Jan. 21, 2009
Box Score
OREM, Utah - Utah Valley's offense was clicking on all cylinders in an 87-72 win over Denver on Wednesday night in the McKay Center. The Wolverines (8-8) shot 56.4 percent and recorded a season-high 26 assists on 31 made field goals to win two straight for the first time this season.
For the second straight game, Sandy Wall matched a school record with five three-pointers and after hitting her first three, had made eight consecutive dating back to the previous game. She finished with a season-high 23 points on 8-for-14 shooting and has hit 10 of her last 12 three-point attempts.
Robyn Fairbanks finished with 30 points and nine rebounds in 21 minutes, reaching the 30-point mark for the third time in the last four games. The reigning Great West Conference Player of the Week, Fairbanks upped her nation-leading scoring average to 25.3 per game. She was 9-for-15 from the field and also hit all 11 of her free throw attempts.
Julie McMurray added 13 points and Erika Newbold had career highs of seven points and six rebounds while Asumi Nakayama dished out nine assists and Hollie Beaman added six.
"When we're clicking like that offensively I think we are a very good team," said head coach Cathy Nixon. "We had Julie and Robyn on the bench and we didn't stall out... we didn't miss a beat."
Utah Valley had an extremely hot start, hitting 14 of its first 18 field goal attempts. Fairbanks was 5-for-5 in the first half with 13 points before picking up her second foul after playing just six minutes.
With Fairbanks on the bench Wall took over, scoring 11 points on four consecutive makes from the field, three of which were three pointers, on an 11-4 UVU run to give the Wolverines a 38-24 lead with 6:47 left in the half.
Despite Utah Valley hitting 65.4 percent from the field in the first half, the Pioneers (9-9) were able to stay in the game thanks to shooting 51.9 percent. Denver trimmed the once 14-point lead to eight, 44-36, by half time.
The Wolverines began the second half on a 14-4 run to push the lead to 18 with Wall and Fairbanks each scoring five during the run. Denver cut it to 10, 60-50, on Brianna Culberson's layup with 12:17 left but could never get within single digits as the Wolverines, who never trailed, evened up the all-time series at one win apiece.
Andie Mason led the Pioneers with 18 points while Nnenna Akotaobi finished with 15. Ashly Robinson had a game-high 11 rebounds for Denver, which had a slight 30-29 advantage on the glass.
Up next for Utah Valley will be the WBCA Pink ZoneTM game next Tuesday, Jan. 27 vs. Weber State in a game that is designed to help raise awareness in the fight against breast cancer. The first 500 fans in attendance will receive a free pink Utah Valley Basketball t-shirt. Portions of the ticket sales and fans donations will go to help Orem resident Joyce Wheeler, who is currently fighting breast cancer.
