Tracy Mason is in her eighth year as head coach of the Southern Utah University women's basketball team.
The Thunderbirds made it to the WAC Quarterfinals in 2024-25. SUU ended conference play winning five of it's last six contests, including a season sweep of in-state rival Utah Tech. First winning a tight battle in St. George 69-66, and then blowing out the Trailblazers 78-51 at home. The Thunderbirds also secured a win at Utah Valley, going to Orem and emerging with a hard fought 72-63 win over the Wolverines.
Coach Mason also led the Thunderbirds to a season sweep of the Seattle U Redhawks, winning the final regular season game by 15.
The Thunderbirds put together a historic 2022-23 season under Mason’s leadership. In the team’s inaugural season in the Western Athletic Conference, SUU boasted a 23-10 overall record and the most conference victories in program history 16-2 effort in WAC play, earning the Thunderbirds the regular season conference title. Southern Utah carried this momentum into the conference tournament where the team was crowned as Western Athletic Conference Tournament champions. Southern Utah punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history, where the Thunderbirds took on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the first round. Mason was named the WAC Coach of the Year for her efforts. SUU also had three players honored with All-Conference awards under Mason’s leadership. Lizzy Williamson earned Defensive Player of the Year honors to go along with All-WAC Second Team and WAC All-Defensive Team recognitions. Tomekia Whitman was named WAC Newcomer of the Year and WAC Sixth Woman of the Year as well as earning a spot on the All-WAC Second Team and WAC All-Newcomer Team. Cherita Daugherty scored a team high 15.1 points per game en route to earning WAC-All First Team recognitions. The conclusion of the 2022-23 season marked the fourth straight winning season for the Thunderbirds.
The 2021-22 season was one of the best in Southern Utah's Division I history. Mason led SUU to an 18-12 overall record and 14-6 mark in Big Sky play. The 14 conference victories were the second most in SUU program history, as the Thunderbirds claimed a second-place finish in the regular season conference standings. SUU had three players earn All-Conference recognition, as Darri Dotson led the way, earning a spot on the All-Big Sky Third-Team after averaging 11 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. Cherita Daugherty and Daylani Ballena each earned All-Big Sky Honorable Mention honors for the year. The conclusion of the 2021-22 season marked the first time since 1993-96 that Southern Utah compiled three consecutive winning seasons.
In a shortened season in 2020-21, Mason led the Thunderbirds to an overall record of 11-9, including a 6-5 record in Big Sky competition, and a first-round bye in the Big Sky Tournament. Liz Graves led the Big Sky Conference in scoring for the season, elevating her ppg average from 11 the previous season up to 17 ppg to lead the conference. Graves was also recognized as a Second-Team All-Big Sky honoree for her play throughout the season.
The 2019-20 team saw major improvements and put together one of the best seasons in recent memory. They won 18 total games and 11 conference games, the most since the 2013-14 season when they won a share of the Big Sky title. They also had their second-best all-time scoring season with 2,186 points scored, and set a new record for three-pointers made in a season with 197. Rebecca Cardenas was named the 2019-20 Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year at the end of the season. Cardenas led the conference in steals, averaging 3.0 steals per game overall and 3.2 during conference play. The senior was ranked 14th in the entire NCAA in steals per game and 13th in total steals. The 5' 5" guard was also ranked 23rd in the Big Sky in blocks with 12 blocks on the season.
The Thunderbirds also finished the 2019-20 academic year with a team GPA of 3.742, good enough for No. 5 in the country. Southern Utah was the top-ranked team in the Big Sky with the next closest team being Northern Arizona at No. 20. Montana was the only other Big Sky team in the WBCA Top 25 at No. 22.
During her first season at the helm of the program the team won eight games, improving their previous season total by more than double. Their eight total wins and four conference wins were the most the team had had since 2014-15. The Thunderbirds picked up huge wins over BYU, the University of San Diego, and Utah Valley during their non-conference schedule and also won their first Big Sky Championship Tournament game since 2013-14 taking down Montana in the first round. Nine Lady T-Birds were named to the Big Sky All-Academic team in 2018-19 and Rebecca Cardenas was named to the Big Sky All-Conference team, the first T-Bird to do so since 2016-17.
Mason joined the Thunderbirds from Saint Mary's College where she served on staff for 12 years under head coach Paul Thomas. Mason held the title of Associate Head Coach for her last five seasons. Her duties included coordinating all aspects of recruiting, opponent scouting, game preparation, and player development.
Mason worked primarily with the post players during her time with the Gaels, which led to the development of two WCC Players of the Year, a two-time WCC Defender of the Year, and a WCC Tournament MVP amongst many other accolades. The two-time WCC Defender of the Year, Louella Tomlinson, is the Gael's all-time leading scorer, taking the title from Mason herself, and holds the NCAA record for career blocks per game average.
Before starting her coaching career in 2000, Mason was a four-year letterwinner for the Gaels from 1996-2000. During her time as a member of the team, Mason was a three-time All-WCC First Team member, two-time WCC Tournament Team member (including Tournament MVP in 1999), WCC Freshman of the Year in her inaugural season, and WCC Player of the Year her junior season. She led the conference in scoring for three straight years and finished her career as the WCC's second all-time leading scorer.
In addition to her individual achievements, Mason led the Gaels to the program's first NCAA tournament appearance in 1999 and the WNIT in 2000. In 2007, Mason was inducted into the Saint Mary's Hall of Fame and in 2014 she was inducted into the WCC Hall of Honor.
