Jan. 29, 2009
Box Score
OREM, Utah - The Utah Valley women's basketball team used a big second half to run past Chicago State, 79-50, on Thursday night behind 28 points and 14 rebounds from Robyn Fairbanks and 20 from Julie McMurray.
Hollie Beaman finished with just shy of a triple-double with eight points, seven rebounds and a career-high 11 assists in a season-high 33 minutes for the Wolverines (10-8). Asumi Nakayama finished with six points, five assists and six steals, also in 33 minutes of action.
The Wolverines, who have now won a season-best four games in a row, outscored the Cougars (11-9) 52-27 in the second half after hitting 55.9 percent after the break. Utah Valley hit 47 percent (31-for-66) overall while Chicago State shot just 27.6 percent (16-for-58).
Utah Valley jumped out to a 23-12 lead after 11 minutes before the offense sputtered over the final nine minutes of the half. The Wolverines went nearly five minutes without a point before Erika Newbold hit two free throws with 4:11 left, giving UVU a 25-17 lead.
Fairbanks' bucket with 1:55 to go in the first half was the only other point that the Wolverines would muster before the break as Chicago State ended the half on an 11-4 run to get within four, 27-23.
The teams played even basketball over the first five minutes of the second half before runs of 12-4 and 13-1 gave Utah Valley a 65-41 lead with 4:40 left. Beaman had three assists during the second run, capping it with an assist on a Lauren Smith bucket.
Chicago State was led by 15 points from Jael Pena and 11 by Courtney Waldon while Laureen Pierson had a team-high nine rebounds.
After turning the ball over 11 times in the first half, Utah Valley limited it to just six after the break while the Cougars turned in over 10 times in the final 20 minutes, finishing with 19 in the game.
McMurray scored 17 of her 20 points after the first half while Fairbanks, who upped her nation-leading scoring average to 25.3, added 16 in the second half. McMurray is now just seven points shy of becoming the third UVU player (Fairbanks, Sandy Wall) to score 1,000 career point. Kayla Burningham came off the bench to pull down seven rebounds in 28 minutes.
The Wolverines will now be off until Feb. 7 when they host NAIA Johnson & Wales at 3 p.m. in one of their two non-Division-I games this season.
