CEDAR CITY, Utah - After a week off from Big Sky play, the Southern Utah women's basketball team will hit the road this week to take on the Sacramento State Hornets on Thursday February 18 and Saturday February 20.
Last Time Out
The Thunderbirds are coming off of a 44-55 non-conference loss to Arizona State on February 8.
Darri Frandsen was the leading scorer for the Thunderbirds with 13 points. She also pulled down seven rebounds and had two blocks. Madelyn Eaton scored 11 points and Cherita Daugherty scored 10.
Prior to that matchup, the T-Birds were on a five-game winning streak dating back to January 17. However, they have only played two games over the last three weeks due to a canceled series with Idaho State and one canceled game with Northern Colorado.
Big Sky At a Glance
The Thunderbirds are currently in fourth place in the Big Sky standings with a 3-2 record in conference play, but there is a catch. If the Big Sky Conference Championship Tournament took place today, Southern Utah would enter the tournament as the 11th seed in the tournament. They are the only team in the conference to not have reached the 10-game mark needed to meet the conference minimum for proper seeding in the tournament.
The Thunderbirds currently have six Big Sky Conference games left on their schedule and will only be able to drop one of those without consequences in the tournament.
Idaho State continues to dominate the Big Sky with an 11-1 record, but Montana State is right behind them at 10-2. Idaho is in third place at 11-3 and the T-Birds sit in fourth.
Liz Graves continues to lead the Big Sky in scoring at 16.6 points per game. She is also second in field goal percentage (.513) and third in rebounding (8.4 rpg).
Scouting Report: Sacramento State Hornets (1-16, 1-13 BSC)
Sacramento State comes into the week as the 10th place team in the Big Sky, ahead of only Weber State who has yet to win a game this season. Their only win of the season so far came on January 28 over Eastern Washington, but they have lost five-straight games since then.
Junior Summer Menke leads the Hornets in scoring at 13.9 points per game. She is eighth in the conference in that category. She is also the team's leading rebounder at 7.6 per game.
As a team, the Hornets are seventh in the Big Sky in scoring and last in the conference in scoring defense, allowing 77.7 points per game.
The Hornets have won the last 11 matchups between the two teams with the Thunderbirds' last win coming in 2014 in the Big Sky Championship Tournament.
Game Day Information
Thursday's game is set to tip off at 6:00 p.m. Mountain time (5:00 p.m. Pacific) and Saturday's game will tip off at 1:00 p.m. Mountain time (12:00 p.m. Pacific).
Both games can be streamed live on PlutoTV channel 1052 and live stats will be available at tbirdstats.com.
Follow Us
Stay up to date during the 2020-21 Lady T-Bird Basketball season by following @SUUWBasketball on Twitter and Instagram and liking the Southern Utah Women's Basketball page on Facebook.
