Weber State Wildcats defeat women's basketball team, 78-41

Weber State senior guard Sarah Conner made six three-pointers on her way to 22 points, leading the Wildcats to a 78-41 victory over the T-Birds Thursday afternoon in Ogden.

Wildcat junior forward Caitlin Anderson also pitched in 16 points for Weber State (2-1), which made 13 three-pointers in the game to account for half of the team's 78 points.

Senior guard Tonya Schnibbe added a double-double with 10 points and 10 assists.

Junior forward Challis Pascucci had a double-double in the T-Birds' loss, scoring 14 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, leading SUU in both categories.

The two teams scored a combined 12 points in the first eight minutes of the game with the T-Birds having a 7-5 lead after sophomore guard Dani Hosking completed a three-point play.

Anderson made a three-point shot shortly thereafter to put the Wildcats back in front, where they would be the rest of the game.

The in-state foes stayed close as the T-Birds were down 21-17 with 3:12 to go in the first half, before Weber State went on an 12-2 run to close out the half up 33-19.

The Wildcats came out firing threes in the second half, scoring their first 21 points of the frame off of three-point shots to go up 54-25 with 10:06 left to play. They continued to build their lead larger throughout the half on their way to beating the T-Birds by 37 points.

About 4,000 students from 13 area schools attended the game, which was Weber State's Field Trip Game, inflating the total attendance to 4,540. According to a Weber State press release, the event was designed to give local youth an opportunity to attend a Wildcat game, and to promote physical education.

The T-Birds shot a dismal 20.8 percent from the field in the game, making 10-of-48 field goals. They were 20-27 from the foul line, including 6-of-6 by Pascucci and 6-of-8 from freshman guard Jadie Parsons, who was second on the team with nine points.

The T-Birds outrebounded Weber State 41-37, but turned the ball over 20 times, while the Wildcats only turned it over 10.

The Wildcats didn't get to the foul line nearly as many times as the T-Birds, but took advantage of their opportunities from the stripe, going 13-of-15 as a team.

The Wildcats were much better from behind the three-point line than they were from in front of it, going 13-of-25 in three-pointers and 13-of-38 in two-pointers for an overall 41.3 percent from the field.

The T-Birds were assisted on seven of their 10 made field goals, while Weber State had assists on 21 of its 26 field goals, led by Schnibbe's 10.

Next up for the struggling T-Birds is a home game Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Centrum Arena against in-state foe BYU before they head to Bozeman, Mont., for the Wingate Thanksgiving Classic for a pair of games on Thanksgiving weekend, beginning with host Montana State Nov. 27 at 7:30 p.m.