COACHES
Head Coach Tracy Mason EIGHTH SEASON 95-110 Overall
Tracy Mason is in her eighth year as head coach of the Southern Utah University women's basketball team. The Thunderbirds made it to the WAC Quarterfinals in 2024-25. SUU ended conference play winning five of it's last six contests, including a season sweep of in-state rival Utah Tech. First winning a tight battle in St. George 69-66, and then blowing out the Trailblazers 78-51 at home. The Thunderbirds also secured a win at Utah Valley, going to Orem and emerging with a hard fought 72-63 win over the Wolverines. Coach Mason also led the Thunderbirds to a season sweep of the Seattle U Redhawks, winning the final regular season game by 15. The Thunderbirds put together a historic 2022-23 season under Mason’s leadership. In the team’s inaugural season in the Western Athletic Conference, SUU boasted a 23-10 overall record and the most conference victories in program history 16-2 effort in WAC play, earning the Thunderbirds the regular season conference title. Southern Utah carried this momentum into the conference tournament where the team was crowned as Western Athletic Conference Tournament champions. Southern Utah punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history, where the Thunderbirds took on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the first round. Mason was named the WAC Coach of the Year for her efforts. SUU also had three players honored with All-Conference awards under Mason’s leadership. Lizzy Williamson earned Defensive Player of the Year honors to go along with All-WAC Second Team and WAC All-Defensive Team recognitions. Tomekia Whitman was named WAC Newcomer of the Year and WAC Sixth Woman of the Year as well as earning a spot on the All-WAC Second Team and WAC All-Newcomer Team. Cherita Daugherty scored a team high 15.1 points per game en route to earning WAC-All First Team recognitions. The conclusion of the 2022-23 season marked the fourth straight winning season for the Thunderbirds. The 2021-22 season was one of the best in Southern Utah's Division I history. Mason led SUU to an 18-12 overall record and 14-6 mark in Big Sky play. The 14 conference victories were the second most in SUU program history, as the Thunderbirds claimed a second-place finish in the regular season conference standings. SUU had three players earn All-Conference recognition, as Darri Dotson led the way, earning a spot on the All-Big Sky Third-Team after averaging 11 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. Cherita Daugherty and Daylani Ballena each earned All-Big Sky Honorable Mention honors for the year. The conclusion of the 2021-22 season marked the first time since 1993-96 that Southern Utah compiled three consecutive winning seasons. In a shortened season in 2020-21, Mason led the Thunderbirds to an overall record of 11-9, including a 6-5 record in Big Sky competition, and a first-round bye in the Big Sky Tournament. Liz Graves led the Big Sky Conference in scoring for the season, elevating her ppg average from 11 the previous season up to 17 ppg to lead the conference. Graves was also recognized as a Second-Team All-Big Sky honoree for her play throughout the season. The 2019-20 team saw major improvements and put together one of the best seasons in recent memory. They won 18 total games and 11 conference games, the most since the 2013-14 season when they won a share of the Big Sky title. They also had their second-best all-time scoring season with 2,186 points scored, and set a new record for three-pointers made in a season with 197. Rebecca Cardenas was named the 2019-20 Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year at the end of the season. Cardenas led the conference in steals, averaging 3.0 steals per game overall and 3.2 during conference play. The senior was ranked 14th in the entire NCAA in steals per game and 13th in total steals. The 5' 5" guard was also ranked 23rd in the Big Sky in blocks with 12 blocks on the season.
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