TAYLORSVILLE, Utah (January 11, 2022) – A full week of road games in the Scenic West Athletic Conference awaits the Salt Lake Community College Athletic Department.
 
SLCC's Men's-and-Women's Basketball programs will work the I-15 – I-84 corridor this week, traveling to Idaho and then heading down I-15 to Southern California. This week's games will open a three-game road trip for the Bruins.
 
For more information, visit slccbruins.com.
 
Men's Basketball: The No. 1 Bruins may have been short-handed in Saturday's win over Colorado Northwestern but even COVID protocols did little to deter SLCC's historic start to the 2021-22 season.
 
Salt Lake earned a 96-65 win over Colorado Northwestern in its lone Scenic West game from a week ago, overcoming a week that saw little team practice due to the team following COVID protocols. With SLCC now healthier, the Bruins now head to play at longtime rival Southern Idaho and then on to face new rival Community Christian.
 
SLCC coach Kyle Taylor said his team is ready to take to the road this week.
 
"We have our toughest game of the season to this point this week, when we travel to Southern Idaho on Wednesday," he said. "They are really talented and playing good basketball right now. We are in the midst of eight straight games on the road, but fortunately they have been broken up which has kept our guys pretty fresh. 
 
"We make our lone trip to California to play Community Christian on Saturday. Being a California native,  I'm excited to get back home for two days and hopefully enjoy some warm weather and sunshine, too."
 
After going through the COVID protocols last week, Taylor said the players and coaches who were affected have been given a clean bill of health.
 
"It's definitely hard with COVID right now making another surge," he said. "I think we weathered our pause pretty well last week and COVID ran through a large part of our team. Thankfully, guys seem to be healthy and well from that, which is very important for our players' health. Right now, you just have to take life one day at a time. We focus on what we can control and do, and just do that. It's not easy but we're all in the same boat and have been for two years."
 
Women's Basketball: A matchup of longtime in-state foes did not go the way of the No. 23 SLCC Women's Basketball team last week, but greater prizes lie ahead for the Bruins this week.
 
Wednesday, Salt Lake will travel to face off against No. 6 Southern Idaho in a Scenic West road game, with the implications high for the winner. The Bruins will also make their first-ever journey to Southern California, playing at Community Christian.
 
SLCC coach Marcilina Grayer noted the importance of SLCC responding with a strong performance after last week's 63-61 loss at Snow.
 
"We have a tough week ahead of us," said Grayer. "These trips will already be hard in themselves but even more so with us having four players out with COVID-19 and one player with an injury."
 
Like all coaches, managing players in COVID-19 protocols has made the already-incredible challenge of juggling a roster even more difficult. However, due to the depth of talent Grayer and SLCC's coaches have recruited, the Bruins are less focused on how to win and more focused on supporting student-athletes.
 
"Right now, is all about mental health (of our student-athletes) in my opinion," Grayer stated. "As a coaching staff, we echo that life is not fair and we must learn how to work through adversity and stick together through all the ups-and-downs. This is never something they will get used to, but we will continue fighting."