ST. GEORGE, Utah - After trailing for most of the game, the Southern Utah University Women's Basketball team pieced together an incredible road comeback in the final minutes, with a layup from Lexi Bull and free throws from Daylani Ballena pushing the Thunderbirds to a 69-66 win over the rival Utah Tech University Trailblazers on Feb. 13. The Thunderbirds earned their third conference win of the season, making them 3-8 in the Western Athletic conference with a 5-19 record overall, while UTU fell to 1-8 in the conference and 5-19 overall.
Head Coach Tracy Mason Said:
"I'm very proud of the team's resilience today. We never gave up and fought hard for the win. We had multiple people step up to make some huge plays down the stretch."
Top T-Birds
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Daylani Ballena led the Thunderbirds with 18 points, adding five rebounds and three steals to her totals.
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With a dominant second half, Ava Uhrich brought down eight boards and scored 14 points on 60% shooting from the field.
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Samantha Johnston scored from the three-point line three times, contributing 12 total points to Southern Utah's score.
Game Recap
First Half
Sydney Gandy kicked off the game from the perimeter, draining a deep three, but Utah Tech began to pull away midway through the first quarter. Finally ending a 10-0 run, a Ballena layup and a Kortney Doman triple cut it to a 16-10 game.
Opening the second quarter for Southern Utah, Ballena scored five straight points to bring the Thunderbirds into range. The Trailblazers ripped the momentum back to take a seven-point lead, but a three-pointer from Jaeden Brown spurred SUU's offense to a set of scores with three minutes left in the quarter. At halftime, Southern Utah trailed 32-28.
Second Half
Utah Tech extended to a ten-point lead in the third quarter before Ava Uhrich finally broke the streak with back-to-back scores. Threes from Samantha Johnston and Ballena highlighted a Thunderbird offense that continued to roll, but the Trailblazers retained their lead in a 51-46 game.
Utah Tech opened the scoring in the fourth, but a second pair of back-to-back scores from Uhrich made it a one-score game. A step-back triple from Johnston and a pair of Southern Utah free throws tied the game for the first time since the first quarter with less than two minutes left. A layup from Bull with 11 seconds left gave SUU the lead, but Utah Tech managed to make it to the free-throw line and overtake them 66-65. With five seconds on the clock, Ballena drew a huge foul, making both free throws to give the Thunderbirds the win.
Highlights
Up Next
The Thunderbirds hope to carry their momentum into a Saturday, Feb. 15 matchup with Utah Valley University at 2:00 p.m. The rivalry road game will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
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