Utah Tech basketball: Women win home blowout, men stumble against Texans

ST. GEORGE — The Trailblazers were on both ends of a basketball beat down on Saturday afternoon.

Utah Tech’s Maddie Warren scores two of her 27 points against Tarleton State in a WAC women’s basketball game, St. George, Utah, Jan. 27, 2024 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

In St. George at Burns Arena, Utah Tech’s women welcomed Breaunna Gillen back and dominated their way to a 75-48 victory over visiting Tarleton State.

Breaunna Gillen returned to the lineup after sitting out Utah Tech’s last two contests. The Trailblazers sank 11 3-pointers against the undersized Texans and led wire to wire.

Maddie Warren did the bulk of the damage against Tarleton, finishing with a game-high 27 points. Warren was 5-for-9 behind the 3-point arc, grabbed seven defensive rebounds, dished out three assists and had two blocked shots.

Gillen returned to form with 22 points and 10 boards for a double-double. Gillen dropped seven dimes and went a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line.

Maggie McCord made three 3’s and contributed 13 points for Utah Tech’s cause.

The Trailblazers led 31-27 at halftime and then lassoed the Texans in the second half. All the pistons were firing when Utah Tech broke the game open with a 28-7 performance in the third quarter.

Utah Tech improved to 11-9 overall including a 5-4 mark in the Western Athletic Conference.

Teresa Da Silva led the visitors with 13 points and Jakoriah Long netted 12 in the setback for the Texans (5-13, 2-7 WAC).

Meanwhile, in Stephenville, Texas on Saturday, a rash of turnovers plagued Utah Tech’s men in an 86-68 drubbing by Tarleton State.

The Trailblazers lost 22 turnovers in the 18-point defeat to the Texans, less than 48 hours after committing 20 turnovers in a 22-point loss at Abilene Christian.

Utah Tech’s Angelo Kambala scores two of his 14 points against Tarleton State in a WAC men’s basketball game, Stephenville, Texas, Jan. 27, 2024 | Photo by Utah Tech Athletics Media Relations, St. George News

Tarleton State turned those 22 giveaways into 29 points. Along with 38 points from the paint, the Texans also scored 20 points off of fast breaks.

The home team raced out to a 36-24 halftime advantage and the outcome of the game was never in doubt. Jakorie Smith dropped 28 points to lead all scorers in the Tarleton win.

Lue Williams contributed 18 points for the winners and Italian Emmanuel Innocenti scored 11 for the Texans (13-7, 6-3 WAC).

Noa Gonsalves was once again the high man for Utah Tech, netting two 3-pointers and scoring 17 points for the Trailblazers. Jaylen Searles scored 16 points in the defeat.

The performance by Angelo Kambala was a bright spot for Utah Tech. The freshman guard from Las Vegas, Nevada scored a career-high 14 points in 20 minutes of play.

But it wasn’t enough to prevent Utah Tech from losing its fourth game in a row, falling to 7-13 overall, 3-6 in WAC action. Utah Tech fell in six of its last seven games.

The Trailblazers return to St. George in desperate need of some home cooking. Utah Tech’s men play their next four games inside Burns Arena.

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