2023–24 Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks basketball team

The 2023–24 Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks basketball team represented Stephen F. Austin State University during the 2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Ladyjacks, who were led by first-year head coach Leonard Bishop, played their home games at the William R. Johnson Coliseum in Nacogdoches, Texas as members of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).

2023–24 Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks basketball
ConferenceWestern Athletic Conference
Record22–12 (14–6 WAC)
Head coach
  • Leonard Bishop (1st season)
Associate head coachPatrick Harrison
Assistant coaches
  • Jordynn Hernandez
  • Lexi Murphy
Home arenaWilliam R. Johnson Coliseum
Seasons
← 2022–23
2024–25 →
2023–24 WAC women's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
California Baptist 18 2   .900 28 4   .875
Grand Canyon 16 4   .800 24 8   .750
Stephen F. Austin 14 6   .700 21 12   .636
Utah Tech* 12 8   .600 18 14   .563
UT Arlington 11 9   .550 17 16   .515
Abilene Christian 10 10   .500 14 16   .467
Tarleton State* 7 13   .350 12 20   .375
Seattle 6 14   .300 6 23   .207
Southern Utah 6 14   .300 8 22   .267
UT Rio Grande Valley 5 15   .250 6 23   .207
Utah Valley 5 15   .250 10 19   .345
* Ineligible for the 2024 NCAA tournament due to transition from Division II
2024 WAC tournament winner

This would be Stephen F. Austin's last season as members of the WAC, as on May 29, 2024, it was announced that they will be returning to the Southland Conference, which they left in 2021, with the move becoming official on July 1, 2024.[1]

Previous season

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The Ladyjacks finished the 2022–23 season 27–7, 15–3 in WAC play, to finish in second place.[2] Due to the WAC's new Resume Seeding ranking, which is an advanced analytic developed by Ken Pomeroy that incorporated the performance of teams in both conference and non-conference games, received the #1 seed in the WAC tournament.[3] There, they defeated Sam Houston in the quarterfinals,[4] before falling to California Baptist in the semifinals.[5] They received an automatic bid into the WNIT,[6] where they would defeat Texas State in the first round,[7] before falling to Arkansas in the second round.[8]

On April 3, 2023, it was announced that head coach Mark Kellogg would be leaving the program after eight seasons, in order to take the head coaching position at West Virginia.[9] On April 18, the school announced that associate head coach Leonard Bishop would be named Kellogg's successor.[10]

Roster

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2023–24 Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks women's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Year Previous school Hometown
F 1 Zoe Nelson 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Jr Hendrickson High School Austin, TX
G 2 Tyler McCliment-Call 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Sr Portland Spokane, WA
G 3 Avery VanSickle 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) RS So Regis Jesuit High School Denver, CO
G 4 Destini Lombard 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Sr LSU New Iberia, LA
G 10 Trinity Slocum 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) RS So Mountain View High School Boise, ID
PG 11 Lydia Cooke-Wiggins 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) Fr John Paul II High School Dallas, TX
G 12 Kyla Deck 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) So Lone Star High School Frisco, TX
F 13 Ituau Tuisaula 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Jr Peninsula College Soldotna, AK
F 14 Jasmyne Boles 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) RS Sr North Texas Nampa, ID
G 15 Mimi Gatewood 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) So DeSoto High School DeSoto, TX
C 24 Kurstyn Harden 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) RS Sr Northern Colorado Lufkin, TX
F 33 Trinity Moore 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Jr Oral Roberts Oklahoma City, OK
G 35 Mele Finau 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) GS UC Riverside Dublin, CA
G 42 Atalia Ballesteros 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Fr Padre Piquer Madrid, Spain
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • (W) Walk-on

