Saturday afternoon’s women’s basketball game against Northern Colorado is the “Carla Taylor Game.” Tipoff is 2 p.m. and admission is free.

Taylor has been at or around Weber State for most of the last 45 years, beginning when the Oregon native played for the Wildcats from 1980-84. She scored 1,122 points in her career, and also competed at the Division II track championships in the javelin.

After coaching stops at Morgan High and the University of Utah, WSU hired Taylor as its women’s basketball head coach in 1988 at the age of 26, and she helmed the program for 23 seasons. WSU won two conference championships and finished in the top three of the Big Sky eight times; Taylor coached 23 players to first-team honors.

In recent years, Taylor has spent several seasons as the team’s color analyst on streaming broadcasts, now on ESPN+, and has also worked on the pre- and post-game desk during the Big Sky women’s tournament.

Here’s a look at the weekend ahead.

WSU WOMEN

Weber State’s week begins at home Thursday with a 6 p.m. tipoff against Northern Arizona (5-10, 1-1 Big Sky) after a rough opening week for the Wildcats. WSU led Portland State by seven with 6:20 left and didn’t score again in a loss, and lost by 21 at Sacramento State.

WSU (249 NET) played both those games without leading scorer and rebounder in senior Antoniette Emma-Nnopu due to concussion symptoms. The hope is she’ll be ready to play this week.

NAU (218 NET) went 2-9 against DI teams in nonconference play before beating Montana at home to open league play. Naomi White makes things go, scoring 22.6 points per game white shooting 40.7% from the 3-point line.

Saturday’s 2 p.m. tip for the Carla Taylor Game brings in Northern Colorado (10-5, 1-1, 192 NET). The Bears gave Montana State a game to open before beating Montana by 19 at home. Guard Neenah George (13.9 points per game) and forward Tatum West (10.5 ppg) lead a group of four players averaging double-digit scoring.

WSU MEN

The Weber State men’s team (7-8, 1-1, 184 NET) hits the road for the first time in league play after losing to Portland State in overtime and outscoring Sacramento State for a win.

First is Northern Arizona (6-9, 0-2, 285 NET) for a 6 p.m. Thursday tip. Sophomore Montana transfer Zack Davidson leads NAU at 14 points per game and senior guard Ryan Abelman adds 11.9 points and 5.7 rebounds per night.

Saturday brings a 6 p.m. tip at Northern Colorado (10-5, 0-2, 150 NET). The Bears appeared to be the cream of the crop but took two surprising road losses at Montana and MSU to open league play. Gifted offensively yet again, NoCo has Idaho transfer Quinn Denker (18 ppg), center Brock Wisne (16.3 ppg) and guard Zach Bloch (13.2 ppg) leading the way.

Bloch leads the Big Sky by shooting a 48.5% clip from the 3-point line on nearly seven attempts per game.