January 6, 2021
Dixie State women’s basketball suspends 2020-21 season
Trailblazers cut first Division I season short due to COVID-19
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Dixie State announced Tuesday evening it would end its season, becoming the third women’s basketball program to do so in-season after Duke and SMU and the first of the programs that joined Division I in 2020.
“While we are disappointed with this for our women’s basketball program and its coaches and student-athletes, it is 100% the right call,” athletic director Jason Boothe said in a statement. “We have kept the safety and well-being as the top priority for our student-athletes throughout the pandemic and given the issues this team is facing, this decision is right in line with that top priority. Once we get through the pandemic and all the issues it causes for everyone involved, we look forward to having the team back in action next school year.”
The Trailblazers ended the season 1-2, with its sole win coming against NAIA’s Park University. More notable, though, was that the other five games on their original schedule were canceled due to COVID-19 protocols both within the Dixie State program and those of their opponents. That included their first three scheduled games and their two most recent games.
Dixie State was one of four programs added to Division I for the 2020-21 season, among them fellow WAC member Tarleton State, as well as UC San Diego and Bellarmine. UCSD went on pause on Tuesday due to a positive test within the program, while Bellarmine’s most recent game was postponed due to COVID-19 issues in their opponent’s program.
Of the three remaining new teams, UC San Diego (1-1) has played just two games (plus the first half of its opener), Bellarmine (0-5) has played five and Tarleton (3-6) has played its full nine-game schedule uninterrupted.
Junior guard London Pavlica led the Trailblazers in scoring (11.7 points per game) and assists (5.3 per game), including a near triple-double against Park, while four players amassed 14 or more total rebounds across the trio of games.
