OGDEN — With this being a season that began with so much promise, the Weber State women's basketball team must be asking themselves what the heck happened.
The Wildcats entered the season with a boatload of experienced players, some talented newcomers and high expectations.
All that meant nothing, though, as WSU followed up a nice 4-1 start with six consecutive losses.
Weber State did manage to snap their six-game skid before the Christmas break with a tight home win over Saint Louis.
"This was a great team effort for us," Weber State coach Carla Taylor said. "It was nice to see the team play well as a group and we had great chemistry as a team. This was a nice one to get before our break."
Tonight, WSU closes its non-conference schedule at Air Force and opens the Big Sky season on Jan. 4 by hosting Northern Colorado.
There is, however, something to be gained from those six losses. It was adversity and taught the Wildcats a thing or two about how to deal with it. And, fortunately for WSU fans, the losses were not Big Sky games and the quest for a conference championship will not be affected by them.
The Wildcats have size, but are still a perimeter-oriented team.
With a trio of trigger-happy shooters on the outside, Weber State is anything but shy about firing away with a bunch of 3-pointers. Sara Tuomi, Chelsey Warburton and Laura Porter combine to average more than 40 points per game. They also toss up an average of 14 long-range shots per game.
Warburton, in particular, is prone to getting a shot off anytime she sees an opening. The senior from Price is averaging 13.7 points per game and shooting about nine 3-point attempts per outing — 109 so far. Tuomi, in contrast, has attempted just 38 3-pointers while leading the team in scoring with 16.7 points per contest.
Porter is quietly averaging 9.3 per game and has made 14-of-36 3-pointers.
If the outside shots are not falling, Taylor can turn to her interior players. 6-foot-4 sophomore Janie Rayback has settled into the starting center role lately and is scoring 8.5 points per game. She's slowed a bit by foul trouble and conditioning and plays just more than 20 minutes per game. Senior forward Tashina Taylor is chipping in 6.8 per game while former Layton Christian star Shantee Releford, who has started eight games in the post, adds 5.7 points and grabbed a 6.1 rebounds.
The Wildcats don't go very deep into their bench yet, though, and only freshman point guard Tonya Schnibbe is seeing more than 10 minutes per game.
Bountiful's Jessica Smith and Weber High's Laci Barnes are seeing a few minutes here and there, but are still developing as players as are guard Ahkiah Hunter and forward Ashlynn Hayden.
With the Big Sky race expected to be a fight for second behind perennial power Montana, the Wildcats are hoping the experienced starters can get things on track.
Weber State women's basketball schedule
Nov. 11, Weber State 90, Northwest Nazarene 75
Nov. 17, Weber State 69, Northern Iowa 58
Nov. 21, Weber State 72, Utah State 55
Nov. 24, Western Carolina 72, Weber State 70
Nov. 25, Weber State 98, Idaho 57
Nov. 29, Utah 77, Weber State 43
Dec. 2, Southern Illinois 69, Weber State 65
Dec. 7, UCSB 62, Weber State 57
Dec. 9, UVSC 68, Weber State 60
Dec. 14, BYU 79, Weber State 42
Dec. 17, Kansas State 59, Weber State 54
Dec. 20, Weber State 77, Saint Louis 75
Dec. 30, at Air Force
Jan. 4, Northern Colorado
Jan. 6, Northern Arizona
Jan. 10, at Sacramento State
Jan. 12, at Portland State
Jan. 18, Montana State
Jan. 20, Montana
Jan. 24, Idaho State
Jan. 26, at Eastern Washington
Feb. 1, at Northern Colorado
Feb. 3, at Northern Arizona
Feb. 8, Eastern Washington
Feb. 10, Portland State
Feb. 15, at Montana
Feb. 17, Sacramento State
March 1, at Idaho State
March 3, at Montana State
March 8-10, Big Sky Tournament, TBA
SUNDAY: Ute women
E-mail: jeborn@desnews.com