Women's Basketball | 3/5/2023 10:19:00 PM

TIP OFF: Utah Tech (18-11/10-8 WAC) will make its "WAC Vegas" debut this Monday afternoon as the fifth-seed in the 2023 Hercules Tires Western Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament. 
            The Trailblazers will open tournament play with a familiar foe in No. 12 seed Utah Valley (6-23/3-15 WAC). Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m. (PT), inside the Michelob ULTRA Arena at the Mandalay Bay resort in Las Vegas.
 
ABOUT THE 2023 WAC TOURNAMENT: The first round of the 2023 Hercules Tires Western Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament, consisting of four games, will be played on Monday inside the Michelob ULTRA Arena at the Mandalay Bay Resort. 
            Meanwhile, Wednesday's (March 8) four quarterfinal round games (March 8), Friday's (March 10) two semifinal games, and Saturday's (March 11) WAC championship game will be played at the Orleans Arena. 
            All preliminary round games of the tournament will air live on ESPN+, with Saturday's championship game airing on tape delay on ESPNU at 6:30 p.m. (PT).
 
UTAH TECH VS. UTAH VALLEY: Utah Tech is 2-3 all-time in its "Old Hammer Rivalry" series with Utah Valley, with both victories coming this season, including a 71-59 road win in Orem in the 2022-23 regular season finale last Thursday night in Orem. 
            The Trailblazers broke through in the series and snapped a three-game losing streak to the Wolverines on New Year's Even on the strength of a 68-58 home win in the Burns Arena.
            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 two former junior college rivals during Utah Tech's Division II era in the 2017-18 season (72-63; 11/28/17). 
 
FAST BREAK: The Trailblazers come into the 2023 WAC Tournament having won five of their last nine games overall to finish the regular season with an 18-11 record,
            Utah Tech's 18 wins this season are the most during the program's current NCAA Division-I transition, and have matched the highest win total during Head Coach JD Gustin's tenure (18-12 in 2019-20) on the Trailblazer bench.
 
ALL-TIME IN CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS: Not only will Utah Tech be making its WAC tournament debut on Monday, it will be playing in its third different conference postseason tournament since becoming an NCAA program in the 2006-07 season.
            During their Division II era, the Trailblazers made two Pacific West Tournament appearances in back-to-back seasons in 2012-13 and 2013-14, advancing to the semifinals each time. Utah Tech also made it to the semifinal round of the 2019-20 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament in its final D-II season.
 
HOME SWEET HOME: Since joining the NCAA ranks in 2006-07, Utah Tech has played to a 130-70 (.650) overall record in 200 games inside the Burns Arena, which includes a 9-4 mark this season. Under Head Coach JD Gustin, the Trailblazers are 51-37 (.579) 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 82-119 (.408) record in 201 road games since in the 2006-07 season. Under Coach Gustin, the Blazers are 25-51 (.329) away from home, and with last Thursday's win at UVU, Utah Tech wrapped up its road slate with an 8-6 mark. This season marked just the fifth time in the program's four-year era that it finished with a winning road record, while the eight road win this year are the second-most in program history. 
            In the 2010-11 season, Utah Tech went 9-3 on the road and finished that year with a 24-4 record, which concluded with the program's first and only NCAA Tournament appearance.
            In addition, UT is 21-17 (.552) on neutral courts, 3-3 under Coach Gustin.
 
ISAACSON SHOOTS HER WAY TO WAC POW HONORS: Redshirt junior forward Emily Isaacson was named WAC Player of the Week on Saturday for her efforts in the Trailblazers' final two games of the regular season. 
            Isaacson averaged 23.0 pts on 57.1 percent shooting (16-of-28), which included an impressive 11-of-18 clip (.571) from 3-point country, along with 5.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.5 steals in her two starts. 
            The junior led all scorers with 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting with five 3-pointers, to go with six rebounds and two steals in last Tuesday's home loss to Grand Canyon.
            Isaacson followed that up with a career-high 26 points, with 23 of those points coming in the second half, to lead Utah Tech past UVU last Thursday night. She tied a career high with six 3-pointers (6-of-10 3FG) and knocked down a career best 10 field goals (10-16), and finished with five boards, four assists and one steal.
 
