Women's Basketball | 2/27/2023 7:58:00 PM

TIP OFF: Utah Tech (17-10/9-7 WAC) will close out the 2022-23 regular season with a pair of midweek games this week. The Trailblazers will wrap up their home slate on Tuesday night vs. Grand Canyon (19-8/11-5 WAC) inside the Burns Arena beginning at 7 p.m.
            UT will then head north up Interstate 15 for a Thursday "Old Hammer Rivalry" showdown at Utah Valley (6-21/3-13 WAC). Tip-off inside the UCCU Center in Orem is set for 6 p.m. 
            Both games will be streamed live on ESPN+.
 
UTAH TECH VS. GCU/UVU: Utah Tech trails 13-5 all-time in its series with GCU, with all five wins coming at home in the Burns Arena. That said, the Trailblazers last win vs. Lopes came during the 2010-11 season when both programs were competing at the NCAA Division II level as members of the Pacific West Conference. 
            That season the two teams split their regular season series, with UT claiming an 85-72 home win (1/8/2011), while GCU used a 79-71 home result (2/5/2011) to even the season series before the Lopes began their own Division I transition. 
            The two sides have met only twice as WAC foes, with both games coming last season and resulting in GCU wins (66-50 in Phoenix; 2/12/22, 65-59 in St. George; 3/5/22).
            The Trailblazers head into Thursday's game at UVU looking to sweep the season series, this after Utah Tech snapped a three-game losing streak to the Wolverines on the strength of a 68-58 home win on New Year's Eve. 
            Utah Valley had won the previous two WAC meetings last year (68-65 in St. George; 1/17/22, 99-59 in Orem; 2/19/22), as well as a 72-63 home victory in the first-ever NCAA meeting between the in-state rivals during Utah Tech's D-II era in the 2017-18 season (72-63; 11/28/17). 
 
FAST BREAK: The Trailblazers have won four of their last six games, which includes a road split last weekend on the West Coast. Utah Tech avenged an earlier season loss to Seattle U with a hard-fought 79-73 overtime victory over the Redhawks last Thursday night in Seattle. 
            UT then headed down to Riverside for a Saturday matinee at California Baptist in a game that the Blazers led by 10 at 62-52 with 6:48 to go in the fourth quarter. However CBU would score nine-straight points and ultimately wrestled the lead away with less than two minutes left. UT tied the game at 71 all with 49 second on the clock, but would not score again as CBU handed the Trailblazers a 75-71 road loss. 
 
HOME SWEET HOME: Since joining the NCAA ranks in 2006-07, Utah Tech has played to a 130-69 (.653) overall record in the Burns Arena, including a 9-3 mark this season, and is scheduled to play in its 200th game as a four-year school in the 2022-23 home finale vs. Grand Canyon on Tuesday night. Under Head Coach JD Gustin, the Trailblazers are 51-36 (.586) on their home floor and have won eight or more home games in five of their last six seasons overall. 
 
AWAY FROM THE BURNS: Utah Tech owns an 81-119 (.405) record in an even 200 road games joining the NCAA ranks in the 2006-07 season. Under Coach Gustin, the Blazers are 24-51 (.320) away from home, including a 7-6 road mark this year. 
            In addition, UT is 21-17 (.552) on neutral courts, 3-3 under Coach Gustin.
 
AND DOWN THE STRETCH WE COME: Utah Tech enters the final week of the regular season tied for fifth in the WAC standings with New Mexico State at 9-7, however the Trailblazers own the tiebreak after having already swept the Aggies during conference play. UT also has an outside shot of tying GCU for third if the Blazers win out and the Lopes, who play at WAC leader Southern Utah on Thursday, lose both road games.
            The Trailblazers also have a lock on at least the fifth-seed in next week's WAC Tournament with a 0.68 rating in the conference's tournament resumé seeding system. UT still has a chance to move up into the top-four and earn a bye into the quarterfinal round, but will need a lot of help to get there. 
 
KARTCHNER SHOOTS HER WAY TO WAC POW HONORS: Redshirt freshman guard Amber Kartchner was named WAC Player of the Week back on Feb. 14, for her performance in UT's 90-57 home victory over New Mexico State (2/11). 
            Kartchner led four Trailblazers in double figures with a career-high 26 points on 9-of-10 shooting with three 3-pointers. The freshman also went 5-of-6 at the foul line, and finished with four rebounds, four assists and one steal in 30 minutes of game action.
 
