Indeed last season provided some notable breakthroughs, most notably a 70-64 win over Air Force in the WNIT Tournament, which marked the first-ever postseason win for Wolverines during their Division One era.

“We’re trying to build on all of it in what’s going to be an interesting conference schedule where we play everybody three times,” said UVU Coach Dan Nielson, who enters his seventh season as UVU’s head coach. “I like our group. I like our experience and it’s like the old adage that you want to get old and stay old, and we’ve been able to do that, at least for this coming year. So we’re going to lean on that experience and work toward reaching even new heights.”

The Wolverine roster shows a wealth of experience returning, and perhaps even more importantly, those returning provided significant production a season ago. When asked of the returning talent, Nielson began with his frontcourt, which returns the services of 6-foot-1 forward Halle Nelson, 6-3 center Tessa Chaney and 6-4 center Gracie Sorenson.

“Halle was a Utah State transfer from a few years ago, and she’s battled through some injuries, but she really finished strong last year, so we’re very excited to have her back,” Nielson said. “Tessa Chaney has been with me all four years and has progressed every year she’s been here, so she’ll be a strong player, for us, along with Gracie Sorenson. I like our frontcourt a lot.”

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

At guard Nielson returns seniors Kylee Mabree, Saige Gibb and Amanda Barcello while adding 5-10 senior Kaylee Headrick, who transferred from Colorado State. Adding to the backcourt depth is sophomore Cambree Blackham, who saw substantial playing time as a freshman last season.

“Amanda Barcello was the top 3-point shooter in the country returning from last year, so we’re certainly excited to return that, and then Kylee Mabree was top 20 in the country in steals,” Nielson said. “Cambree Blackham’s older sister, Ally Criddle, was a senior for us last year, so she’s been around the program a long time and understands the culture, so we’re hoping for big things from her this year. So we love the experience we have returning from what was a very good team last year.”

Returning the wealth of talent and experience UVU has for the coming season isn’t an easy thing during this current era of NIL, which often requires teams to turn over the majority of their rosters from season to season. But due to the success last season, Nielson has been able to retain most of his roster, which was in no small part due to the historic highs reached by the Wolverines last season.

“It was massive,” Nielson said of the impact of last season’s success had for his program. “At our level it’s hard to build something and then sustain it, and the transfer portal makes it even more difficult. We don’t have the money to rebuild every year, so we have to do it the old way, so the fact that almost no one left speaks well to the culture we’ve built. Players experienced all of it last year and really want to return to build off it this year.”

The buy-in and excitement has been noticed by those outside of the program, too.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

“We’ve seen an increase in the recruiting, too, and had some of the earliest commits we’ve ever had this summer,” Nielson noted. “So recruits have responded well, both incoming freshmen and girls in the transfer portal. There’s great buy-in from the girls we have here and we’re starting to see more and more recruits notice, and that’s what you want as a program.”

As mentioned, the Wolverines are off to a great start to season, defeating Cal State Bakersfield 66-42 on the road to open the season and then getting by Loyola Marymount 64-60 in a game played on the Lion’s home court in Los Angeles. A huge test lays ahead when Nielson’s team travels to take on Utah this coming Tuesday before returning to play its home opener when taking on Pepperdine on Friday.

WAC Conference play will begin on December 29 when the Wolverines travel to take on California Baptist with Nielson confident his squad can win a conference championship, earn an NCAA Tournament bid and perhaps even more.

“I think we’re in a place where we can compete for a championship,” Nielson concluded. “It’s not going to be easy, but I like our group. It’s a group that can definitely do it and make progress, and build on what we did last year. I like the commitment and the buy-in from the girls here.”

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald