Aaliyah Ibarra led all scorers with 21 points off the bench as Utah Tech women's basketball started its postseason run with a 74-60 victory over Seattle U in the opening game of the 2025 Hercules Tires Western Athletic Conference Tournament on Wednesday afternoon inside the Burns Arena.
With the win, the eighth-seeded Trailblazers (6-24) snapped its season-long, 13-game losing streak, and will now advance on to face No. 1 seed Grand Canyon on Wednesday afternoon in Las Vegas.
How it happened
Utah Tech got off to an inauspicious start, misfiring on nine of its first 11 shots, with seven of those misses coming from beyond the arc, as Seattle U (4-26) owned an 11-4 lead with six-plus minutes gone in the opening quarter.
Ibarra came off the bench at the provided the spark the Trailblazer offense needed as she hit her first three shots, all from 3-point country, over the final 2:24 of the stanza to draw Utah Tech even at 13-13 after one quarter complete.
Seattle U managed to regain the momentum out of the quarter break thanks to its defense, which forced four early Utah Tech miscues. The Redhawks turned that defense into offense with eight-unanswered points to bolt back out in front by a 21-13 count with 7:28 to play until halftime.
Chardonnay Hartley finally stopped the run with a running floater in the lane. Hartley later hit a 3-pointer to cut the Blazer deficit to 25-22 at the 4:15 mark.
Emily Isaacson then took over, scoring seven of the nine points she tallied in period over the final three minutes, including a straight-away trifecta at the halftime horn that sent the Trailblazers to the locker room with a 30-29 lead in tow.
Utah Tech methodically began to pull away in the third quarter, and would lead by as many as nine at 47-38 with 2:48 left in the frame after a 6-0 spurt that featured a
Nicole Willardson trey and free throws from Isaacson and Hartley.
However Seattle U stayed within striking distance and managed to pare the Blazer cushion down to five at 55-50 with 6:48 remaining in the game.
That would be as close as the Redhawks would get as the Trailblazers rattled off a decisive 10-2 run over the next five minutes to extend to their biggest lead of the game at 65-52 after an Ibarra lay-in and free throw with 1:56 to go.
Utah Tech put it on cruise control from there to earn its second WAC postseason victory in the program's brief NCAA Division I era.
Numbers to know
Ibarra connected on 8-of-14 from the floor, including a 4-of-8 clip from beyond the arc, before fouling out late in the fourth quarter. The junior's 21 points were the most she had scored since her 36-point effort in the Blazers' road win at McNeese State (11/23/24) earlier this season.
Isaacson added 17 points on 3-of-7 shooting with a pair of 3-pointers, including a dagger trey in Utah Tech's decisive fourth quarter run. Isaacson also went 9-of-10 at the foul line and finished with four steals and three rebounds.
Meanwhile Hartley just missed recording her team-leading fifth double-double of the season as the junior point guard finished with 13 points and a game-high seven assists.
Utah Tech shot 38.9 percent from the floor (21-of-54), and went 8-of-25 (.320) from the perimeter.
After shooting a WAC season low 56.5 percent (13-of-23) in last Saturday's road loss at Seattle U, the Trailblazers knocked down 24 their 30 foul shots (.800) on Tuesday.
Christeina Bryan led three Redhawks in double figures with 17 points.
Utah Tech's defense limited Seattle U to just 32.2 percent shooting on the day, which included a paltry 4-of-23 (.174) from beyond the arc.
Utah Tech Head Coach
JD Gustin (250-213) earned his 250th head coaching victory in Tuesday's victory.
Up Next
Utah Tech moves on to "WAC Vegas" to play top-seed Grand Canyon in the WAC quarterfinal round inside the Orleans Arena on Wednesday afternoon at 1 p.m. (MT).
