SUU campus briefs

MEN'S BASKETBALL: The Thunderbirds will host a pair of exhibition games next week as they prepare for the 2009-10 basketball season.

The T-Birds will host Mesa State on Tuesday and Adams State on Friday, Nov. 6. Both games tip off at 7 p.m. in the Centrum Arena.

Roger Reid is entering his third season as SUU's head coach this year. He brings a career Division I mark of 174-115 into the 2009-10 season, including an 11-20 mark last season.

Junior guard Davis Baker, who earned second-team all-Summit League honors last season, returns after finishing the season ranked among the league's top-five in scoring (17.4) and free-throw percentage (87.7) and 19th in rebounding. He finished the year 14th in the country in free throw percentage. As a team, the Thunderbirds were the top free-throw shooting team in the nation, finishing with a 79.6 percent accuracy rate.

Southern Utah, which has two returning starters but only four returning lettermen on its roster, opens the regular season Nov. 13, at Hawaii's Rainbow Classic.

WOMEN'S SOCCER: The Thunderbirds traveled to warmer climates on Thursday afternoon and snapped a five-game scoreless streak, but still fell 2-1 to the Centenary Ladies on the field at Desert Hills High School. The loss drops the Thunderbirds to 3-13-2 and 1-6-1 in conference while Centenary moves to 10-5-1 and 2-5-1 in the Summit League.

Centenary put the first points on the board on a free kick off the foot of Katie Valdez. Valdez played the kick from the far side of the field and drilled a shot to the far post to make the score 1-0. Valdez struck again six minutes later as SUU keeper Breana Fitzgerald was unable to control a ball played back to her and lost control of the ball. Valdez collected the ball and put it away into the empty net.

Southern Utah had one of its best chances on the day as freshman Jessica Yukihiro headed the ball towards the net in the 28th minute, but a Centenary defender stepped in at the last second and extended a leg to block the shot. The Thunderbirds finally broke through in the 39th minute as Kristen Fronk centered a ball into Amanda Lazcano who turned and fired from ten yards to put the home team on the board.

The 2-1 score held through the first half, but was nearly tied up towards the beginning of the second half as Southern Utah came out of the break and recorded four shots in the first 8 minutes. Two of the shots were within seven seconds as Lazcano's shot pulled CC keeper Kate Donnelly out of the goal, but another last-second play by a Centenary defender kept McKenzie Hadley's rebound out of the net.

Lazcano, Yukihiro and Elyse Alexander led the Thunderbirds with three shots during the afternoon. Valdez led Centenary with 11 shots, while the team only tallied three more. Southern Utah out shot the Ladies 19-14 on the day, but were unable to come away with a win in the 2-1 defeat.