Jan. 30, 2010
Box Score
NEWARK - Utah Valley senior Julie Smith moved past Sandy Wall for second on the UVU all-time scoring list with a career-high 37 points and Asumi Nakayama added a season-high 14 points Saturday at NJIT, but the Wolverines were on the short end of a 79-69 score in a Great West Conference loss to the Highlanders.
The Wolverines, who trailed by as many as 17 in the second half, cut the lead to three on a pair of free throws by Smith with five minutes left in the game, but they couldn't get any closer.
With the loss, the Wolverines fall to 4-18 overall and 0-4 in GWC play, while NJIT improved to 8-12 overall and 3-1 in league play.
For the week, Smith, who had 24 points and two rebounds in a loss at Chicago State Thursday, averaged 30.5 points and 3.5 rebounds for the Wolverines.
Smith single-handedly kept the Wolverines in the contest in the first half by scoring 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field, including 3-of-5 from the three-point line.
Utah Valley trailed by 12 with 6:05 left in the half before Smith got hot, scoring 11 straight points. The third of her three straight three-pointers cut the Highlander lead to five with 4:30 left and her jumper in the whittled the lead to three at 28-25 with 4:07 left. With that shot, Smith moved pass Wall for second all-time on the UVU scoring list.
The Wolverines pulled to within four points two more times - one two fouls shots each from Smith and Blake Reynolds - before trailing 36-30 at the break.
After a cold start where they didn't record a field goal for the first 4:15 of the game, the Wolverines shot a respectable 47.4 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes, while NJIT shot 53.8 percent.
The Wolverines opened the half with another cold slump, and trailed by as 14 before they scored their first field goal of the half by Smith with 16:30. NJIT got the lead to as high as 17 before UVU began its comeback.
Nakayama buried back-to-back three-pointers and Jenna Johnson, who finished with nine points in the game, hit 1-of-2 foul shots to cut the lead to seven with 8:00 left. After an NJIT turnover, Smith connected on two foul shots and the NJIT lead was down to five with 7:34 left in the game.
UVU couldn't get within three the remainder of the game.
Utah Valley finished the game shooting 43.5 percent from the floor, while NJIT shot 56.9 percent. UVU connected on 19-of-27 fouls shots, while NJIT hit 17-of-24.
Taiwo Oyelola and Jessica Gerald scored 20 and 19 points, respectively for the Highlanders.
Utah Valley is back in action Thursday, Feb. 4 when the Wolverines host UTPA at 3 p.m. at the UVU Events Center in the first of two GWC games for the week.
