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TRAILBLAZERS AT A GLANCE
Utah Tech hits the road for the first time this season on Tuesday night with a short trip down I-15 to Las Vegas to play at two-time defending Mountain West Conference champion UNLV.
Tuesday's game will also serve as the start to a five-game road swing that will see the Trailblazers play in five different states, and in all four time zones over the next three weeks. 
Utah Tech is off to its first 2-0 start in the program's current NCAA Division I transition after posting a convincing 73-58 home win over Jacksonville State last Thursday night inside the Burns Arena.
That Blazer victory came on the heels of the team scoring a school record 116 points in its season opener vs. La Verne back this past Nov. 6. 
The 116 points scored the win broke the program's previous single-game points record of 112, which coincidentally was set last season in a home win vs. La Verne (Utah Tech 112, LVU 61; 11/26/22).  
Utah Tech improved to 32-33 during its four-year D-I transition period, which is slated to end at the close of the 2023-24 academic year. 
Coach Gustin coached in his 400th-career game in Utah Tech's season opener back on Nov. 6, and after the win he now owns a 227-174 record in 14-plus seasons as a head coach.

OPENING TIP: Utah Tech (2-0/0-0 WAC) begins the road portion of its 2023-24 schedule at UNLV (2-0) this Tuesday night in Las Vegas. Tip-off inside the Cox Pavilion on the UNLV campus is set for 6:30 p.m. (PST).
 
UTAH TECH VS. UNLV: Tuesday night's game at UNLV will be the first-ever meeting between the Trailblazers and Lady Rebels on the basketball court.
 
LAST TIME OUT: Utah Tech completed a sweep of its brief two-game, season-opening homestand thanks to a 73-58 victory over Jacksonville State last Thursday night inside the Burns Arena. 
            Trailing 20-10 late in the first quarter, the Blazers rattled off nine-straight points as part of a decisive 34-10 run en route to a 44-30 halftime lead.
            Utah Tech outscored Jax State 25-5 over the final 7:30 of the second quarter, including scoring 18 of the final 19 points of the half. 
            Jax State managed to pare the Trailblazer lead down to 50-43 with three-plus minutes to go in the third. However Utah Tech would put the game away with a 12-1 spurt and would not see its lead dip below double digits the rest of the way. 
 
HEAD COACH JD GUSTIN: JD Gustin is in his eighth season at the helm of the Utah Tech Women's Basketball program.
            Gustin has seen marked improvements in each season on the Trailblazer sideline, culminating with an 19-12 overall record last season, a nine-win turnaround from the previous season. The 2022-23 campaign also featured a 10-8 mark and a fifth-place finish in Western Athletic Conference play. In addition, the Trailblazers made their WAC Tournament debut in 2022-23, and advanced on to the quarterfinal round by defeating Utah Valley, 72-68, to win their first-ever NCAA Division-I era postseason victory. 
            Utah Tech's 19 wins last season were the most in the program's current NCAA Division-I transition, and is the highest win total during Coach Gustin's seven-year tenure on the Trailblazer bench. 
            In Utah Tech's final Division II season, the Trailblazers played to an 18-12 under Gustin. The team also capped that 2019-20 season by clinching a berth in the 2020 RMAC Tournament, marking the first time the Trailblazers have qualified for a conference tournament since the 2013-14 season. The Trailblazers entered the tournament as the No. 7 seed, and shocked second-seeded Western Colorado in Gunnison, Colorado, for a 65-60 win in the RMAC Quarterfinals.
 
THE REST OF THE STAFF: This past April, Gustin announced the promotion off all three members of his coaching staff.                       
            Gustin elevated two of his assistants, Matt Thune (second season at Utah Tech) and Nicole Yazzie (eighth season at Utah Tech), to associate head coach positions, while assistant coach Candace Thornton (second season at Utah Tech) will also serve as the program's recruiting coordinator. 
            
GILLEN THE ONE TO WATCH IN 2023-24: Coming off a banner senior season in 2022-23, fifth-year guard Breaunna Gillen enters her final collegiate campaign with a pair of well-deserved preseason honors to her credit. 
            In October, Gillen was voted as the WAC's Preseason Player of the Year, and was named to the 25-player preseason watch list for the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year, presented by Her Hoop Stats. 
            Gillen is the lone WAC representative on the Hammon watch list, which includes women's basketball student-athletes from 23 teams and 16 conferences overall. 
            Last season, Gillen was either at or near the top of the WAC scoring list throughout the entire 2022-23 campaign en route to first team all-WAC honors, wound up as the conference's second leading scorer at 17.8 points per game. 
            The fifth-year guard finished last season as the WAC's leader in assists at 6.45 apg, and finished in the top-10 overall in assist/turnover ratio (2nd; 1.77), field goal percentage (5th; .438), and free throw percentage (10th; .744).
 
