2022–23 Southern Utah Thunderbirds women's basketball team

2022–23 Southern Utah Thunderbirds women's basketball
2022–23 Southern Utah Thunderbirds women's basketball
WAC regular-season and tournament champions
NCAA tournament, first round
Conference	Western Athletic Conference
Record	23–10 (16–2 WAC)
Head coach	Tracy Sanders (5th season);
Associate head coach	Katie Gruys
Assistant coaches	Jay Johnson; Hailey Mandelko;
Home arena	America First Events Center

2022–23 WAC women's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Southern Utah†	16	–	2	.889	23	–	10	.697
Stephen F. Austin	15	–	3	.833	26	–	6	.813
California Baptist	13	–	5	.722	22	–	13	.629
Grand Canyon	12	–	6	.667	21	–	10	.677
Utah Tech*	10	–	8	.556	19	–	12	.613
New Mexico State	10	–	8	.556	18	–	17	.514
Abilene Christian	9	–	9	.500	15	–	15	.500
UT Arlington	8	–	10	.444	14	–	17	.452
Sam Houston	8	–	10	.444	13	–	17	.433
UT Rio Grande Valley	6	–	12	.333	12	–	18	.400
Seattle	5	–	13	.278	6	–	24	.200
Utah Valley	3	–	15	.167	6	–	24	.200
Tarleton*	2	–	16	.111	8	–	21	.276

† 2023 WAC tournament winner * Ineligible for the 2023 NCAA tournament due to transition from Division II As of March 18, 2023

The 2022–23 Southern Utah Thunderbirds women's basketball team represented Southern Utah University during the 2022–23 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Thunderbirds were led by fifth-year head coach Tracy Sanders and played their home games at America First Events Center in Cedar City, Utah. They were members of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).

The Thunderbirds finished the 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 themselves to their first NCAA tournament appearance in program history.^[4] They received the #14 seed in the Greenville 1 Region,^[5] where they fell to #3 region seed Notre Dame in the first round.^[6]

Roster

2022–23 Southern Utah Thunderbirds women's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	0	Kinlee Sorensen	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	Jr	Emery High School USU Eastern	Orangeville, UT
G	1	Alexa Lord	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	Sr	Richfield High School	Richfield, UT
G	2	Tomekia Whitman	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	Sr	Central Valley Idaho State	Spokane, WA
C	3	Megan Jensen	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	Sr	Emery High School Utah Valley	Castle Dale, UT
G	4	Aishah Anis	5 ft 7 in (1.7 m)	So	Launceston Church	Launceston, Australia
G	10	Emmy Clarke	5 ft 7 in (1.7 m)	Fr	Lake Ginninderra	Canberra, Australia
C	13	Ashley Banks	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	Fr	Boise High School	Boise, ID
C	15	Lizzy Williamson	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	RS Jr	Westminster School Utah State	Adelaide, Australia
G	22	Daylani Ballena	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	Jr	Kentridge High School	Kent, WA
G	23	Lexi Jensen	5 ft 7 in (1.7 m)	Fr	Herriman High School	Riverton, UT
G	32	Cherita Daugherty	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	GS	Prairie High School Lower Columbia College	Vancouver, WA
G	34	Samantha Johnson	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	Jr	Cedar High School	Cedar City, UT
F	43	Bryar Tronnier	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	Sr	Centennial High School Chandler-Gilbert Community College	Las Vegas, NV

Head coach

Tracy Sanders (Saint Mary's)

Assistant coach(es)

Hailey Mandelko (Southern Utah)
Jay Johnson (Saint Mary's)
Morgan Bailey (BYU)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster
Last update: July 17, 2024

