CEDAR CITY, Utah – After a long break since its last contest, the Southern Utah University women's basketball team will resume action when it makes the short trip down I-15 to face rival Dixie State.
GAME INFO
Southern Utah at Dixie State
Date: December 21, 2021
Tip-Off: 3:00 p.m. MT
Location: St. George, Utah
Venue: Burns Arena
TV: ESPN+
Live Stream | Live Stats | Southern Utah Notes
NOTES AND QUOTES
-Southern Utah and Dixie State last met a season ago when the Thunderbirds welcomed the Trailblazers to Cedar City and won by a score of 80-44.
-Prior to last year's meeting, SUU and DSU would typically meet in the form of an exhibition game at the beginning of the season. Including those meetings, Southern Utah has won four-straight games in the series. Dixie State last beat the T-Birds in November of 2010 in an exhibition in Cedar City.
-The Thunderbirds and Trailblazers will meet more often beginning next season when Southern Utah joins Dixie State as a member of the Western Athletic Conference in July of 2022.
-Southern Utah is 1-1 against WAC opponents this season. The T-Birds fell to Utah Valley in November before going on the road to take down UTRGV over Thanksgiving weekend.
-In back-to-back games, Darri Dotson has recorded season highs in scoring. The redshirt senior scored 16 against Colorado and 17 in SUU's win over Life Pacific.
-Southern Utah is 6-3 against member of the Western Athletic Conference under head coach Tracy Sanders.
"I thought overall we did a really good job. We crashed the boards and obviously didn't shoot the ball super well, but we did a good job of getting offensive rebounds and putting ourselves in a spot to get second-chance opportunities. We got to see some different lineups today as well, so overall, there were fun opportunities for different people."
-Head Coach Tracy Sanders after defeating Life Pacific
ABOUT DIXIE STATE (4-6)
-Dixie State enters Tuesday's contest with a record of 4-6. The T-Birds and Blazers have played common opponents in Life Pacific and Colorado with both teams beating the Warriors and falling to the Buffaloes.
-The Trailblazers are led by head coach JD Gustin who is in his sixth season at the helm of the program.
-Breaunna Gillen leads Dixie State in scoring with 17.3 points per game. She is followed by Emily Isaacson who averages 13.0.
-Dixie State is in its second season as a Division I program and member of the Western Athletic Conference. The Trailblazers only played three games last season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
LAST TIME OUT
After a tough loss to Colorado, the Southern Utah University women's basketball team rebounding in a big way Thursday afternoon with a 93-42 victory over Life Pacific at the America First Event Center.
Rebounding was a big advantage for SUU on the afternoon as the T-Birds outrebounded the Warriors 66-28. Bryar Tronnier and Darri Dotson crashed the boards the hardest for Southern Utah with 14 and 13 rebounds, respectively. Eleven of Dotson's 13 rebounds were on the offensive glass while Tronnier earned eight offensive boards.
Dotson also had a big scoring game as she led the Thunderbirds with a game-high 17 points to complete a double-double. Daylani Ballena played an efficient game for SUU with 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting and three assists with no turnovers. Natalia Otkhmezuri, Samantha Johnston and Aishah Anis each finished the game in double figures as well with 11, 11 and 10, respectively.
The Warriors appeared to be up for the challenge early on as they held a lead in the opening moments and forced Southern Utah into a timeout with just over four minutes remaining in the first quarter. Coach Sanders made a line change out of the timeout by subbing all five players off the court, and the T-Birds immediately went on a 7-0 run to begin to pull away. SUU went on multiple short runs in the second quarter to gradually widen the gap, and comfortably played through the remainder of the game with the result never in doubt.
FOLLOW US
For all the latest on Southern Utah women's basketball, follow @SUUWBasketball on Twitter and Instagram, and like the Southern Utah Women's Basketball Facebook page.