MAKE IT FIVE WAC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK AWARDS: With the addition of Isaacson, Utah Tech has had four different players earn the WAC's weekly honor, joining senior guard Breaunna Gillen (11/14 and 11/21), sophomore Macie Warren (12/12) and freshman guard Amber Kartchner (2/13).
 
GILLEN NAMED FIRST TEAM ALL-WAC: Gillen added more accolades to her already stellar UT career on Sunday night when she became the first Trailblazer to be named First Team All-WAC. 
            The senior, who was either at or near the top of the WAC scoring list throughout the entire season, wound up as the conference's second leading scorer at 18.0 points per game, and closed the regular season as the WAC's leader in assists at 6.34 apg. 
            In addition, Gillen finished in the top-10 overall in assist/turnover ratio (2nd; 1.72), field goal percentage (5th; .440), and free throw percentage (9th; .755).
            Gillen scored in double figures in all 29 games this season, with 12 starts of 20 points or more, including a career-high 26 points in a home win vs. Utah State (11/15). 
            Six of those 12 20-point outings came in WAC play, including a three-game stretch that saw her score WAC season highs of 24 points against both UTRGV (2/18) and California Baptist (2/25), which bracketed a 20-point night at Seattle U (2/23).
 
GILLEN REACHES 1K PLATEAU: With her team-high 24 points in the UTRGV win this past Feb. 18, Gillen (1,082 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 single season (184 this year) and all-time leader in assists with 377, and counting, also became 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 has scored in double figures in 41-straight games dating back to last season, and enters this week's WAC tournament needing only 18 more points to become just the third player in program history to score 1,100 career points. 
            In addition, Gillen (522 pts) moved into a tie  second place on UT's single season points list with former Blazer Taylor Mann (522 pts; 2015-16). 
            
DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE: Gillen recorded her team-leading seventh double-double of the year at CBU this past Feb. 25, and just missed No. 7 by one assist after she went for 12 points and nine helpers at UVU last Thursday. 
            At CBU, the senior guard narrowly missed out on her second career triple-double by just three assists as she finished with game-high 24 points along with 10 rebounds and seven dimes.
            Meanwhile, Gillen's double-double at UVU was her third double-double away from home this year as she opened her senior campaign at Washington (11/7) with 21 points and 11 assists. She also went for 15 and 13 vs. Lindenwood on a neutral court in Las Vegas (12/21).   
            All three of her other double-doubles have come in home wins, including vs. Benedictine Mesa, vs. La Verne (16p/13a; 11/26), 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 (2/24) 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) also added her name to the list at CBU (2/26).
 
RECORD BREAKING WIN: Utah Tech set a new standard for scoring 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 second all-time in FG made (412), fifth in FT made (208), sixth in starts (67) and games played (90), eighth in steals (92), and ninth in FG percentage (.440) and rebounding (383).
            Meanwhile, Isaacson is second in program history in career 3-pointers (173), fifth in blocks (51), seventh in points (775) and rebounding (414), and eighth in FGM (266). 
            In addition, McCord stands t-fifth all-time in 3-pointers made with 121.
            As a team, Utah Tech broke school season records in points (2,183), field goals made (792) and made 3-pointers (288) in its win at UVU last Thursday.
            In addition, if the season were to end right now, the 2022-23 Trailblazers would have already set new school records for FG% (.454), 3FG% (.354) and FT% (.732). 
 
NEXT UP FOR THE TRAILBLAZERS: The winner of Tuesday's Utah Tech/Utah Valley game will advance on the WAC Tournament quarterfinals to face No. 4 seed CBU on Wednesday afternoon at 2 p.m. (PT), at the Orleans Arena.