This Week's Action ...
The Wolverines return to action for two home games this week against West Coast Conference schools, beginning with Portland on Wednesday at 7:05pm in the McKay Center. Friday Utah Valley welcomes Gonzaga at 4:30pm as part of a doubleheader with the Wolverines men, who host High Point at 7:05pm that same night.

Both games are return contests from 2004-05 when Utah Valley State lost at Portland 74-58 on December 30, 2004 and at Gonzaga 87-41 in the Bulldogs' home opener on November 20, 2004.

Utah Valley State is in the midst of a six-game losing streak after beginning the season 2-2. Their last three losses all came at the hands of in-state opponents. They fell at Utah State 74-51 on December 17th but followed that game up with promising performaces at BYU, a 61-54 loss, and at Southern Utah where they lost 80-74.

Newcomer of the Week ...
Utah Valley State freshman center Robyn Fairbanks has earned the Division-I Independent Newcomer of the Week award after her performance last week against Southern Utah.

Fairbanks, who hails from Raymond, Alberta, Canada scored 19 points and pulled down eight rebounds against the T-Birds. She leads the team in scoring (15.0 ppg) and rebounding (7.1 rpg).

Fairbanks has scored in double figures seven times so far this season while starting all 10 games for Utah Valley State. Her top statistical performance came in her first Division-I game when she scored 21 points and pulled down 19 rebounds against Jacksonville State on November 18th.

She is the 2nd Wolverines freshman to win the award. Rebekah Fales was named D-I Independent Newcomer of the Week four times during the 2004-05 season and at the end of the season was named to the D-I Independent Newcomer Team.

Last Time Out ...
Southern Utah held of Utah Valley State down the stretch to pick up a 80-74 victory in Cedar City Tuesday night. The Wolverines stayed in the game the whole way, trailing by only four following a Robyn Fairbanks' three with 44.3 seconds left.

The Wolverines cut the lead down to three at 72-69 with just under two minutes to go on a three-point play by Hollie Beaman, but would get no closer.

Robyn Fairbanks led the Wolverines with 19 points and eight rebounds, while Cassie Hahl had 23 points and 12 rebounds for SUU. The T-Birds also got big contributions by Cheryl Grant, who scored 20 points for the T-Birds, and Julie Stradling, who picked a double double with 12 points and 10 boards.

Beaman set a new career high in scoring for the second consecutive game with 16 while Sandy Marvin rounded out the Wolverines in double figures with 13 points of her own.

Southern Utah opened the 2nd half on a 12-5 run to take a 55-46 lead after at Cheryl Grant layup. The Wolverines used a 10-2 run to get back into the game aided in large part by three Fairbanks' buckets, to make it a two point game at 58-56.

Following a timeout, the T-Birds responded with an 8-0 run to take a 66-56 lead, their biggest lead of the game.

The lead was nine for SUU when Marvin hit a three and was fouled. She missed the chance for a four-point play but Fairbanks got an offensive rebound and put back to cut the lead to four at 70-66, leading up to Beaman's three-point play.

Scouting the Opposition ...
Portland is 3-7 on the season and is led by Whitney Grants's 13.9 points per game. Meagan Bermingham is scoring 12.7 points per game for Portland while Rachel Warren averages 10.7 points and a team high 7.5 rebounds.

The Pilots fell 86-79 to Cal State Northridge in their final game before the Christmas break. In that game, freshman Jennifer Wassom hit a school record seven three pointers on her way to a career high 21 points.

Gonzaga is 4-9 on the season following a 68-53 win over San Jose State last week. Stephanie Hawk leads the team with a 12.6 points per game average.

Four of the Bulldogs' nine losses have come at the hands of ranked opponents. Three of those losses came against #1 Tennessee, #9 Michigan State and #10 Maryland at the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Their other ranked loss came at #22 Utah.

Up Next ...
The Wolverines will play three games next week beginning Monday at Montana State. They will then host Idaho State on Thursday, January 5th and Weber State on Saturday the 7th. The game against Weber will be held in the Activity Center.