2023–24 Southern Utah Thunderbirds women's basketball team

2023–24 Southern Utah Thunderbirds women's basketball
ConferenceWestern Athletic Conference
Record8–22 (6–14 WAC)
Head coach
  • Tracy Mason (6th season)
Associate head coachAllyson Fasnacht
Assistant coaches
  • Jay Johnson
  • Hailey Mandelko-Ferry
Home arenaAmerica First Event Center
Seasons
← 2022–23
2024–25 →
2023–24 WAC women's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
California Baptist † 18 – 2   .900 28 – 4   .875
Grand Canyon 16 – 4   .800 24 – 8   .750
Stephen F. Austin 14 – 6   .700 21 – 12   .636
Utah Tech* 12 – 8   .600 18 – 14   .563
UT Arlington 11 – 9   .550 17 – 16   .515
Abilene Christian 10 – 10   .500 14 – 16   .467
Tarleton State* 7 – 13   .350 12 – 20   .375
Seattle 6 – 14   .300 6 – 23   .207
Southern Utah 6 – 14   .300 8 – 22   .267
UT Rio Grande Valley 5 – 15   .250 6 – 23   .207
Utah Valley 5 – 15   .250 10 – 19   .345
* Ineligible for the 2024 NCAA tournament due to transition from Division II
† 2024 WAC tournament winner

The 2023–24 Southern Utah Thunderbirds women's basketball team represented Southern Utah University during the 2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Thunderbirds, who were led by sixth-year head coach Tracy Mason, played their home games at America First Event Center in Cedar City, Utah as members of the Western Athletic Conference.

Previous season

[edit]

The Thunderbirds finished the 2022–23 season 23–10, 16–2 in WAC play to finish as WAC regular season champions.[1] They defeated New Mexico State,[2] Grand Canyon,[3] and California Baptist in the WAC tournament to send the Thunderbirds to their first NCAA tournament appearance in program history.[4] They received the #14 seed in the Greenville 1 Region,[5] where they would fall to #3 region seed Notre Dame in the first round.[6]

Roster

[edit]
2023–24 Southern Utah Thunderbirds women's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Year Previous school Hometown
G 1 Alexa Lord 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) GS Richfield High School Richfield, Utah
C 3 Megan Smith 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) GS Utah Valley Castle Dale, Utah
G 4 Aishah Anis 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) Jr Launceston Church Grammar School Launceston, Tasmania
G 5 Charli Kay 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Fr Marist Regional College Smithton, Tasmania
G 10 Maria Garcia 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) Fr FC Barcelona Bàsquet Barcelona, Spain
C 13 Ashley Banks 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) So Boise High School Boise, Idaho
G 22 Daylani Ballena 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) Sr Kentridge High School Kent, Washington
G 23 Shiho Isono 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) Jr Western Nebraska Fukuoka, Japan
F 24 Jaeden Brown 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Jr Utah Valley Draper, Utah
G 30 Alexandra Eldredge 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Fr Worcester Academy McLean, Virginia
G 34 Samantha Johnston 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Sr Cedar High School Cedar City, Utah
F 44 Ava Uhrich 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Fr Pinewood School Burlingame, California
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • (W) Walk-on

