit to Santa Clara this Friday where they will face the Broncos at 8 p.m. (MST). The two teams met in Cedar City a year ago in a game that saw SUU come away with a 70-58 victory. The T-Birds started the current season with a 74-60 loss at the University of Utah last week. The Broncos currently hold a record of 1-1 after defeating CSU Bakersfield 93-87 in their home opener before falling at Fresno State by a final score of 83-71.
FOLLOW THE THUNDERBIRDS
Southern Utah University women's basketball fans can follow all home and select away games via LiveStats at www.SUUTBIRDS.com. All home games will be video streamed on www.SUUTBIRDS.com and broadcast on the radio at 91.1 FM and online at www.suu.edu/hss/comm/ksuu/webcast.html.
ABOUT THE SANTA CLARA BRONCOS
Santa Clara enters thier matchup with Southern Utah with a record of 1-1 after . The Thunderbirds took an 80-67 victory over SCU on Dec. 13 last season to even their all-time series with Santa Clara at 1-1. The Broncos won the only other meeting between the two schools by a score of 97-62 during the 1996-97 season. Junior forward Meagan Fulps is averaging 22 points and 6.5 rebounds per contest for Santa Clara who also features preseason All-West Coast Conference player Alyssa Shoji. The senior guard is currently averaging 16.5 ppg to goal along with 4 assists. Head coach Jennifer Mountain is in her fourth season at SCU where she has led the team to three consecutive appearances in the West Coast Conference Tournament and an overall record of 21-74.
T-BIRDS FALL TO UTES IN SALT LAKE
Southern Utah fell in its season opener at the University of Utah Sunday. The Thunderbirds held a 30-28 advantage at halftime but the Utes were able to come back after the break for a 74-60 win. Freshman point guard
Hailey Mandelko had a solid scoring night for SUU, finishing the contest with 17 points.
Brenna Gates and
DJ Norman both came off the bench to score 10 points each for the Thunderbirds. Utah forward Taryn Wicijowski led all scorers with 20 points in the contest. The T-Birds shot just over 40 percent in the game while the Utes were right at 44 percent. Utah also held a slight advantage on the glass with 41 rebounds to Southern Utah's 38.
SOUTHERN UTAH DEFEATS ADAM'S STATE IN EXHIBITION
The Thunderbirds got 27 points from sophomore forward
Carli Moreland and they pulled away from the visiting Grizzlies for 72-52 victory to finsih the exhibition season with a perfect 2-0 mark. Southern Utah outscored Adam's State 39-20 in the second half and forced the visitors to commit 28 turnovers in the contest. Freshman gurad
Hailey Mandelko scored in the double figures for the second-straight game, finishing the night with 13 points to go along with her five steals and six assists.
Tayler Anderson,
DJ Norman and
Taylor Maynes also each chipped in six points for SUU. Forward Chloe Cable led the Grizzlies with 16 points on 7-12 shooting.
T-BIRDS OPEN PRESEASON PLAY WITH WIN OVER DIXIE STATE
Southern Utah triumphed over the visiting Red Storm from Dixie State Monday night in a back-and-forth game that saw seven ties and eleven lead changes. The Thunderbirds were able to pull away at the end of the game for the ten-point victory. Several new Thunderbirds turned in impressive performances in their Southern Utah debut including freshman guard
Hailey Mandelko who led the team with 20 points on 6-12 shooting and also handed out three assists. Freshman center
Brenna Gates provided a spark off the bench for SUU recording a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds in just 17 minutes of play. The T-Birds outrebounded the Red Storm 50-39 and made 38 trips to the free throw line in the game. Dixie State senior guard Sheila Adams led all scorers with 21 points in the contest.
THUNDERBIRDS ADD TWO NEW ASSISTANTS TO COACHING STAFF
Southern Utah University has announced the hiring of assistant coaches
Nicole Ryan and
Caitlyn Sears who will join T-Birds women's basketball team.
Nicole Ryan comes to Southern Utah from American University where after a successful playing career, spent a year as a student assistant. Ryan was a standout guard at American where she helped lead the Eagles to three consecutive NIT appearances and one regular season championship in the Patriot League.
Caitlyn Sears continues to be an important contributor to T-Bird basketball as she makes the transition from player to coach. This past season Sears concluded one of the most productive playing careers in the history of SUU basketball, becoming Southern Utah's fifth all-time leading scorer with 1,216 total points.
THUNDERBIRDS ACCEPT INVITATION TO JOIN BIG SKY CONFERENCE
Southern Utah University's athletic program will have a new home, beginning in the fall of 2012, as the Thunderbirds have accepted an invitation to join the Big Sky Conference. SUU received and accepted a formal invitation to join the conference on Friday. The University of North Dakota also accepted an invitation from the Big Sky on Friday and will be announcing its intent to join the conference today. Southern Utah will reap many benefits as members of the Big Sky, including reduced travel costs, ease of scheduling and, at least in the case of football, the opportunity to play for an automatic post-season bid. Last, but certainly not least, SUU's programs will be able to build on natural regional rivalries within the conference rather than with institutions with no geographic ties to Utah. The Thunderbirds currently compete in The Summit League in the majority of their sports, with the closest conference opponent located in Tulsa, Okla. With the exception of North Dakota, every school in the Big Sky will be closer geographically to SUU than the nearest Summit League institution. That translates into savings in the travel budgets of all sports as well as regional name recognition for the conference rivals.
