CEDAR CITY, Utah — Southern Utah University women's basketball has announced its complete 2026-27 schedule, featuring a challenging non-conference slate, 20 Big Sky Conference games, and a return to the league the Thunderbirds called home for more than a decade.

Coming off a 19-13 season that included the program's second-ever Women's National Invitation Tournament appearance, Southern Utah will open the 2026-27 campaign at home Oct. 16 against Fort Lewis at America First Event Center.

Head Coach Tracy Mason Said

"There's a lot of excitement around this schedule and what it represents for our program. We're excited to get back in front of our home crowd, compete against some really good teams early in the season and then return to the Big Sky and compete for a championship. Our team has worked hard to put ourselves in a position to build on what we accomplished last season, and we're looking forward to getting started."

The Thunderbirds will play 15 non-conference games before beginning Big Sky Conference play in December. The schedule includes home contests against Fort Lewis, Redlands, Park University Gilbert, Eastern Washington, Nelson University, San Diego and Cal State Fullerton.

Southern Utah will also take on a strong group of road opponents, traveling to New Mexico State, Washington State, Air Force, BYU, San Jose State and California.

The Thunderbirds' non-conference schedule includes a pair of matchups against Power Four opponents, with Southern Utah traveling to Washington State on Nov. 13 and California on Dec. 22. SUU will also face BYU on Dec. 9 and Air Force on Nov. 18.

The Thunderbirds will return to the Big Sky Conference for the first time since the 2021-22 season, with the conference slate featuring 20 games and 10 contests at America First Event Center.

Southern Utah will open conference play on the road, traveling to Idaho State on Dec. 3 before visiting Weber State on Dec. 5. The Thunderbirds will then return home to host Eastern Washington on Dec. 31 and Idaho on Jan. 2.

SUU will continue conference play on the road at Northern Colorado on Jan. 7 and Portland State on Jan. 9 before hosting Utah Tech on Jan. 16.

The Thunderbirds will travel to Montana State on Jan. 18 before returning home to face Montana on Jan. 25. SUU will then host Weber State on Jan. 28 and Idaho State on Jan. 30.

February will open with road games at Idaho on Feb. 4 and Eastern Washington on Feb. 6 before the Thunderbirds return home to face Northern Arizona on Feb. 8.

Southern Utah will travel to Utah Tech on Feb. 13 before closing out the home portion of its regular season with games against Portland State on Feb. 17, Northern Colorado on Feb. 20 and Montana State on Feb. 22.

The Thunderbirds will finish the regular season on the road at Northern Arizona on Feb. 27 and Montana on March 1.

The 2026-27 season comes after Southern Utah put together one of the program's strongest seasons in recent years in 2025-26. Picked to finish last in the WAC preseason coaches' poll, the Thunderbirds finished among the league's top three teams while leading the conference in scoring at 72.3 points per game, rebounding at 41.5 boards per game and three-point shooting at 33 percent.

Mason's squad also earned its second-ever WNIT appearance, advancing to the second round before falling to Pepperdine.

With only one senior departing from last year's team, the Thunderbirds return the majority of their roster as they begin their transition back to the Big Sky.

The schedule will reunite Southern Utah with several familiar conference opponents while also renewing the in-state rivalry with Utah Tech and providing the Thunderbirds with opportunities to compete against a variety of opponents throughout the non-conference portion of the season.

2026-27 Southern Utah Women's Basketball Schedule

*Big Sky Conference game

All dates are subject to change. Game times will be announced at a later date.

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