After playing five of their last six games at home in the America First Event Center, the Southern Utah University women’s basketball team is set to hit the road for a five-game stretch that will begin this Saturday in Eugene, Oregon against the Oregon Ducks.
On Tuesday the Lady T-Birds hosted the UC Irvine for their final home non-conference game of the 2017-18 season. Despite strong showings from Whitney Johnson (20 points & eight rebounds) and Kiana Johnson (11 points & nine rebounds) and a valiant second-half comeback effort, the Thunderbirds couldn’t overcome a big first quarter from the Anteaters, losing 71-64.
To this point in the season, the Thunderbirds lead the Big Sky in steals, averaging 14.1 per game, and turnover margin with a +3.25 after eight games. Rebecca Cardenas leads the conference in assists (5.4 per game) and is ranked second in steals (3.1 per game).
The Ducks of Oregon will come into Saturday’s game as the ninth ranked team in the country after a 7-1 start to the 2017-18 season. They are currently riding a four-game winning streak and have taken down two other Big Sky teams recently in Eastern Washington and Weber State. Their only loss on the season came at the hands of No.5 Louisville as a part of the Preseason WNIT.
Southern Utah leads the all-time series with Oregon 1-0 after taking down the Ducks 56-47 in the 1995-96 season in Cedar City. This will be the first meeting between the two times since then.
Tip off on Saturday at Matthew Knight Arena is set for 3:00 p.m. Mountain (2:00 p.m. Pacific). A live stream of the game will be available on Pac-12 Oregon and live stats are available through goducks.com. Links to both are available at goducks.com or suutbirds.com.
Stay up to date during the 2017-18 Lady T-Bird Basketball season by following them on Twitter, Instagram and by liking their page on Facebook.
Tickets for the Lady T-Birds next home game against Idaho State on January 4 are available at tbirdtickets.com or the America First Event Center Ticket Office. Fans can also purchase a Women’s Sports Pass for access to all 2018 home games.
Story By
SUU Athletics Strategic Communications
