ST. GEORGE — Tracy Sanders had a feeling the Southern Utah women’s basketball team might make some noise at the recently completed Western Athletic Conference women’s basketball tournament.
Turns out the Thunderbird head coach’s inkling was on point. And her squad didn’t just make some noise, they ran the table and advanced to the NCAA women’s national tournament, earning a No. 14 seed and drawing No. 3 Notre Dame in the process.
The two teams face off Friday, March 17, at 1:30 p.m. MT, in South Bend, Indiana. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
Sanders is no stranger to The Dance. During her illustrious playing career at St. Mary’s College, she and the Gaels actually faced the Fighting Irish in a first-round matchup in 1999.
“It was a close game,” Sanders told St. George News during a phone conversation. “I think we were up by like four or five with 2 minutes left, they made a comeback and we ended up losing by four.”
The St. Mary’s official record book confirms Sanders’ recollection — the final score of that March 13, 1999, game was 61-57. And according to Notre Dame Archives, “Tracy Morris [Sanders] scored on a short turnaround jumper to cut Notre Dame’s lead to 58-57 with 4.4 seconds remaining, but Kelly Siemon hit three of four free throws in the closing seconds for Notre Dame.”
On that Fighting Irish team was point guard Niele Ivey, who was injured and did not play. Nearly 25 years later, Sanders and Ivey will meet again — only this time as head coaches.
“I looked back at it today … and sure enough, she was on the team,” Sanders said.
It’s the only time the two schools have played.
“And here we are — matched up again,” Sanders said. “It’s funny; basketball’s a small world.”
In the 24 hours that followed Southern Utah’s win over California Baptist on Saturday, national tournament prognosticators had the Thunderbirds (23-9 overall) seeded as low as 16th and possibly playing top-rated Stanford out of the Pac 12. When it was revealed Sunday evening on national television that SUU would face the Fighting Irish (25-5), Sanders and the Thunderbirds cheered.
“Notre Dame has such a great program, such a great tradition,” she said, adding that the game will be played on St. Patrick’s Day on Notre Dame’s home floor. “It’s just going to be a really fun atmosphere for them.”
That “feeling” Sanders and Southern Utah felt during the WAC tournament in Vegas might have had something to do with the cheering section that hopped on Interstate 15, drove two and half hours and yelled themselves hoarse.
“The support has grown really over the last year,” Sanders said. “The local support has been just phenomenal.”
While the women were making their run, so were the Thunderbird men, who came up a bit short, falling to Grand Canyon University in the championship game but earning a bid to the College Basketball Invitational.
And the fact the SUU women advanced was a story within itself. In fact, Sanders said her gut feeling for the opening-round game with New Mexico State had her worried.
“I wasn’t thrilled matchup-wise going into the New Mexico State game,” said Sanders, the WAC coach of the year. “They’re just a hard guard for us. We beat them twice. Both times we came back. And you think, “How is this going to go?’ And to come back like we did and to basically hit, let’s be honest, a miracle shot to win the game it was like, ‘Here’s our wake-up call guys. We shouldn’t be here right now so we better be ready to play the next two games.'”
Following Cherita Daugherty’s last-second heroics in the opening round Wednesday, the Thunderbirds won their semi-final game 64-51 over Grand Canyon on Friday and then handled California Baptist in the title game, winning 82-73. Daugherty was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, and teammates Megan Jensen and Tomekia Whitmas made the all-tournament team.
Sanders also said several role players whose efforts don’t always show up on the state sheet made significant contributions.
“Lizzy Williamson — she’s so impactful, just having that presence in there,” Sanders said of the 6-foot-5 center from Adelaide, Australia, who was named WAC defensive player of the year. “The amount of shots she alters is even more impactful than the two or three blocks she gets per game.”
Of 5-foot-9 guard Alexa Lord, Sanders said: “Lex Lord has been a sixth or seventh man for us all year. She is the hardest-working player I’ve ever coached. We’ve moved her from guard to post and back and forth. She embraces every role that she’s put in.”
Sanders also said the effort of point guard Dayla Ballena often goes unnoticed and that Samantha Johnson, who is Sanders’ daughter, “has a huge IQ for the game. She’s a great passer. She makes great decisions She stays with her role. She just wants to win.”
While Southern Utah suffered non-conference losses in the beginning of the season to Pac-12 schools Utah, Oregon and Colorado, as well as a loss to West Coast Conference stalwart Gonzaga, Sanders said the experience will pay dividends when the Thunderbirds walk into Purcell Pavilion to face the Fighting Irish.
“I don’t think they’ll be too star-struck,” Sanders said. “I think we’ll be excited for it. I think we’ve seen some pretty big fancy places. I’m hoping we’ll walk in there, take a look around and be excited about the opportunity and just fired up to play.”
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