Women's Basketball 1/25/2023 4:53:00 PM

Tarleton turns attention to Utah for Thursday road matchup against Trailblazers

The Teams: Tarleton Texans (7-11, 1-6 WAC) at Utah Tech Trailblazers (12-6, 4-3 WAC)
Where: St. George, Utah
Arena: Burns Arena
Day and Time: Thursday at 8 p.m. CT
Streaming Platform: ESPN+
Radio: Tarleton Sports Network (Jimmy Christopher)

ABOUT THE MATCHUP

This is the second all-time meeting, the first occurring last year. Utah Tech won at Tarleton 57-49.
Utah Tech just dropped their first home game of the year, vs. Southern Utah. The loss snapped a three-game winning streak. At 6-1, they're one of four WAC teams with just one home loss.
The Trailblazers own one of the top offenses in the WAC; second in scoring (76.4 PPG), second in shooting (.451), third in three-point shooting (.322) and fourth in free throw shooting (.725).
UT has the WAC's top two scorers; Macie Warren (18.9 PPG) and Breaunna Gillen (18.7 PPG).

QUICK HITS

Thursday will mark Misty Wilson's 250th career game as the head coach at Tarleton. She owns a .582 winning percentage (145-104) as the HC. Thursday will be her 698th game at Tarleton altogether (103 as a player, 345 as an assistant, 250 as the head coach). She has been involved in 87 percent of Tarleton's games since the school became an NCAA institution in 1994.
Tarleton is coming off of its best shooting performance in two months, making 22-of-46 (.478) from the field, including 5-of-12 (.417) from distance. A season-high 30 turnovers crippled the Texans, however, that resulted in 31 points for the Bearkats.
Tarleton has lost four straight road games, its longest road losing skid since opening its D1 era with six straight road losses in 2020-21. Tarleton has lost eight of its last nine overall.
Tarleton has had a different starting group in four straight games. The two constants are Teresa Da Silva (18 starts in her 18 games) and Mayra Caicedo (17 starts in her 17 games).
Three of Tarleton's next four opponents are Utah programs; UT, Southern Utah, Utah Valley.
Tarleton has limited opponents in three-point shooting all year, especially over the past four games. The Texans have given up just 12 three-point makes combined over the stretch, as teams have shot 25.0 percent. On the season, Tarleton is fourth in the WAC in opponent 3PT% at .283.
First halves have foreshadowed outcomes; Tarleton is 6-1 when leading at half, 1-10 when behind.

WHO'S HOT

Elise Turrubiates – Turrubiates is enjoying a career-long streak of scoring in double figures at three games, averaging 16.0 points on 17-of-31 (.548) shooting and 6.3 rebounds. In the last game, she earned her first start of the year. She scored a career-high 25 points vs. UTA on Jan. 14.
Mayra Caicedo – Caicedo is on a season-long double-digit scoring streak at four games, averaging 12.3 points, 4.3 assists and 2.3 steals. She needs one more point to reach 500 for her collegiate career and is 19 assists shy of a career 400.
Viktoria Ivanova – Ivanova has compiled two of her best rebounding games of the season over the past two games, averaging 8.0. She also scored 17 points combined over the past two contests after scoring 11 points over the previous six games. She played 27 minutes in the last game, her most since Dec. 6.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
6: Tarleton is allowing the sixth FEWEST POINTS PER GAME IN THE WAC at 66.6 PPG. Utah Tech is in the bottom tier, 10th at allowing 71.0 PPG. The Trailblazers play at a faster pace, however, and force the fourth fewest shooting percentage (.381) and the second lowest 3PT% (.269).

4: According to the WAC WBB RESUME SEEDING SYSTEM, Utah Tech is one of the tougher opponents Tarleton will face, ranked fourth before Wednesday's lone WAC game between SUU and GCU. Tarleton is 11th in the system ahead of Utah Valley and Seattle U.

40: The Texans lost for just the second time this year when SHOOTING 40+ PERCENT. Tarleton is now 7-2 this year when hitting 40+ percent from the field. Over the past two seasons, the Texans are 19-4 when hitting that mark.

10: Thursday's game will feature THREE OF THE TOP-10 SCORERS IN THE WAC, with Tarleton's Teresa Da Silva eighth at 14.6 points per game. Utah Tech's pair of Macie Warren and Breaunna Gillen lead at 18.9 PPG and 18.7 PPG, respectively.

UP NEXT FOR TARLETON
Tarleton will have another tough matchup in Utah, taking on the lone remaining WAC team, Southern Utah. The Thunderbirds are 6-0 in conference play, plus are 7-1 at home overall. The Texans will face them on Saturday in Cedar City at 3 p.m. CT.

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