CEDAR CITY, Utah– A pair of double-doubles from Tomekia Whitman and Lizzy Williamson lifted the Southern Utah University women's basketball team over the New Mexico Lobos 76-68 in their season opener Monday night in the America First Event Center.
"I'm very proud of this group, said SUU head coach Tracy Sanders." It has been a long stretch of us playing against each other, and we were excited to come out here and open things up at home. New Mexico is a tough team with a great tradition and to have them come out here to Cedar City was pretty exciting. We are in a great spot, and I'm excited about the progress that we've made."
With the win, the Thunderbirds improve to 1-0 and earn their first victory over a Mountain West opponent since 2018.
Southern Utah's strong performance was led by a trio of dynamic scorers Tomkeia Whitman, Lizzy Williamson, and Daylani Ballena. In her first game as Thunderbird, Whitman recorded a team-high 20 points with 12 rebounds and two steals. Williamson was a force in the paint all night, racking up 19 points on 9 of 10 shooting with 13 rebounds and three blocks. Ballena also contributed 18 points and five assists of her own.
In addition to shooting 47.7 % from the field, the Thunderbirds dominated the rebounding battle 54-32 and stacked up tons of high-percentage shots scoring 44 of their points in the paint to the Lobos 30.
New Mexico started the game strong with a powerful one-two punch from sisters Latasyca Brown and Latora Brown, who each connected from three early to spark a 13-4 run in the opening five minutes. The Thunderbirds quickly found their footing and climbed back into the game as Whitman and Alexa Lord went to work down low, igniting a 9-4 run and ending the quarter trailing by one.
The Lobos quickly struck back in the second quarter, forcing a string of seven second-quarter Thunderbird turnovers and extending their lead back out to 41-36 at the half.
Coming out of the half, the T-Birds stepped on the gas as Lizzy Williamson began to heat up, scoring ten points in the third quarter, and Daylani Ballena roped together two deep threes to help gain their largest lead of 61-51 before the end of the third quarter.
New Mexico fought hard in the fourth to trim into the lead, but the Thunderbirds continued to show off their offensive firepower as Ballena and Whitman muscled in a series of tough shots to put the game out of reach.
UP NEXT
Southern Utah will now have a short turnaround as they will host their second home game of the season on Wednesday, November 9th, against the Benedictine University at Mesa Redhawks at 6:30 p.m MT. The T-Birds will then head out on their first road trip of the season to Spokane, Washington, to take on the Gonzaga Bulldogs on Saturday, November 12th.
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