CEDAR CITY, Utah - The Southern Utah women's basketball team will head to Boise, Idaho this week to compete in the Big Sky Conference Championship Tournament. The first-round of the tournament will begin on Monday, March 11 with the Thunderbirds coming in as the 10th seed. They will take on the No. 7 seeded Montana Grizzlies at 5:30 p.m. in the second game of the day.
Last Time Out
The Thunderbirds finished out the regular season last Thursday with a 71-88 loss to Northern Colorado.
Rebecca Cardenas was the leading scorer for the Thunderbirds with 17 points. The junior was 5-for-6 from three-point range while also pulling in five rebounds and dishing out four assists. Three other Thunderbirds finished in double-digits as Jessica Chatman had 14, Breanu Reid had 13, and Megan Kamps finished with 11 points.
The loss pushed the T-Birds to 7-22 overall and 4-16 in Big Sky play to finish the regular season.
Regular Season Recap
Southern Utah finished the regular season with four more wins and two more Big Sky wins than they had last season, showing improvement in head coach Tracy Sanders' first season. Both numbers are the most since the 2014-15 season when they finished with 10 total wins and six conference wins.
This is also the first time since the 2015-16 season that the Thunderbirds will not be the bottom seed at the start of the tournament, finishing with one more conference win than Weber State.
The Thunderbirds picked up three big wins in non-conference play over the University of San Diego, BYU, and Utah Valley University. They finished the season 3-1 against in-state rivals, besting everyone except for the University of Utah, who they did not play.
Harley Hansen leads the Thunderbirds in scoring after transferring from Snow College in the offseason. Hansen is averaging 11.7 points per game and also leads the team in steals with 64. Cardenas and Reid are also averaging double-digits in scoring with Cardenas at 11.1 ppg and Reid at 10.1.
Cardenas also leads the team in rebounding, averaging 6.7 rebounds per game. The junior leads the Big Sky in three-point field goal percentage, dropping them in at a rate of 44.6 percent.
Reid recently joined the SUU women's basketball 1,000 point club on March 2 in a 71-56 win over Montana. She currently sits 12th all-time with 1,036 career points.
Scouting Report: Montana Grizzlies (14-15, 9-11 BSC)
The Lady Griz finished their regular season this weekend with wins over Portland State and Sacramento State at home. Those two wins allowed them to finish 9-11 in conference play and stay one game ahead of surging Northern Arizona for the No. 7 seed in the tournament.
The Grizzlies also have three players averaging double-digits in scoring with McKenzie Johnston leading the way at 12.6 points per game. Johnston only played in one of the two matchups with the Thunderbirds this season, scoring 22 points to lead the team.
Jace Henderson averages 12.0 points per game and leads the team in rebounding with an average of 8.6 per game.
The Thunderbirds won the most recent matchup between the two teams just one week ago in Cedar City 71-56. They shot 42 percent from the field, held the Grizzlies to just two threes, and forced 15 Montana turnovers in the win.
Game Info
Monday's first-round game against the Lady Griz will tip off at 5:30 p.m. Mountain time, after the conclusion of the first game of the day. The game will be streamed live on PlutoTV channel 231 and live stats will be available at bigsky.statbroadcast.com.
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.
