CEDAR CITY, Utah - The Southern Utah women's basketball team picked up their third win in the last four games Saturday afternoon with a 82-64 victory over Northern Arizona.
The win moved the Thunderbirds to 13-10 overall and 7-7 in Big Sky play. They now have the most Big Sky wins since 2013-14 when they finished 15-5 and won a share of the Big Sky Regular Season Championship.
Harley Hansen led all scorers in the contest with a season-high 27 points, shooting 50 percent from the field and 57 percent from the three-point line. Rebecca Cardenas had 19 points and tied her career-high with eight steals. She is now ranked seventh all-time in career scoring with 1,148 points, passing Susan Pedersen (1976-80) who finished her career with 1,146 points.
Shalyn Fano put up 11 points and eight rebounds, while Jessica Chatman scored 10 and Darri Frandsen pulled down eight rebounds.
As a team, the Thunderbirds had 16 steals and forced the Lumberjacks into 24 turnovers. They scored 27 points off of turnovers and outrebounded NAU 32-23.
The T-Birds didn't start to create any separation until the second quarter after both teams scored 20 points each in the first. They used a 7-0 run to make it 30-22 with 5:22 to go in the half. The Lumberjacks were able to cut the lead back down to three, but three-pointers from Fano and Madelyn Eaton would give SUU a five-point lead at halftime.
The Thunderbirds came out of the break firing on all cylinders, quickly turning their five-point lead into an 11-point lead with 7:58 to go in the quarter. Every time it seemed like the Lumberjacks were starting to climb back in it, Cardenas and Hansen were there to keep them out. They were the only T-Birds to score points in the third quarter, Hansen with 16 and Cardenas with six. Hansen went 3-for-3 from beyond the arc and each time she hit one it was to give SUU a 14-point lead. They shot 63.6 percent while holding NAU to 40 percent in the quarter.
Southern Utah continued to pile on the points in the fourth quarter as Fano knocked down two more triples, they scored nine points off of turnovers, and never let NAU get closer than 10 points. They closed out the game on a 4-0 run to build their biggest lead of the night and take home the 82-64 win.
The Thunderbirds will be back in the America First Event Center next week to host Northern Colorado and Weber State.
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 February 20 against Northern Colorado 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.
