2023–24 Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks basketball team

2023–24 Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks basketball
Conference	Western Athletic Conference
Record	22–12 (14–6 WAC)
Head coach	Leonard Bishop (1st season)
Associate head coach	Patrick Harrison
Assistant coaches	Jordynn Hernandez Lexi Murphy
Home arena	William R. Johnson Coliseum

2023–24 WAC women's basketball standings

v t e	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

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).

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

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

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 Leonard Bishop (East Texas A&M) Assistant coach(es) Patrick Harrison (Hesston) Jordynn Hernandez (UT Arlington) Lexi Murphy (Angelo State) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster Last update: June 1, 2024

Schedule and results

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

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.