‘Whole new vibe’ leads Weber State women’s basketball into 2023-24 season
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- Weber State guard Kaiija Lesane secures a loose ball on the court during women’s basketball practice Sept. 26, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State women’s basketball head coach Jenteal Jackson gestures during practice Sept. 26, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State senior forwards Daryn Hickok, center, and Jadyn Matthews talk during women’s basketball practice Sept. 26, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
OGDEN — Six months have passed since Jenteal Jackson took over the Weber State women’s basketball program that’s gone 15-81 in Big Sky games over the last five seasons.
That’s been six months for Jackson to build a roster heavy on upperclassmen and instill what was described as a player-first culture meant to empower players to read the game and react with their strengths.
Now with the 2023-24 season on the doorstep, the rubber is about to meet the road on those hopes.
And those hopes are still high for the team overwhelmingly picked to finish last in the Big Sky Conference by coaches and media.
“People have no idea what we’re coming with this season. Like, it’s a whole new vibe, a whole new feel,” senior forward Daryn Hickok said. “It’s not the Weber people have been seeing the last couple years.”
Hickok is one of six fifth-year seniors on the roster (though one, point guard Rita Satini who followed Jackson from Westminster College, is expected to sit out this season).
So is Sierra Davis, a post player from Springville who spent two seasons at College of Southern Idaho and two more at Division II University of Charleston in West Virginia.
“I’m excited to be the start of it and I think we’re going to surprise some people this year because of how well (Jackson) coaches, how good of a person she is, and the environment she’s creating,” Davis said.
Jackson, who golfed and played women’s basketball at BYU and Westminster College, spent about 15 years at Westminster between playing and coaching. In her final two of 11 years as a coach, she was head coach for the Griffins who went 31-12 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference under her charge.
Westminster also finished third nationally in Division II for team field goal percentage in 2022 (47.3%) and 17th in 2023 (45%).
The finer points of how that happens are what has Davis, playing for her third school and coaching staff, optimistic about the Wildcats’ prospects. She said she had a handful of Division I opportunities to play close to home in Utah, decided on several recommendations to play for Jackson at Westminster instead, then followed her to Weber State.
“We’ve connected under Coach Jax and … her approach, all that matters is that we’re competing together and we’re going to put whoever out there to win,” Davis said. “It’s not about one person who’s going to carry the team. She’s brought in good players and a team atmosphere, and we’re going to win games as a team.”
The 6-foot-2 Davis averaged 7.5 points and 4.2 rebounds in 19 minutes per game at Charleston.
Three others of the fifth-year seniors are returning as WSU’s top-three leading scorers from last season: Hickok (16.3 points, 6.4 rebounds per game), forward Jadyn Matthews (13.2 ppg, 7.6 rpg) and shooting guard/wing Laura Taylor (7.7 ppg). Post player Vicky Parra (2.7 ppg, 4.6 rpg) is also a fifth-year senior.
The upper-class-heavy roster has seven juniors. Guards Aaliyah Ellis, Charlotte Hegvold, Kaiija Lesane and Emri Lovell all return looking to take a big step toward being difference-makers.
It seems likely that a few difference-makers, however, will come from new juniors.
Kendra Parra (5-foot-8) transfers in from Metro State Denver (Division II) and led the RMAC in scoring last season at 18.3 points per game while shooting 40.3% from the 3-point line — far and away a higher clip than anyone at WSU shot last season (Taylor led the team at 31.4% from deep).
“She’s a great two-guard,” Hickok said. “Can shoot it really well and she’s also really shifty.”
Kennedy Eskelson, a 5-foot-8 Cache Valley native, has also shown shooting prowess in preseason camp. She played two seasons at Snow College and another at College of Southern Idaho, where she averaged 8.7 points and shot 35.4% from 3 last season.
Jackson also added 5-foot-10 Ashton Adamson from Salt Lake Community College, who had season-bests 12 points and 14 rebounds against Eastern Wyoming College last season.
“Kennedy’s a great shooter,” Hickok said. “Ashton gives us size from the perimeter — she plays a lot of four but she can play the three as well, so we could go big with her or small and have her be the post.”
Last year’s Weber State squad had zero players from Utah and this season’s has three (Davis, Eskelson, Satini), with a fourth (Adamson) having played JUCO ball in the Beehive State. That’s an additional spot Davis felt could really provide a boost to the program.
Davis said she’s tried to help out-of-state players find a second home with her family in the area and that her family will attend most of Weber State’s games. Jackson has said plenty of her family will be at games, too.
FREE EXHIBITION
The Wildcats unofficially begin the season with one of their few home nonconference outings, a Halloween exhibition free to the public at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 31, against Fort Lewis College.
The men’s basketball exhibition (7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 2, against Adams State) is also free admission.
ROAD ‘CATS
Weber State plays 10 of its 13 nonconference games on the road. The team’s three home games are Dec. 6 against Nevada, Dec. 12 against Westminster, and Jan. 6 against Kansas City in a Big Sky-Summit Challenge game where former WSU head coach Velaida Harris will return to The Dee as an assistant with the Roos.
Otherwise, WSU opens with a bunch of local bus trips (which Davis says will draw a group of her friends and family). November’s seven games are all on the road: Utah Valley, BYU, Boise State and Utah State begin the regular-season campaign. Games against San Diego and either UNLV or UC Santa Barbara (at USD’s Thanksgiving weekend event) precede a trip to Oregon State (and former Fremont High star Timea Gardiner) to conclude the month.
A trip to Utah Tech comes between home games with Nevada and Westminster. Then WSU concludes the pre-Christmas portion of the schedule with trips to Air Force and nationally ranked Utah.
Weber State’s first home conference games are Jan. 11 and 13, 2024, hosting Sacramento State and Portland State.