Reaching the end of a stellar campaign, the Southern Utah University women’s basketball team will take on two conference opponents this week before heading to the Western Athletic Conference Tournament in Las Vegas.
The first game will be in Orem, Utah, against Utah Valley University on Thursday, March 5, at 6 p.m. The second game will be in Riverside, Calif., against conference No. 1 California Baptist University on Saturday, March 7, at 2 p.m.
Both games will be streamed live on ESPN+.
Southern Utah
The Thunderbirds sit at 19-9 on the year and hold an 11-5 conference record. One more win would give them their third-ever 20-win season. The other two times were in 2022-23, when the team made the NCAA Tournament, and 2013-14.
Coming off two rough seasons, the T-Birds are going to be fighting for a spot in March Madness. The only other time they’ve made the postseason was when they played in the 1988 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Tournament.
Southern Utah currently holds the No. 3 spot in the conference and are locked into that seed or better. If they win their final two games, CBU loses both of their last two games and Abilene Christian University loses their final game, SUU would barely secure the No. 1 seed.
SUU beat UVU in both of their matchups this season. They split the series with CBU, losing the first game by five and winning the second by 15. If the cards fall in SUU’s favor, they could head to the WAC Tournament next week as favorites to qualify for March Madness.
Utah Valley
The Wolverines hold a 14-13 record with a 7-9 conference standing. They’re locked into the No. 4 spot in the conference even if they lose their last two games.
Despite a lawsuit that threatened to block UVU from the postseason, a judge’s injunction means the school’s sports teams will be able to participate in the WAC Tournament for their final season in the conference.
UVU has been playing well as of late. After a 2-8 start to conference play, which included a five-game losing streak, they’ve won five of their last eight games. Two of their losses in that stretch were by just one point, including their most recent game against conference No. 2 ACU.
The Wolverines mostly sport poor defensive metrics, but their claim to fame is the ability to force turnovers. They average 15.3 steals per game and force opponents to commit 7.4 more turnovers per game. They have eight players who average one steal per game, six of whom are their top six scorers.
This will be of great importance to an SUU team that’s somewhat struggled with turnovers compared to opponents this year. Even though they beat UVU in both previous matchups this year, the Wolverines racked up 33 total steals to SUU’s seven.
California Baptist
SUU’s final test of the year will be among their most difficult. CBU holds a 19-10 record with a 13-3 conference standing, good for the No. 1 spot in the WAC.
Despite winning eight of their last ten games, the Lancers’ most recent loss of more than two points was a 15-point triumph for SUU. This shows the T-Birds are able to take down even the toughest teams in the conference by a wide margin, which is a good sign for a team with March Madness aspirations.
CBU’s only other conference loss was to No. 2 ACU. However, they only have one conference win of more than 10 points that wasn’t against a bottom-three seed. Despite their intimidating record, they haven’t been blowing out the competition and are still vulnerable.
The Thunderbirds will need to be wary of freshman Lauren Olsen. The reigning WAC Newcomer of the Week is second in the WAC in scoring and has scored in the double digits for 17 straight games.
The WAC Tournament begins Wednesday, March 11, in Las Vegas. Until the final games of the season are over, the seeds are yet to be determined. SUU, UVU and CBU will all be seeking their second appearance in March Madness as a Division 1 program.
Previous women’s basketball article ——– Next women’s basketball article
Author: Payson Davis
Photographer: SUU Athletics
Editor: Brooklyn Beard