Roster
Last update: June 1, 2024

Schedule and results

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Date
time, TV
Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state
Regular season
November 6, 2023*
9:30 p.m., ESPN+
Oklahoma Panhandle State W 118–46  1–0
William R. Johnson Coliseum (–)
Nacogdoches, TX
November 10, 2023*
6:30 p.m., ESPN+
Liberty
WAC/C-USA Challenge
L 81–84 OT 1–1
William R. Johnson Coliseum (1,087)
Nacogdoches, TX
November 16, 2023*
6:30 p.m., ESPN+
North Texas L 55–78  1–2
William R. Johnson Coliseum (1,126)
Nacogdoches, TX
November 22, 2023*
7:00 p.m.
at Texas Southern W 73–58  2–2
H&PE Arena (377)
Houston, TX
November 25, 2023*
2:00 p.m., ESPN+
Rice W 67–56  3–2
William R. Johnson Coliseum (751)
Nacogdoches, TX
November 29, 2023
7:00 p.m., ESPN+
at Tarleton State W 80–67  4–2
(1–0)
Wisdom Gym (857)
Stephenville, TX
December 2, 2023
2:00 p.m., ESPN+
Abilene Christian W 89–82 2OT 5–2
(2–0)
William R. Johnson Coliseum (1,148)
Nacogdoches, TX
December 7, 2023*
6:30 p.m., ESPN+
Portland W 76–71  6–2
William R. Johnson Coliseum (1,182)
Nacogdoches, TX
December 9, 2023*
2:00 p.m., SECN+
at Alabama L 69–74  6–3
Coleman Coliseum (2,202)
Tuscaloosa, AL
December 17, 2023*
2:00 p.m., ESPN+
at Middle Tennessee L 47–72  6–4
Murphy Center (3,359)
Murfreesboro, TN
December 20, 2023*
3:30 p.m.
vs. Troy
Austin Peay Classic
L 78–98  6–5
F&M Bank Arena (1,548)
Clarksville, TN
December 21, 2023*
2:30 p.m., ESPN+
at Austin Peay
Austin Peay Classic
W 66–56  7–5
F&M Bank Arena (1,632)
Clarksville, TN
December 30, 2023*
1:00 p.m., ESPN+
UNT Dallas W 111–38  8–5
William R. Johnson Coliseum (1,320)
Nacogdoches, TX
January 4, 2024
6:30 p.m., ESPN+
UT Rio Grande Valley W 79–69  9–5
(3–0)
William R. Johnson Coliseum (754)
Nacogdoches, TX
January 6, 2024
2:00 p.m., ESPN+
at UT Arlington L 62–81  9–6
(3–1)
College Park Center (899)
Arlington, TX
January 11, 2024
6:30 p.m., ESPN+
Utah Tech W 76–67  10–6
(4–1)
William R. Johnson Coliseum (614)
Nacogdoches, TX
January 13, 2024
2:00 p.m., ESPN+
Southern Utah W 68–53  11–6
(5–1)
William R. Johnson Coliseum (1,116)
Nacogdoches, TX
January 18, 2024
8:00 p.m., ESPN+
at Seattle W 82–66  12–6
(6–1)
Redhawk Center (286)
Seattle, WA
January 25, 2024
7:00 p.m., ESPN+
at Grand Canyon W 59–54  13–6
(7–1)
Global Credit Union Arena (568)
Phoenix, AZ
January 27, 2024
3:00 p.m., ESPN+
at California Baptist L 75–97  13–7
(7–2)
Fowler Events Center (616)
Riverside, CA
February 1, 2024
7:00 p.m., ESPN+
at Utah Valley W 72–63  14–7
(8–2)
UCCU Center (521)
Orem, UT
February 3, 2024
2:00 p.m., ESPN+
Tarleton State W 73–62  15–7
(9–2)
William R. Johnson Coliseum (1,136)
Nacogdoches, TX
February 8, 2024
6:30 p.m., ESPN+
at UT Rio Grande Valley L 49–62  15–8
(9–3)
UTRGV Fieldhouse (1,497)
Edinburg, TX
February 10, 2024
2:30 p.m., ESPN+
UT Arlington L 74–84  15–9
(9–4)
William R. Johnson Coliseum (1,682)
Nacogdoches, TX
February 17, 2024
1:00 p.m., ESPN+
at Abilene Christian W 89–83  16–9
(10–4)
Moody Coliseum (1,051)
Abilene, TX
February 22, 2024
6:30 p.m., ESPN+
Seattle W 87–62  17–9
(11–4)
William R. Johnson Coliseum (1,585)
Nacogdoches, TX
February 24, 2024
2:00 p.m., ESPN+
Utah Valley W 84–35  18–9
(12–4)
William R. Johnson Coliseum (1,232)
Nacogdoches, TX
February 29, 2024
6:30 p.m., ESPN+
California Baptist L 96–100 OT 18–10
(12–5)
William R. Johnson Coliseum (1,294)
Nacogdoches, TX
March 2, 2024
2:00 p.m., ESPN+
Grand Canyon W 85–77  19–10
(13–5)
William R. Johnson Coliseum (1,328)
Nacogdoches, TX
March 7, 2024
7:30 p.m., ESPN+
at Southern Utah W 81–74  20–10
(14–5)
America First Event Center (480)
Cedar City, UT
March 9, 2024
3:00 p.m., ESPN+
at Utah Tech L 61–69  20–11
(14–6)
Burns Arena (570)
St. George, UT
WAC tournament
March 14, 2024
4:30 p.m., ESPN+
(3) vs. (7) Tarleton State
Quarterfinals
W 70–58  21–11
Orleans Arena (–)
Paradise, NV
March 15, 2024
4:30 p.m., ESPN+
(3) vs. (2) Grand Canyon
Semifinals
W 66–63  22–11
Orleans Arena (1,343)
Paradise, NV
March 16, 2024
12:30 p.m., ESPNU/ESPN+
(3) vs. (1) California Baptist
Championship
L 74–75  22–12
Orleans Arena (759)
Paradise, NV
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in Central.

Sources:[11][12]

References

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  1. ^ Hill, James (May 29, 2024). "SFA Athletics Accepts Invitation to Join Southland Conference in 2024-25". Southland Conference. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
  2. ^ "2022-23 Women's Basketball Standings". Western Athletic Conference. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
  3. ^ Koons, Zach (July 11, 2022). "WAC to Seed Conference Tournament Using KenPom Ratings, per Report". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
  4. ^ "SFA ends Kats' run in WAC Tournament". Sam Houston. March 8, 2023. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
  5. ^ Collom, Ryley (March 10, 2023). "CBU Women's Basketball Defeats Defending WAC Champion SFA in Semifinals". CBU Athletics. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
  6. ^ "Bracket, Round 1 matchups and times announced for 2023 Postseason WNIT". WNIT Pre and Post Tournament. March 13, 2023. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
  7. ^ "Texas State's Season Ends with 89-79 Loss at SFA in WNIT". Texas State Athletics. March 16, 2023. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
  8. ^ Magar, Kylie (March 20, 2023). "Razorbacks Defense Stifles SFA In WNIT Second Round, 60-37". Arkansas Razorbacks. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
  9. ^ "Head Coach Mark Kellogg to leave SFA Ladyjacks basketball team". KTRE. April 4, 2023. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
  10. ^ Gibson, David; Crittenden, Wally (April 18, 2023). "Leonard Bishop named SFA women's head basketball coach". KETK. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
  11. ^ "2023-24 Women's Basketball Schedule". Stephen F. Austin. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
  12. ^ "Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks Schedule 2023-24". ESPN. Retrieved June 1, 2024.