March 7, 2009
Box Score
Photo Gallery
OREM, Utah - Utah Valley set a new school record for wins, running away with the Division I Independent Women's Basketball Championship, 80-55, over Chicago State on Saturday. The Wolverines finished the year 17-10, winning their last four games of the year.
Julie McMurray was named the tournament MVP after finishing with 17 points. She opened the tournament with the first triple-double in school history in Thursday's win over NJIT. Sandy Wall led Utah Valley with 24 and Robyn Fairbanks, who spent most of the night in foul trouble for the second night in a row, finished with 11 and was named to the all-tournament team.
Fairbanks led all scorers in the tournament with 20.0 points per game including her 40-point night on Thursday. In the first half she became just the 20th player in NCAA history to record 2,500 points and 1,000 rebounds in her career. She finished with 2,507 career points and a 22.8 per game average, scoring in double figures in 103 out of 110 games over four seasons.
The Wolverines took control of the game early, doing a significant portion of their damage from the 3-point line. Wall opened the game with a three and five other players hit at least one from beyond the arc. Kayla Burningham's trey from the corner capped a 20-7 spurt that saw a six point lead turn into a 19-point advantage, 32-13.
Utah Valley took a commanding 43-20 lead into the break, hitting 46.4 percent from the field and holding the Cougars to just 25.8 percent. Wall, Fairbanks and McMurray all reached double figures by half time.
It was the final game in the careers of Wall, Fairbanks, Hollie Beaman, Lauren Smith and Jordyn Bowen. Beaman capped her career with seven points, nine assists and two steals and was perfect from the field. Smith had five points in her finale and Bowen added two points and four rebounds.
The quartet of Wall, Fairbanks, Beaman and Smith came to Utah Valley at the start of the 2005-06 season and each year set new school records for wins in a season.
After 11 wins in 05-06, Bowen transferred from Idaho and was part of the 2006-07 team that won 14 games. Finally, after going 16-12 in 2007-08, the five will finish their careers as part of the most successful team in school history.
"They are a great group of young ladies," said an emotional coach Cathy Nixon. "They came here when Utah Valley was not respected by anyone at the Division I level. I just can't say enough about that group of girls. They have invested heart and soul. What an amazing impact those kids have had on this program."
I wouldn't want any other seniors to be going through the program with me. It was definitely memories and experiences that built that," said Wall, who finishes her career with 1,460 career points, second on the all-time list.
"There's not better to go out than on top. We're very lucky and we worked really hard. It's just a great group of girls to share this with," said Fairbanks.
Fairbanks ends the year with averages of 26.0 points and 10.8 rebounds, both school records. Her scoring average will likely place her second among all Division I players in the country when the college basketball season is completed.
Utah Valley finished the season, its final as a D-I independent, by winning 11 of the final 13 games. Next year UVU will join the Great West Conference and will host the first ever Great West Men's and Women's Basketball Championships March 10-13, 2010.