MAKE IT FOUR WAC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: With the addition of Kartchner, Utah Tech has had three different players earn WAC Player of the Week honors this season.
            Senior guard Breaunna Gillen, who is the WAC's top scorer at 18.9 ppg, leads the way with two weekly awards, both of which came in the opening two weeks of the campaign. The senior earned her first honor when she recorded consecutive double-doubles, starting in the season opener at Washington (11/7) with 21 points and 11 assists
            Gillen did it again three days later in the home opener vs. Benedictine Mesa (11/10) with 17 points and 10 assists. Her second award came after she poured in a career high 26 points vs. Utah State (11/15), which was followed by a 23-point effort later that week at Kansas State (11/20). 
            Meanwhile, sophomore guard Macie Warren collected Player of the Week honors after she tallied a career-high 29 points at Air Force (12/16) on 12-of-16 shooting with three 3-pointers. Warren also grabbed eight rebounds to go with two assists and two steals in the road win over the Falcons.
 
DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE: Gillen continued her push for possible WAC Player of the Year honors as she recorded her team-leading sixth double-double of the year last Saturday at CBU.
            The senior guard just missed her second career triple-double by just three assists as she finished with game-high 24 points along with 10 rebounds and seven dimes.
            In fact, it was Gillen's second road double-double as she opened her senior campaign at Washington (11/7). 
            All four of her other double-doubles have come in home wins, including vs. Benedictine Mesa, vs. La Verne (16p/13a; 11/26), vs. Lindenwood (15p/13a; 12/21), and vs. Abilene Christian (21p/11a; 1/11).
            Senior Maggie McCord is second on the team with four double-doubles, with the last coming at Seattle U this past Thursday night when she went for 16 points and 10 caroms. Her other three have also come in home wins vs. La Verne (16 pts/15 rbs; 11/26), Texas A&M Commerce (17 pts/13 rbs; 12/3) and vs. UVU (10 pts/10 rbs; 12/31). 
            Three more Trailblazers have turned in double-doubles this year, including junior Emily Isaacson (12p/12r) vs. Benedictine Mesa, junior Brooke Vance(14p/11r) vs. Tarleton State (1/26), while sophomore Averi Papa (14p/13r) added her name to the list at CBU last Saturday.
 
GILLEN REACHES 1K PLATEAU: With her team-high 24 points in the UTRGV win this past Feb. 18, Gillen (1,051 pts) became the fifth member of Utah Tech's 1,000-point club.
            The senior flirted with a possible triple-double as she also led the Blazers with seven rebounds and six assists in the Senior Day victory.
            Gillen, who is already the program's all-time leader in assists with 364, and counting, also became just the third player in program history with 1,000 points and at least 200 assists (Johnna Brown - 1,212 pts/232 asts; Kaylah Miller - 1,055 pts/200 asts). 
            Gillen, who has scored at least 10 points in all 27 games this season and in 39-straight games dating back to last season, needs 12 more points to vault past former UT great Taylor Mann (1,062 pts; 2013-16) into third place on UT's career scoring list. 
            In addition, Gillen (491 pts) needs 32 points to pass Mann (522 pts; 2015-16) for second place on UT's single season scoring list. The senior (171 asts) has already broken her own single season assists record she set last year, doing so on senior day vs. UTRGV.
 
RECORD BREAKING WIN: Utah Tech set a new standard for greatness against La Verne on Nov. 26 with a school record 112 points in the 112-61 win (11/27).
            The 112 points broke the previous record of 107 which was set twice, the first instance came during the 2018-19 season in a triple-OT win over Saint Martin's (107-103; 11/17/18). UT then waited nearly four years before doing it again in a home win vs. Life Pacific (107-57; 11/9/22). 
            In all, the Trailblazers have scored 100 or more points eight times during their NCAA era, including twice this season. 
 
IN THE RECORD BOOKS: Several Trailblazers have made their way into the career record books with their performances to this point of the season.
            In addition to her points and dimes, Gillen stands third all-time in FG made (400), fifth in FT made (203), sixth in starts (66) and games played (88), t-eighth in steals (91), ninth in FG percentage (.441), and moved into 10th place in rebounding (371) at CBU last Saturday.
            Meanwhile, Isaacson is second in program history in career 3-pointers (162), fifth in blocks (51), seventh in points (729), and eighth in FGM (250). The senior (403) also became the eighth player in program history to record 400 career rebounds at CBU.
            In addition, McCord stands sixth all-time in 3FGM (120) made and needs two more treys to vault into the top-five. 
            As a team, Utah Tech enters its final two regular season games needing just 121 more points to break the program's single season points record (2,169; 2010-11). The Blazers also need 36 more made field goals (780; 2010-11) and 15 more 3-pointers (280; 2021-22) to break those two school season marks.
            In addition, if the season were to end right now, the 2022-23 Trailblazers would have already set new school records for FG% (.458), 3FG% (.344) and FT% (.733). 
 
NEXT UP FOR THE TRAILBLAZERS: Utah Tech will make its "WAC Vegas" debut at the 2023 Western Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament, which will be held March 6-11 in Las Vegas. 
            The opening round games will be played on Monday, March 6, at the Michelob ULTRA Arena at the Mandalay Bay Resort. Meanwhile, the quarterfinals (March 8), semifinals (March 10), and conference championship game (March 11) will be played at the Orleans Arena.