CEDAR CITY, Utah - The Southern Utah women's basketball team continued their incredible start to the 2019-20 season Friday night with a 82-68 win over UC Irvine. Rebecca Cardenas set a new career-high with a huge 30-point performance on the night. It was the first time a Thunderbird has reached the 30-point mark in a game since the 2016-17 season when former Thunderbird Jamie Smith did it against Sacramento State.
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.
The game was a fight all the way through with nine lead changes and neither team leading by more than 10. The Thunderbirds built up to a 10-point lead with 7:55 left in the second quarter as Fano scored seven-straight points to make it 26-16. The Anteaters immediately turned it around and took a 27-26 lead with just over five minutes to go in the half. The Thunderbirds answered back and rallied to take a 38-33 into the halftime break.
The teams traded leads four times in the third quarter and the Thunderbirds headed into the final quarter with a 59-55 lead. They expanded on that lead in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Anteaters 23-13 and closing out the 82-68 win.
The Thunderbirds will take about a week off before heading to Denver to take on the Denver Pioneers on Monday December 16.
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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.
