CEDAR CITY, Utah - This week marks the beginning of a new era of Southern Utah Basketball as the Lady T-Birds host the University of San Diego on November 7 inside the America First Event Center.
Looking Back On 2017-18
The Lady T-Birds are coming off of a 3-27 season in which they finished with a 2-16 record in Big Sky Conference play and entered the Big Sky Conference Championship Tournament as the 12th seed for the second consecutive season. Southern Utah picked up their only non-conference win over Utah State at home in their fourth game of the season and were able to take down Idaho State and Northern Arizona during conference play.
As a team, the Thunderbirds averaged 58.7 points per game and 35.8 rebounds per game. They finished second in the Big Sky in steals with 10 per game and third in turnover margin with a +1.8.
New Year, New Leadership
Not only will the Lady T-Birds have a new court to play on, but a new head coach will be at the helm of the program. Tracy Sanders was hired on April 18 to be the new head coach of the Lady T-Birds after an impressive 12-year stint under head coach Paul Thomas at Saint Mary's College of California. Sanders was originally hired on as an assistant coach in 2000, but for her final five seasons with the Gaels she held the title of Associate Head Coach. Sanders worked primarily with the post players during her time with the Gaels, which led to the development of two WCC Players of the Year, a two-time WCC Defender of the Year, and a WCC Tournament MVP amongst many other accolades.
Joining Sanders on staff are former Lady T-Bird Hailey Mandelko, former BYU Cougar Morgan Bailey, and Jay Johnson, who was on staff at Saint Mary's with Sanders. Mandelko was a big part of the 2013-14 Big Sky Champion Lady T-Birds, setting a top-five record for points in a season (467), top-eight record for free throw percentage in a season (84.5%), and earning a Big Sky All-Conference First Team selection in her junior season.
Morgan Bailey will be coming to Cedar City from Snow College where she spent the 2017-18 as an assistant coach for the Badgers. Last season the Badgers went 22-8 overall and 9-3 in conference play, finishing second in the Scenic West Athletic Conference. Jay Johnson most recently held the title of Director of Women's Basketball Operations at Saint Mary's College for the 2017-18 season. During his time as DOBO, Johnson's duties included video coordination as well as social media, details of team management, travel and logistics for road trips, and scheduling the use of facilities for practices both at home and away.
"I am so excited about the makeup of this staff. These coaches will be terrific representatives of Southern Utah University and our women's basketball program," Sanders said. "This is a staff that will truly serve our players well and I can't be more thrilled to have them on board."
Returning T-Birds
The Thunderbirds will have eight players returning from the 2017-18 season including leading scorer Bre Reid. Reid averaged 9.8 points per game last season and was second on the team in minutes played, averaging 28.3 minutes per game. Rebecca Cardenas will return for her junior season after leading the T-Birds in assists, steals, and minutes played for her first two seasons. Cardenas finished second in the Big Sky in steals and eighth in assists.
Ashley Larsen, Megan Kamps, Chloe Bradford, Kiana Thomas (formerly Johnson), Peyton Shepherd (formerly Torgerson), and Carlie Jones will also all be returning to the roster for the 2018-19 season. Larsen led the team in blocks last season with 22 and was second in rebounding, averaging 4.8 per game.
Fresh Faces
There will be five new Thunderbird faces on the team in 2018-19. Claudia Armato, Geassy Germano, and Hannah Robins will be joining the team as freshmen, while Harley Hansen will be transferring from Snow College and Jessica Chatman from BYU.
Armato attended Penleigh and Essendon Grammar in Melbourne, Australia where she was named captain and team MVP last season. She was also a SSV State Team representative and a AGSV Team selection in 2017. Germano prepped in Raleigh, North Carolina where she played for Friendship Christian Academy and the Carolina Waves. She was also rated as a three-star rated recruit by ESPN and played for the U16-U17 Brazilian National Team as she is originally from São Paulo, Brazil. Robins hails from Nephi, Utah where she competed for Juab High School and the Salt Lake Metro AAU team. She averaged 14.1 ppg and 9.9 rpg during her time as a Wasp.
Hansen joins the Thunderbirds for her junior season, having played her first two seasons of collegiate basketball at Snow College. During her time as a Badger, Hansen earned six Scenic West Athletic Conference Player of the Week honors and was a two-time member of the All-SWAC First Team. During her sophomore season, Hansen averaged 13 points, 7.7 rebounds, 2.5 steals, and two assists per game. She was named to the 2017-18 All NJCAA Academic Third Team and was a nominee for Snow College Female Athlete of the Year.
Originally from Ridgefield, Washington, Chatman signed with BYU out of high school and spent the 2016-17 season with them. She appeared in 19 games, averaging 3.3 minutes and 0.6 points per game. Before signing with the Cougars, Chatman played for Union High School where she averaged 16 points per game and 10.5 rebounds per game. She was a two-time All-District and All-Region First Team selection during that time.
Scouting Report: University of San Diego Toreros
The Toreros are coming off of a season in which they finished 17-15 and 8-10 in the West Coast Conference. They knocked off BYU and Pacific to make it to the finals of the WCC Tournament, but ultimately would lose 71-79 to Gonzaga.
Aubrey Ward-El and Maya Hood led the team in scoring last season averaging 14.2 and 12.1 points per game respectively. Hood also led the team in rebounding, averaging 7.6 per game. Myah Pace is the leading returner for USD, starting in 17 games last season and averaging 5.6 ppg and 4.6 rpg.
The Thunderbirds and the Toreros matched up last season in San Diego, with USD taking the win 72-59.
Game Info
Wednesday's game against the Toreros is set to tip off at 6:30 p.m. Mountain time inside of the America First Event Center. The game can be streamed for free live on PlutoTV channel 236 and live stats will be available at tbirdstats.com.
Tickets
Tickets for the Lady T-Birds' home opener against San Diego are available at tbirdtickets.com or the America First Event Center Ticket Office. Fans can also purchase a Women's Sports Pass for access to all 2018-19 home games.
Follow Us
Stay up to date during the 2018-19 Lady T-Bird Basketball season by following @SUUWBasketball on Twitter and Instagram and liking the Southern Utah Women's Basketball page on Facebook.
