LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA -- The Thunderbirds took on the Omaha Mavericks in the opening game of the Loyola Marymount Christmas Tournament. They jumped out to a big lead and never looked back. Southern Utah emerged with an 80-47 win and improved to 8-3 on the year.

Head Coach Tracy Mason said

"I am super proud of the team for their performance today. We are coming off two tough losses and we came out with a lot of energy and played with really good pace to start the game. Time to rest and get ready for another one tomorrow!"

Top T-Birds

• Ava Uhrich led all scorers, pouring in her season-high 23 points on 9-13 from the field. She also had four rebounds and three assists.
• Denver Anderson scored a career-high 14 points on five made field goals and a perfect 3-3 from the charity stripe.
• Sierra Chambers added seven points and tied her career-high with seven assists as well.
• Kortney Doman once again did it all for Southern Utah. Scoring five points, grabbing eight rebounds, recording one assist, two steals, and two blocks.

Game Recap

First Half

Ava Uhrich was on fire to start the game. Making her first shot, a deep triple off an assist from Ashley Banks, and then adding back-to-back made layups to give the Thunderbirds a 10-2 lead midway through the first quarter.

A pair of buckets inside from Anderson and Banks extended the SUU lead even further, and then Sierra Chambers got a fastbreak layup to fall, and the Thunderbirds ended the first quarter with a 19-8 lead.

The second quarter started the same as the first, with Uhrich scoring back-to-back buckets and the Thunderbirds stifling the Mavericks on defense.

At the 6:50 mark, Olivia Malafu scored a bucket; the Thunderbirds got a steal; Doman cashed in a layup in transition; Morgan Trigueiro knocked down a triple; and at the 5:50 mark, SUU had an 18-point lead. The Thunderbirds ended the half on a 12-2 run and went into the break leading 44-18. 

Uhrich had 18 points in the first half.

Second Half

The third quarter started with a 10-0 run by the Thunderbirds, with several players scoring.

SUU outscored the Mavericks 27-9 in the third period and entered the fourth quarter with a 71-27 lead.

Omaha put together a decent scoring run to start the fourth quarter, but the game was in hand by that point, and the Thunderbirds closed out the Mavericks 80-47.

Up Next

SUU will play tomorrow, December 21, in game two of the LMU Christmas Tournament against the host team, Loyola Marymount, at 3:30 p.m.

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