TRAILBLAZERS PICKED FOURTH THE WAC: Utah Tech was picked to finish fourth in the 2023-24 WAC women's basketball preseason coaches poll, which was released on Oct. 15. 
            Grand Canyon received six of a possible 11 first place votes and 93 total points to be tabbed as the WAC preseason favorite, while defending regular season and tournament champion Southern Utah collected the other five first place nods to finish second in the poll with 87 points.
            California Baptist (83 pts) was picked to finish third, followed by Utah Tech (71 pts) in fourth, Stephen F. Austin (61 pts) in fifth, Abilene Christian (54 pts) in sixth, UT Arlington (53 pts) in seventh, UTRGV (42 pts) in eighth, Tarleton (22 pts) and Utah Valley (22 pts) tied for ninth, and Seattle U (17 pts) was picked to finish 11th. 
 
FROM WAY DOWNTOWN....BANG: Utah Tech has hit at least one 3-pointer in 232-straight games, which included 17 made threes in the season opener vs. La Verne (11/6), followed by 10 more trifectas vs. Jax State last Thursday. 
            The 17 made treys (17-of-38; .447) vs. La Verne tied for the third-highest single game total in program history, which, coincidentally, was the same number of perimeter jumpers the Blazers hit in last season's win over La Verne (11/26/22).
            In the 2021-22 season, the Trailblazers nailed a school-record 22 3-pointers in its 107-57 blowout win over Life Pacific (11/9/21).
            That record was one of two 3FG school records to fall that night as the Blazers also broke a team record for 3FG attempted (51). 
            Utah Tech has reached double figures in made 3-pointers 85 times during the program's NCAA era, including a school-record 19 times last season. In fact, the Trailblazers broke single season school records for 3FGM (310), 3FGA (898), and 3FG% (.345) last season.
            In all, Utah Tech has hit at least one three pointer in 440 of its 443 NCAA-era games, which began in the 2006-07 season.
            Two of the three instances when the Blazers did not hit a three came during the 2013-14 season (vs. Hawai'i-Hilo, 2/13/14; at California Baptist, 1/18/14), and the other came in the program's first NCAA season in 2006-27 (vs. UHH, 1/7/07). 
            Meanwhile, Utah Tech has surrendered a made opponent 3-pointer in all 443 games during its NCAA era. 
 
