TAYLORSVILLE, Utah (December 12, 2022) – The Salt Lake Community College Athletic Department will welcome home both of its nationally ranked basketball programs this week.
 
The SLCC Men's-and-Women's Basketball programs will host a pair of Scenic West Athletic Conference games inside the Lifetime Activities Center, starting first with Colorado Northwestern on Wednesday. SLCC will also host Southern Idaho on Saturday.
 
For more information, visit slccbruins.com.
 
Men's Basketball: After posting a pair of impressive road wins last week, the No. 1 SLCC Men's Basketball team will return home for more Scenic West competition.
 
The Bruins are back to No. 1 in the country after spending almost all of last season in the top spot, up from the No. 5 spot they started the 2022-23 season in. Salt Lake will play host to Colorado Northwestern and Southern Idaho, with the Bruins facing off against CNCC at 7:00 on Wednesday inside the Lifetime Activities Center. SLCC will take on No. 5 Southern Idaho at 3:00 p.m.
 
Looking ahead to the week's competition, Bruins coach Kyle Taylor said his team is looking forward to hosting a pair of quality opponents at home.
 
"We have two more SWAC games before break, with two more challenging games for us," said Taylor. "CNCC has a new coach in Ben Cruickshank who does a really nice job coaching, he will have them organized and disciplined and ready to play. Then if we are fortunate to get through that game, we'll have a big Top-Five showdown with CSI on Saturday. CSI is playing extremely well. They have a lot of offensive weapons and have been scoring the ball at a high rate so far this year. They are 15-0 and have some very good wins, so that'll be a big-time battle."
 
SLCC annually plays a schedule of strong competition in the preseason, preparing for the grind of the Scenic West schedule. With the calendar flipping to the Scenic West games, the grind is now real, according to Taylor.
 
"SWAC play is always tough, so when you can go on the road and win two games by double figures you have to feel pretty good about that," she said. "We showed some poise and really jumped out to nice halftime leads in both games and just controlled the tempo of the game from there. Every game is important because our league is so talented and balanced that you must be ready to play every night, or you will drop a game you don't want to. It's a fun challenge."
 
Women's Basketball: The No. 14 SLCC Women's Basketball team was going along swimmingly in the 2022-23 season, that is until a tough defeat at USU Eastern Saturday broke SLCC's unblemished record.
 
Heading into a pair of Scenic West games this week, starting with Colorado Northwestern Wednesday, Salt Lake coach Marcilina Grayer said returning home will help the Bruins reset.
 
"This week will be another tough week for us," she said. "We will play CNCC, who is looking really strong this season, and No. 3 Southern Idaho on Saturday. This week's games will be another good test for us.
 
"The biggest takeaways from the opening week of league play are that we cannot take games off, we must be focused at ready to go at all times. Our region is really strong this season, anyone can win on any given night; which also makes it exciting."