CEDAR CITY, Utah - The Southern Utah women's basketball team will hit the road this week to take on Montana on January 2 and Montana State on January 4.
Last Time Out
The Thunderbirds opened Big Sky Conference play Monday night with a 71-58 win over Portland State. This was the first time Southern Utah had won their conference opener since the 2014-15 season when they beat the Vikings 86-74 in Cedar City.
"Really proud of our defensive effort tonight. I thought that was huge. One of the things we are really proud of tonight was keeping them off of the offensive boards. At most positions they were bigger and stronger than us and we just outworked them," head coach Tracy Sanders said.
Harley Hansen led the Thunderbirds in scoring with 21 points. She also had four steals and five rebounds. Rebecca Cardenas put up 20 points, had six assists, and also contributed four steals. Shalyn Fano had 16 points (6-for-9 FG; 3-for-4 3FG) and led the team in rebounding with nine.
Cardenas continues to lead the Big Sky in scoring, averaging 18.4 points per game, and now leads the conference in steals as well with 2.7 per game. Her scoring average is 40th in the entire NCAA and steals per game is 37th in the country.
Scouting Report: Montana Grizzlies (7-4, 2-0 BSC)
The Grizzlies opened conference play last week with wins over Northern Arizona and Sacramento State. They got 20-point performances from Mckenzie Johnston, Emma Stockholm, and Abby Anderson in the two wins and Anderson was named Big Sky Player of the Week.
Johnston leads the Grizzlies in scoring, averaging 12.6 points per game. Stockholm leads the team in rebounding at 5.6 per game.
The two teams split the regular season series in 2018-19, but the Thunderbirds have won the last two matchups, beating Montana in one of their final games of the regular season and in the first round of the Big Sky Tournament.
Scouting Report: Montana State Bobcats (6-5, 2-0 BSC)
The Bobcats also earned two twins last week, both over NAU and Sacramento State. Fallyn Freije, Madeline Smith, and Darian White all put up double-doubles in the conference opening wins.
Freije leads the Bobcats in scoring, averaging 12.3 points per game, and rebounding, averaging 7.1 per game.
The Bobcats have won the last seven matchups between the two teams with the Thunderbirds' last win coming in 2015.
Game Info
Thursday's game against the Grizzlies is set to tip off at 7:00 p.m. inside Dahlberg Arena. The game will be streamed live on PlutoTV channel 537 and live stats will be available at tbirdstats.com.
Saturday's game against the Bobcats is set to tip off at 2:00 p.m. inside Worthington Arena. The game will be streamed live on PlutoTV channel 538 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 January 9 against Idaho State 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.