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-conference regular season
November 7, 2022* 6:30 p.m., ESPN+		New Mexico	W 76–68	1–0	America First Event Center (571) Cedar City, UT
November 9, 2022* 6:30 p.m., ESPN+		Benedictine University (Mesa)	W 102–60	2–0	America First Event Center (428) Cedar City, UT
November 12, 2022* 5:00 p.m.		at Gonzaga	L 38–91	2–1	McCarthey Athletic Center (4,946) Spokane, WA
November 14, 2022* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Eastern Washington	L 60–62	2–2	Reese Court (557) Cheney, WA
November 21, 2022* 7:00 p.m.		at No. 18 Oregon	L 54–66	2–3	Matthew Knight Arena (6,128) Eugene, OR
November 26, 2022* 12:00 p.m., ESPN+		UC Santa Barbara	L 96–102 ^3OT	2–4	America First Event Center (295) Cedar City, UT
December 1, 2022* 12:00 p.m., ESPN+		Texas A&M–Commerce	W 71–56	3–4	America First Event Center (977) Cedar City, UT
December 3, 2022* 2:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Northern Arizona	L 65–76	3–5	Rolle Activity Center (183) Flagstaff, AZ
December 7, 2022* 6:00 p.m.		at Colorado	L 48–78	3–6	CU Events Center (573) Boulder, CO
December 17, 2022* 6:30 p.m., ESPN+		La Sierra	W 77–44	4–6	America First Event Center (241) Cedar City, UT
December 22, 2022* 5:00 p.m., P12N		at No. 12 Utah	L 56–90	4–7	Huntsman Center (2,109) Salt Lake City, UT
WAC regular season
December 29, 2022 6:30 p.m., ESPN+		Utah Tech	W 76–61	5–7 (1–0)	America First Event Center (656) Cedar City, UT
December 31, 2022 1:00 p.m., ESPN+		at New Mexico State	W 61–58	6–7 (2–0)	Pan American Center (607) Las Cruces, NM
January 7, 2023 3:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Seattle	W 75–62	7–7 (3–0)	Redhawk Center (526) Seattle, WA
January 11, 2023 6:30 p.m., ESPN+		Utah Valley	W 70–66	8–7 (4–0)	America First Event Center (811) Cedar City, UT
January 14, 2023 4:30 p.m., ESPN+		Sam Houston	W 60–55	9–7 (5–0)	America First Event Center (531) Cedar City, UT
January 19, 2023 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Utah Tech	W 62–51	10–7 (6–0)	Burns Arena (1,171) St. George, UT
January 25, 2023 6:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Grand Canyon	W 63–60	11–7 (7–0)	GCU Arena (508) Phoenix, AZ
January 28, 2023 2:00 p.m., ESPN+		Tarleton	W 55–48	12–7 (8–0)	America First Event Center (556) Cedar City, UT
February 4, 2023 1:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Texas–Rio Grande Valley	W 84–55	13–7 (9–0)	UTRGV Fieldhouse (811) Edinburg, TX
February 6, 2023 12:00 p.m., ESPN+		at UT Arlington	L 58–60	13–8 (9–1)	College Park Center (251) Arlington, TX
February 9, 2023 3:00 p.m., ESPN+		New Mexico State	W 63–56	14–8 (10–1)	America First Event Center (346) Cedar City, UT
February 11, 2023 2:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Utah Valley	W 75–70	15–8 (11–1)	UCCU Center (481) Orem, UT
February 16, 2023 6:30 p.m., ESPN+		Texas–Rio Grande Valley	W 73–66	16–8 (12–1)	America First Event Center (643) Cedar City, UT
February 18, 2023 2:00 p.m., ESPN+		Stephen F. Austin	W 67–59	17–8 (13–1)	America First Event Center (584) Cedar City, UT
February 23, 2023 5:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Abilene Christian	L 83–89	17–9 (13–2)	Moody Coliseum (895) Abilene, TX
February 25, 2023 1:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Tarleton State	W 80–78	18–9 (14–2)	Wisdom Gym (1,322) Stephenville, TX
February 28, 2023 6:30 p.m., ESPN+		California Baptist	W 83–75	19–9 (15–2)	America First Event Center (611) Cedar City, UT
March 2, 2023 6:30 p.m., ESPN+		Grand Canyon	W 71–63	20–9 (16–2)	America First Event Center (680) Cedar City, UT
WAC women's tournament
March 8, 2023 7:00 p.m., ESPN+	(1)	vs. (7) New Mexico State Quarterfinals	W 62–61	21–9	Orleans Arena Paradise, NV
March 10, 2023 3:30 p.m., ESPN+	(1)	vs. (3) Grand Canyon Semifinals	W 64–51	22–9	Orleans Arena (1,019) Paradise, NV
March 11, 2023 4:30 p.m., ESPN2	(1)	at (4) California Baptist Championship game	W 82–73	23–9	Orleans Arena (946) Paradise, NV
NCAA women's tournament
March 17, 2023* 1:30 p.m., ESPN2	(14 G1)	at (10) No. 3 G1 Notre Dame First round	L 56–82	23–10	Purcell Pavilion (3,950) Notre Dame, IN
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. G1=Greenville 1. All times are in Mountain.

Source:^[7]

References

^ "2022-23 Women's Basketball Standings". Western Athletic Conference. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
^ "1-handed 3-pointer at buzzer lifts SUU women to WAC tourney win over New Mexico State". St. George News. March 9, 2023. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
^ Coro, Paul (March 10, 2023). "Southern Utah knocks out GCU". Grand Canyon University Athletics. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
^ "Southern Utah Women Win First NCAA Tournament Berth". KSL Sports. The Associated Press. March 12, 2023. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
^ "2023 Division I Women's Basketball Official Bracket". NCAA.com. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
^ "Notre Dame women beat Southern Utah 82-56 in March Madness". AP News. March 18, 2023. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
^ "2022-23 Women's Basketball Schedule". Suutbirds.com. Retrieved July 17, 2024.

[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. March 9, 2023. Retrieved June 4, 2024.

[3] Coro, Paul (March 10, 2023). "Southern Utah knocks out GCU". Grand Canyon University Athletics. Retrieved June 4, 2024.

[4] "Southern Utah Women Win First NCAA Tournament Berth". KSL Sports. The Associated Press. March 12, 2023. 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. March 18, 2023. Retrieved June 4, 2024.

[7] "2022-23 Women's Basketball Schedule". Suutbirds.com. Retrieved July 17, 2024.

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[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

Southern Utah Thunderbirds women's basketball
Venues	America First Event Center (1985–present)
Rivalries	In-state Utah schools
People	Head coaches
Seasons	1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25

Roster

Schedule and results

See also

References