Feb. 24, 2007

Box Score

Orem, Utah - Utah Valley State coasted to a 71-40 win over New Jersey Tech on Saturday to improve to 14-13 on the year, assuring the Wolverines of their first .500 season in NCAA play. UV will close out the 2006-07 season next Saturday at Texas-Pan American.

Robyn Fairbanks had her 10th double-double of the season with 22 points (on 10-for-15 shooting) and 10 rebounds to go along with four assists, three steals and two blocks. Julie McMurray had yet another solid day off the bench with 15 points and eight boards, hitting 6-for-10 from the field.

Senior Veva Ahlstrom, playing in her final home game at Utah Valley, had seven points and three assists while Rebekah Peterson had nine points, six rebounds and four assists. Lauren Smith also had a solid line as she came off the bench and had four points and seven rebounds.

"I've loved every moment of it," said Ahlstrom. "This team's awesome. They are amazing and everybody wants everybody to shine. The experience of playing Division-I basketball has been amazing."

The Wolverines trailed 10-8 with 16:00 to go in the first half before seizing control of the game with a 15-1 run that left NJIT scoreless for over seven minutes.

UV built a 36-19 lead by halftime and scored two quick buckets in the second half to take a 40-19 lead.

After O'Dwyer scored with 13:54 to go to cut the Wolverine lead to 43-24, UV used a 9-0 spurt to push the lead to 52-24 before leading by as much as 36 late in the game.

NJIT (4-22) was led by 10 points each from Aine O'Dwyer and Colleen Vogel. O'Dwyer also had seven rebounds, three assists and two steals for the Highlanders.

Utah Valley won the rebounding battle 50-27 and shot 45.6% for the game while holding NJIT to just 25.9% shooting.

Walk on players Chelsey Potter and Mari Larsen were able to see time on the floor for the first time. Potter had two points, one assist and one rebound in seven minutes while Larsen played three minutes and pulled down one rebound.