Feb. 3, 2007

Box Score

Fort Wayne, Indiana - Utah Valley State (11-11) made a late charge but it wasn't enough as IPFW (11-10) held on for an 82-70 win Saturday afternoon in Indiana. In the game, sophomore center Robyn Fairbanks became the first player to reach 1,000 career points since Utah Valley's jump to Division-I athletics.

She reached the milestone on her 13th point of the game, a free-throw with 14:20 left in the second half. Fairbanks has a career average of 20.6 points per game and reached the plateau in just 49 career contests.

"It's amazing the short amount of time that it's taken her," said head coach Cathy Nixon. "The word I've used over and over for Robyn has been consistent. It's been that way since her first game here as a freshman. We're really fortunate to have her in our program and it's exciting to see her getting better despite of what everybody tries to do to stop her."

IPFW junior Johnna Lewis-Carlisle also reached 1,000 points for her career with her fifth point early in the first half. She finished with a game-high 24 points.

Fairbanks had 22 points on 7-for-9 shooting to go along with nine rebounds in 23 minutes of action while freshman Julie McMurray scored a career-high 22 points off the bench.

"We have to have another scorer and I was really proud of the way Julie responded," said Nixon. "The combination of Julie and Robyn, their inside-outside punch is just awesome and I think you're just seeing a glimpse of what Julie can do in the future."

After the Wolverines opened the game with five straight points, IPFW used a 9-1 run to take a 9-6 lead. From there neither team lead by more than four until late in the half when the Mastodons answered a 6-0 UV run with a 10-0 run started by long three pointers from Lewis-Carlisle and Hannah Thieke.

IPFW outscored the Wolverines over the final 6:03 of the half 19-5 to carry a 44-32 lead into the break. The Mastodons were helped by 5-for-8 shooting from the three-point line in the half, including 2-for-3 from both Lewis-Carlisle and Thieke.

Fairbanks played just six minutes in the first half after picking up her second foul with 12:21 remaining. McMurray led UV with 10 at the break while Lewis-Carlisle had 15 for IPFW.

Utah Valley opened the second half on an 8-4 run on three straight lay ups by Fairbanks and one from Sandy Marvin, but IPFW scored the next eight points to take its biggest lead of the game, 56-40.

Fairbanks single-handedly kept the Wolverines in the game, scoring eight of the next 10 UV points before a McMurray bucket cut the lead to eight, 62-54 with 7:57 to go.

Lewis-Carlisle came right back with another long three to give the Mastodons an 11-point advantage.

Rebekah Peterson hit two free-throws and McMurray added another bucket to cut the lead to 65-58 with 6:29 left.

Lewis-Carlisle then hit yet another three to push the lead back to double digits at 68-58 with 4:10 remaining in the game.

McMurray then spurred a 7-0 UV run to cut the lead to three, 68-65 with 2:20 left, but that's as close as the Wolverines would come as the Mastodons hit 14 foul shots down the stretch to clinch the win.

Utah Valley will host Texas-Pan American as D-I Independent play continues next Saturday at 7:05pm in the Shurian Family Activity Center.

Game Notes: McMurray scored 13 points in Thursday's win over New Jersey Tech, averaging 17.5 points in two games this week ... Fairbanks career total is currently 1,009 points ... it's the 21st time in 22 games that Fairbanks has scored at least 16 points and the 15th time she has scored at least 20 points in a game ... the Wolverines fell to 1-3 vs. D-I Independents with six games remaining in the season ... IPFW will make the return trip to face Utah Valley on February 24th in Orem.