Women's Basketball | 3/7/2023 1:45:00 PM

TIP OFF: Utah Tech (19-11) continues its "WAC Vegas" debut run this Wednesday afternoon when No. 5-seeded Trailblazers face No. 4 seed California Baptist (17-12) in the quarterfinal round of the 2023 Hercules Tires Western Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament. 
            Utah Tech and CBU will play in the second quarterfinal game on Wednesday afternoon at 2 p.m. (PT), at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. 
            The game will be streamed live on ESPN+. For live streaming and live scoring information, visit UtahTechTrailblazers.com.
 
ABOUT THE 2023 WAC TOURNAMENT: The 2023 Hercules Tires Western Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament shifts over to the Orleans Arena for the duration of the event. 
            Four quarterfinal round games will be played on Wednesday, followed by the two semifinal games on Friday, and the WAC championship game on Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. (PT).  
            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. CBU: Utah Tech trails 15-4 all-time in its series with CBU, which includes a hard-fought 75-71 road loss to Lancers this past Feb. 25 in Riverside.
            The Trailblazers have lost 12 of their last 13 games overall against CBU, with the lone win in that stretch coming last season in Riverside (81-77 (2/24/22). That UT victory halted an 11-game losing streak vs. the Lancers, which dated back to when both programs were competing at the NCAA Division II level as members of the Pacific West Conference. 
 
SURVIVE AND ADVANCE: Utah Tech made the most of its WAC postseason debut, and made a little bit of history, on Monday afternoon as the Trailblazers defeated No. 12 seed Utah Valley, 72-68, inside the Michelob ULTRA Arena.
            If the Trailblazers were nervous going into the game, they certainly did not show it in the early going as they hit their first four shots, including three 3-pointers, to bolt out to an 11-0 advantage just two minutes into the game.
            After a UVU timeout, the Wolverines promptly erased the deficit with a 17-5 run en route to a 17-16 lead, and enjoyed a 41-36 cushion at the halftime break. The two sides traded scoring runs throughout the game, but it was a 12-2 UT run over the final five-plus minutes of the fourth quarter that proved to be the difference as the Blazers eliminated their "Old Hammer" in-state rivals. 
 
BLAZING NEW TRAILS: Not only did Monday's win catapult the Trailblazers into the WAC quarterfinals, it was Utah Tech Athletics' first postseason victory as a newly minted NCAA Division I program. 
            Last June the WAC's Board of Directors voted to allow transitioning members Utah Tech and Tarleton to participate in all conference championships ahead of the 2022-23 competition season. Both Utah Tech and Tarleton are in the third season of their four-year transition to NCAA Division I status.
 
ALL-TIME IN CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS: Not only did Utah Tech make its WAC tournament debut on Monday afternoon, it is playing in its third different conference postseason tournament since becoming an NCAA program in the 2006-07 season.
            During their Division II era (2006-20), 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 advanced to the semifinal round of the 2019-20 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament in its final D-II season.
            Though both Utah Tech and CBU were in the PacWest at the same time, neither squared off against each other at the conference tournament. 
 
JUST WIN BABY: Utah Tech's 19 wins this season are the most during the program's current NCAA Division-I transition, and is the highest win total during Head Coach JD Gustin's tenure (18-12 in 2019-20) on the Trailblazer bench. 
            The Trailblazers went 18-12 under Gustin in their final D-II season in 2019-20, a year that also featured a conference tournament victory (65-60 vs. Western State - RMAC quarterfinal; 3/3/20). 
 
ISAACSON SHOOTS HER WAY TO WAC POW HONORS: Redshirt junior forward Emily Isaacson was named WAC Player of the Week last 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 UT's home finale loss to Grand Canyon (2/28).
            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 who won it twice (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 the regular season ranked in the WAC's top-10 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 30 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 NEARING 1,100 POINT PLATEAU: 
Gillen is on the cusp of becoming just the third player in program history to surpass 1,100 career points as she enters Wednesday's quarterfinal game with 1,098 points. 
            She became the fifth member of Utah Tech's 1,000-point club this past Feb. 18 when she scored 24 points in a Senior Day win over UTRGV. 
            Gillen, who is already the program's single season (191 this year) and all-time (384) assists leader, 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). 
            In addition, Gillen (538 pts) moved into second place on UT's single season points list, passing former Blazer post player 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).
 
TOURNEY NOTES
* - Gillen has scored 10 or more points in 42-straight games dating back to last season, including 16 points in Monday's win over UVU.
* - Gillen also dished out seven assists on Monday, marking the 11th time this season that the senior has recorded seven or more assists in a game. 
* - McCord led all scorers with 19 points in the UVU win and tied season highs in FGM (7-of-11) and 3FGM (5-of-9) ... McCord's 19 points also tied a season high (vs. Lindenwood - 12/21), and it was her 17th double-digit point game of the season.
* - Isaacson chipped in 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds in Monday's win ... she hit two more 3-pointers in the game, giving her 13 made trifectas over her last three games ... Isaacson has hit at least one 3-pointer in 25 of 30 starts this season. 
* - Papa finished with eight points, two assists and three steals, including a big steal with 39 seconds remaining to help seal the win ... Papa also had three steals in the Blazers' road win at UVU four days earlier. 
* - Senior guard Taylia Stimpson dished out a career-high five assists in Monday's win. 
* - Utah Tech hit 12 more 3-pointers on Monday (12-of-33; .364) ... the 12 made threes marked the 18th time this season that the Trailblazers had hit at least 10 3-pointers in a game.
* - Utah Tech is currently ranked third in the country in 3-pointers made (300), 3FGM per game (10.0), 3FGA attempts (867), 3FGA/g (28.9), and is t-46th in 3FG% (.346).
* - The Blazers' 300 treys this season are a school record (300-of-867; .346).  
 
NEXT UP FOR THE TRAILBLAZERS: The winner of Wednesday's Utah Tech/CBU game will advance on the WAC Tournament semifinals to face either top-seed Stephen F. Austin or No. 9 seed Sam Houston. That game is scheduled for Friday at 12 noon (PT).