CEDAR CITY, Utah - After more than a week off from competition, the Southern Utah women's basketball team will head to Colorado to take on the Denver Pioneers on Monday December 16.
Last Time Out
The Thunderbirds picked up two more wins last week, 72-58 over Oral Roberts and 82-68 over UC Irvine, and remained perfect inside the America First Event Center with a 4-0 record.
Rebecca Cardenas led the Thunderbirds in scoring against ORU with 17 points and set a new season-high in assists with eight. Harley Hansen followed with 14 points and Claudia Armato set a new career-high with 11. Shalyn Fano led the team in rebounding with seven and Ashley Larsen set a new career-high in blocks with four.
As a team, the Thunderbirds shot 60 percent from the field while holding the Golden Eagles to just 38.6 percent. They also forced ORU into 22 turnovers and scored 30 of their points off those turnovers.
In the win over UCI, Cardenas shot .500 from the field (10-for-20) and added seven rebounds and four steals. Three other Thunderbirds broke the double-digit mark with Shalyn Fano and Darri Frandsen both putting up 15 points and Claudia Armato putting up 10. Fano led the team in rebounding with eight.
As a team, the Thunderbirds forced the Anteaters into 19 turnovers and scored 27 points off of those turnovers.
Player of the Week (x2)
For the second time in just five weeks, the Big Sky Conference named Rebecca Cardenas the Big Sky Women's Basketball Player of the Week for her performance against Oral Roberts and UC Irvine.
Cardenas scored a combined 47 points on the week, including a 30-point performance against the Anteaters. It was the first time that a Thunderbird had hit the 30-point mark since 2016-17. The senior also shot .474 from the field (18-for-38), grabbed 12 rebounds, dished out 10 assists, and had nine steals over the two games.
"She is playing on fire right now. She is leading our team, she gets them going, she gets them motivated, and she is not going to let anyone beat us," head coach Tracy Sanders said. "Her team is jumping on her back, rallying behind her, feeding off her energy, and we are playing to win. It is really awesome to see."
Cardenas currently leads the Big Sky in scoring with 131 total points and an average of 18.7 points per game. Her average is three points higher than anyone else in the conference. She is also second in steals (2.7 spg) and fourth in field goal percentage (.460).
Scouting Report: Denver Pioneers (5-5)
The Pioneers are coming off of a 96-70 to in-state rival Colorado Thursday night. They are currently 0-3 on the road, but boast a 5-2 record in Denver, with their only home losses coming to New Mexico State and Alabama A&M.
Senior Madison Nelson leads the team in scoring, averaging 17.6 points per game, and in rebounding, averaging 12.2 rebounds per game. Those averages put her in second in the Summit League in scoring and in the top spot for rebounding in the conference. As a team, Denver is second in their conference in both scoring and rebounding.
Last season, the Pioneers came to Cedar City and were able to escape with a narrow 71-70 victory. Head coach Jim Turgeon is in his third season at the helm of the program.
Game Info
Monday's game is set to tip off at 11:00 a.m. Mountain time inside Hamilton Gymnasium. The game will be streamed live at denverpioneers.com and live stats will be available at tbirdstats.com.
Follow Us
Stay up to date during the 2019-20 Lady T-Bird Basketball season by following @SUUWBasketball on Twitter and Instagram and liking the Southern Utah Women's Basketball page on Facebook.
Tickets
Tickets for the Lady T-Birds' next home game on December 19 against UC Riverside 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 2019-20 regular season home games.