Roster
Last update: June 4, 2024

Schedule and results

[edit]
Date
time, TV 		Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state
Regular season
November 8, 2023*
6:30 pm, ESPN+ 		Eastern Washington L 77–86  0–1
 America First Event Center (740)
Cedar City, UT
November 10, 2023*
6:30 pm, ESPN+ 		Western Kentucky
WAC/C-USA Challenge 		L 62–76  0–2
 America First Event Center (653)
Cedar City, UT
November 15, 2023*
6:30 pm, ESPN+ 		Alaska W 72–58  1–2
 America First Event Center (303)
Cedar City, UT
November 19, 2023*
3:00 pm, ESPN+ 		at UC Santa Barbara L 61–71  1–3
 The Thunderdome (381)
Santa Barbara, CA
November 28, 2023
6:30 pm, ESPN+ 		California Baptist L 66–79  1–4
(0–1) 		America First Event Center (445)
Cedar City, UT
December 2, 2023
2:00 pm, ESPN+ 		Seattle W 83–56  2–4
(1–1) 		America First Event Center (341)
Cedar City, UT
December 5, 2023*
5:30 pm, ESPN+ 		at Texas A&M–Commerce L 67–73  2–5
 University Field House (345)
Commerce, TX
December 7, 2023*
7:00 pm, MW Network 		at New Mexico W 58–40  3–5
 The Pit (4,526)
Albuquerque, NM
December 16, 2023*
5:00 pm, ESPN+ 		No. 11 Utah L 60–96  3–6
 America First Event Center (715)
Cedar City, UT
December 21, 2023*
2:00 pm, ESPN+ 		Northern Arizona L 70–81  3–7
 America First Event Center (452)
Cedar City, UT
December 30, 2023*
2:00 pm, ESPN+ 		at UTEP L 62–89  3–8
 Don Haskins Center (1,307)
El Paso, TX
January 4, 2024
6:00 pm, ESPN+ 		at Grand Canyon L 60–78  3–9
(1–2) 		Global Credit Union Arena (467)
Phoenix, AZ
January 6, 2024
5:00 pm, ESPN+ 		Utah Valley W 71–58  4–9
(2–2) 		America First Event Center (493)
Cedar City, UT
January 13, 2024
1:00 pm, ESPN+ 		at Stephen F. Austin L 53–68  4–10
(2–3) 		William R. Johnson Coliseum (1,116)
Nacogdoches, TX
January 18, 2024
7:00 pm, ESPN+ 		at Utah Tech L 71–78  4–11
(2–4) 		Burns Arena (940)
St. George, UT
January 20, 2024
2:00 pm, ESPN+ 		at California Baptist L 67–93  4–12
(2–5) 		Fowler Events Center (478)
Riverside, CA
January 25, 2024
6:30 pm, ESPN+ 		Tarleton State L 60–71  4–13
(2–6) 		America First Event Center (1,145)
Cedar City, UT
January 27, 2024
2:00 pm, ESPN+ 		Abilene Christian W 82–80  5–13
(3–6) 		America First Event Center (345)
Cedar City, UT
February 1, 2024
5:00 pm, ESPN+ 		at UT Arlington L 59–85  5–14
(3–7) 		College Park Center (1,290)
Arlington, TX
February 3, 2024
1:00 pm, ESPN+ 		at UT Rio Grande Valley W 68–65 OT 6–14
(4–7) 		UTRGV Fieldhouse (546)
Edinburg, TX
February 8, 2024
6:30 pm, ESPN+ 		Utah Tech L 77–87  6–15
(4–8) 		America First Event Center (765)
Cedar City, UT
February 10, 2024
2:00 pm, ESPN+ 		Grand Canyon L 61–77  6–16
(4–9) 		America First Event Center (354)
Cedar City, UT
February 15, 2024
7:00 pm, ESPN+ 		at Seattle L 71–75  6–17
(4–10) 		Redhawk Center (294)
Seattle, WA
February 17, 2024
2:00 pm, ESPN+ 		at Utah Valley W 67–66 2OT 7–17
(5–10) 		UCCU Center (689)
Orem, UT
February 21, 2024
6:30 pm, ESPN+ 		UT Arlington L 70–78  7–18
(5–11) 		America First Event Center (417)
Cedar City, UT
February 29, 2024
5:00 pm, ESPN+ 		at Abilene Christian L 42–75  7–19
(5–12) 		Moody Coliseum (1,023)
Abilene, TX
March 2, 2024
1:00 pm, ESPN+ 		at Tarleton State L 63–69  7–20
(5–13) 		Wisdom Gym (1,111)
Stephenville, TX
March 7, 2024
6:30 pm, ESPN+ 		Stephen F. Austin L 74–81  7–21
(5–14) 		America First Event Center (480)
Cedar City, UT
March 9, 2024
2:00 pm, ESPN+ 		UT Rio Grande Valley W 65–52  8–21
(6–14) 		America First Event Center (485)
Cedar City, UT
WAC tournament
March 13, 2024
1:00 pm, ESPN+ 		(8) vs. (5) UT Arlington
First round 		L 53–67  8–22
 Orleans Arena (–)
Paradise, NV
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in Mountain.

Sources:[7][8]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "2022-23 Women's Basketball Standings". Western Athletic Conference. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
  2. ^ "1-handed 3-pointer at buzzer lifts SUU women to WAC tourney win over New Mexico State". St. George News. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
  3. ^ "Southern Utah knocks out GCU". Grand Canyon University Athletics. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
  4. ^ "Southern Utah Women Win First NCAA Tournament Berth". KSL Sports. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
  5. ^ "2023 Division I Women's Basketball Official Bracket". NCAA.com. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
  6. ^ "Notre Dame women beat Southern Utah 82-56 in March Madness". AP News. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
  7. ^ "2023-24 Women's Basketball Schedule". Southern Utah University Athletics. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
  8. ^ "Southern Utah Thunderbirds 2023-24 Regular Season NCAAW Schedule". ESPN. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
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