Nov. 25, 2008

Box Score

Albuquerque, N.M. - Julie McMurray had 25 points and nine rebounds but Utah Valley came up short, 84-70, at New Mexico in front of 6,790 fans on Tuesday night in The Pit.

Sandy Marvin-Wall and Robyn Fairbanks both had 14 points for the Wolverines (1-3). Fairbanks also had eight boards but was limited due to foul trouble including just six minutes in the first half.

The Lobos (4-1) got 17 apiece from Amy Beggin and Angela Hartill. Beggin also had eight rebounds, six assists and four steals.

McMurray singlehandedly kept the Wolverines in the game early after Fairbanks picked up her second foul with 10:32 left in the opening half and UVU down 17-5.

Utah Valley jumped right back into it though with a 10-4 run led by five points from McMurray and capped by a Kim Koeven three to trim the deficit to four.

Lauren Smith also made a nice contribution off the bench in the half, hitting both of her field goal attempts for four points. Smith finished the game with six points.

UVU got within a point, 32-31, on an Asumi Nakayama free throw with 1:12 left in the half before the Lobos hit three freebies to end the half with a 35-31 advantage.

In the second half Beggin took over, scoring 15 of her 17 points including three, three pointers, each of which seemed to come at just the right time for the Lobos.

Utah Valley withstood several New Mexico runs, climbing within two points on three different occasions with as late as 10 minutes remaining, but Beggin and the Lobos were too much.

The Wolverines finished with 20 turnovers, but just six came in the second half. New Mexico won the battle on the boards 42-37 and got to the free throw line 30 times, hitting 23, compared to a 10-for-14 night from the charity stripe for UVU.

After having Thanksgiving Day off, Utah Valley will be back in action on Saturday at 6 p.m. MT at Boise State.