TRAILBLAZERS NOTES
* - Gillen continued her torrid start to her final collegiate season as she poured in a game-high 24 points in the Jax State win ... her 24 points were two off of her career high of 26 set nearly one year ago to the day in a home win vs. Utah State (11/15/22).
* - Gillen went 11-of-20 from the floor and finished with team highs of eight rebounds and four assists. 
* - Gillen's (443) second basket of the night, a leaner in the lane at the 6:56 mark of the first quarter, moved her past former Blazer Johnna Brown (433; 2009-11, 12-13) to become the program's all-time leader in FGM. 
* - Gillen just missed notching her second career triple-double in the season opener vs. La Verne (11/6), against which she tallied a game-high 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting, to go with a career-high 11 rebounds and eight assists.
* - Gillen has now scored 10 or more points in 45-straight games dating back to the 2021-22 season. 
* - Gillen has scored in double figures in 61 career games with 20 20-plus point outings.
* - Gillen also became the ninth player to surpass 400 career rebounds in the La Verne win (11/6) and now has eight career double-doubles to her credit. 
* - Gillen (1,157 pts) enters Tuesday's game at UNLV needing only five points to vault past Ali Franks (1,161; 2016-20) for second place on UT's scoring list, and she is 56 points away from passing Brown (1,212) to become the program's all-time leading scorer. 
* - Gillen (405), who is already the program's single season (200; 2022-23) and career assist leader, collected her 400th career dime on a Maddie Warren 3-pointer in the third quarter vs. La Verne (11/6).
* - Gillen is also the third player in program history with 1,000 points and at least 200 assists (Brown - 1,212 pts/232 assts; Kaylah Miller - 1,055 pts/200 assts). 
* - Not to be outdone, RS-sophomore guard Macie Warren scored 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting with four 3-pointers (4-of-5 3FG), seven boards and two assists in the Jax State win. 
* - That effort came three days after she narrowly missed her first collegiate triple double in the La Verne win (11/6), though she did notch her first career double-double with 19 points, a career-high 10 assists and seven rebounds. 
* - Macie Warren also knocked 7-of-10 from the floor with three 3-pointers in that win. 
* - Meanwhile her twin sister Maddie Warren knocked down four 3-pointers (4-of-8 3FG) en route to a 20-point night vs. Jax State ... the redshirt sophomore guard also grabbed three rebounds and picked off two steals. 
* - Maddie Warren's 20 points were also just two points shy of her career high of 22, which she set exactly two years earlier in a home win over Life Pacific (11/9/21).
* - Maddie Warren, who returned to the starting lineup after missing the final 18 games of the 2021-22 season and all of the 2022-23 campaign due to injury, showed no rust in her game as she tallied 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting in the opener vs. La Verne (11/6). 
* - Maddie Warren nailed a pair of 3-pointers and pulled down a career-best eight rebounds in a team-high 30 minutes on the court.
* - Fifth-year guard Maggie McCord was solid in her first start of the year vs. La Verne (11/6), going for 13 points on 5-of-11 from the floor with three treys along with six boards.
* - McCord also filled the stat in the Jax State win with seven points, six rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block in 33 minutes. 
* - RS-Senior forward Emily Isaacson became the eighth player in program history to reach the 800-point plateau as she tallied nine points on 4-of-8 shooting with a trey vs. La Verne (11/6). 
* - Isaacson currently the program's all-time leader in 3FG% (.396, 178-of-450), while McCord follows closely in second place (.388; 132-of-340).
* - Freshman guard Calyn Dallas made the most of her Trailblazer debut as she poured in 15 points in 24 minutes off the bench in the La Verne win (11/6) on 5-for-5 shooting with three 3-pointers.
* - Catelyn Deaver enjoyed her best game as a Trailblazer in the La Verne win (11/6) with career highs of nine points, four rebounds and two blocks.
* - Twin sister Alyson Deaver also finished with five points and two rebounds vs. La Verne ... Deaver had arguably the highlight of the day when she blocked a perimeter jumper, grabbed the loose ball and drove the length of the court to lay in Utah Tech's record-breaking bucket. 
* - Caitlynn Jordan got her collegiate career off to a good start as she tallied four points, seven rebounds and one assist in nearly 10 reserve minutes vs. La Verne (11/6).
* - Utah Tech shot 58.4 percent from the floor (45-of-77) vs. La Verne, which was the fifth-highest single game field goal percentage in program history.
* - Utah Tech's 45 made field goals tied a program single game record that was set all the way back in the 2015-16 season in a home win vs. Chaminade (1/5/16). 
* - Utah Tech outrebounded the Panthers 57-32, and finished with 27 assists on its 45 made field goals ... the 27 dimes are the sixth-most in a single game in program history.
* - Utah Tech held Jax State to just 27.8 percent shooting (20-of-72), which included an 11-of-40 clip (.275) from the perimeter.
* - The Blazers were just as stingy vs. La Verne, limiting the Panthers to 25.0 percent (19-of-76) from the floor in that game. 
* - For context, Utah Tech held only two opponents to under 30 percent shooting for last season. 
 
BLAZING A TRAIL TO GREECE: In preparation for the 2023-24 season, Utah Tech embarked on its first-ever foreign trip this past August when the Trailblazers traveled to Greece. 
            The trip included tours of the Kallimarmaro Olympic Stadium, which was the site of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, the Acropolis of Athens and its museum, and a boat excursion to the Greek islands of Hydra, Poros and Aegina. 
            The Trailblazers won a pair of exhibition games while on the trip, the first came against the Amilia Peristeriou Basketball Club in a 119-45 on August 12, followed by an 88-68 victory over the Athens All-Stars on August 14. 
            Per NCAA rules, college teams are allowed to make an international trip once every four years. Additionally, the team is allotted an extra 10 practices in preparation for the trip.
 
ABOUT THE UNLV "LADY REBELS": UNLV is also off to a 2-0 start this season after posting a 72-62 road win at Loyola Marymount (11/6), and a decisive 85-60 home romp of College of Charleston last Friday night. 
            The Lady Rebels, who are the overwhelming choice to three-peat as Mountain West champs this season, return three starters and nine of 12 letter winners from their 31-3 squad last season. 
            Senior center Desi-Rae Young (6-1), who averaged a double-double last season at 17.9 points and 10.1 rebounds a game, has picked up right where she left off a season ago. Young opened the year with 22 points and 16 rebounds in the LMU road win, and followed that up going for 18 and 10 vs. COC last Friday night. 
 
NEXT UP FOR THE TRAILBLAZERS: Utah Tech will play three road matinees over a six-day stretch during the Thanksgiving Holiday week, starting with a date at Texas A&M-Commerce on Monday, Nov. 20, at 1 p.m. (CST).