Opponent: Grand Canyon
Date: February 4, 2006
Location: Orem, Utah (McKay Center)
Time: 7:05pm MST
This Week's Action ...
Utah Valley State will host Grand Canyon in its only game of the week on Saturday night. The 'Lopes are 4-17 and an Independent Division-II school.
The Wolverines are coming off of a three game losing streak after losing twice last week in Southern California. They dropped an 84-63 decision to Cal State Fullerton before falling 69-62 to UC Riverside. The dropped a 74-59 decision at Nevada on January 19th to begin the losing streak.
Hot at Home ...
The Wolverines have been hot at home as of late. They are 7-5 on the season in Orem and are 5-1 at home post-Christmas. The wins have come against Portland, Gonzaga, Idaho State, Portland State and Texas-Pan American. The lone loss came against Weber State in a game that happened to be in the Activity Center, meaning UV has a five game winning streak in the McKay Center.
Independents Update ...
The Wolverines are currently 1-0 against D-I Independents, with the win coming over Texas-Pan American. Following Saturday's game against Grand Canyon, the final six games of the season will come against fellow D-I Independents.
They will travel to Northern Colorado next Saturday, the 11th before hosting Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Northern Colorado and North Dakota State. They then travel to IPFW before closing out the season March 4th at Texas-Pan American.
Robyn Fairbanks is in a dog fight for Independent Player of the Year, averaging 17.8 points, 8.9 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game while hitting nearly 51% from the field. Her scoring and rebounding averages are first among all Independent players, while she is third in both blocks and shooting percentage.
Fairbanks, who seemingly has a stranglehold on Independent Newcomer of the Year, has notched career highs of 32 points and 19 rebounds in her first season of college basketball.
Location Change ...
The game on February 11th at Northern Colorado will not be held at UNC's Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion due to scheduling conflicts. It will instead be held at Eaton High School in Eaton, Colorado. The game time is still set for 7:00pm.
Last Time Out ...
The Utah Valley State women's basketball team forged a furious comeback but fell short at UC Riverside, 69-62.
The Wolverines trailed 50-33 with 12:30 left in the game before going on a 24-7 run to tie the game at 57 with 1:48 to go when Robyn Fairbanks scored two of her game-high 23 points on an assist from Hollie Beaman.
Riverside's Seyram Gbewonyo answered with a big three with 1:18 left before Fairbanks scored again to cut the lead to one with 1:01 remaining.
Following a timeout, Kirsten Muir hit a back-breaking three with 48 seconds to go to give Riverside a four point lead at 63-59.
The Wolverines had a couple of chances in the end but a turnover and an offensive rebound on a free throw iced it for the Highlanders.
Fairbanks continues her impressive play as she finished with nine rebounds, three assists and a steal to go with her 23 points. Miriam Palkki had 11 for UV while Hollie Beaman had six points and six assists and Rebekah Peterson contributed seven points and seven rebounds.
Both teams struggled with foul trouble in the first half, with the top three scorers on Utah Valley, Fairbanks, Palkki and Sandy Marvin, saddled with two fouls early on and Riverside's top scorer, Kemie Nkele, on the bench with three.
Nkele fouled out with 13:43 to go with just six points in 15 minutes of action.
In the first half the Wolverines led 14-9 and looked to take control of the game but went 9:00 minutes without a field goal. Still, they were within striking distance at the half down just five at 23-18.
Riverside came out on fire in the second half, hitting 10 of its first 14 shots to build that 17 point lead. Vanessa Campillo hit three 3-pointers during that hot streak while Gbewonyo hit two 3-pointers of her own.
Gbewonyo recorded the first double-double of her career with career highs of 23 points and 10 rebounds. The freshman hit 5-for-10 from the floor including 4-for-8 from the three point line.
Up Next ...
The Wolverines will play at Northern Colorado next Saturday, February 11th.
