Dec. 11, 2010
Box Score
CEDAR CITY, Utah - A slow offensive start doomed the Utah Valley women's basketball Saturday evening in Cedar City, as the Wolverines (1-8) dropped a 69-50 decision to Southern Utah.
The win for the Thunderbirds (4-5) was their second of the season over UVU. The game also marked the Wolverines final game against an instate opponent on the year.
"We definitely weren't ready to play in the first five minutes of the game," UVU head coach Cathy Nixon said. "We are a young team and when we bury ourselves in a hole like that our confidence really takes a dive and it makes it hard to pull out of it. These kids really need to learn how to compete. I thought that maybe we had turned the corner but this game proved that we've got some more work to go."
UVU got off to a slow start as they found themselves trailing 10-0 early on. Junior Jenna Johnson finally got the Wolverines on the scoreboard as she drained a 3-ball from the top of the key with 15:00 to play in the opening half. From there the slow start continued as SUU worked their lead all the way up to 20 points at 29-9 following a fastbreak layup from Challis Pascucci with 9:05 left in the half.
With the Wolverines still down by 20 with just over two minutes to play in the first half, UVU finished the half on a 7-0 run to cut the score to 37-24 at the break. Sophomore Kaycee Mansfield started the rally by scoring the first bucket, while sophomore Sammie Jensen scored the final five points on an and-one conversion and a fastbreak layup.
UVU hung around early in the second half and managed to cut the Thunderbird lead to just 11, at 41-30, following a midrange Jensen jumper with 16 minutes to go. SUU's Challis Pascucci then took the game over as the senior center helped her team go on a 20-4 run to put the game away. During the stretch, Pascucci had 12 of the Thunderbirds 20 points.
The SUU run was finally broken up by UVU's Johnson, as she converted another 3-pointer.
Johnson led the Wolverines offensively as she poured in 16 second half points to finish with a season-high tying tally of 19. Johnson finished a perfect 7-7 from the floor in the second half and 8-10 in the game. Jensen also had a good game, finishing just one rebound shy of a double-double with 11 points and nine boards.
SUU was led by its one-two punch of Pascucci and Caitlyn Sears. Pascucci finished with a game-high 28 points, while Sears added 14.
The Wolverines will now have a week off for their fall semester finals. UVU will return to action next Saturday, Dec. 18 at the UCCU Center when they host Cal State Bakersfield. The Wolverines will then finish off their pre-Christmas portion of the schedule by hosting Boise State on Dec. 20.
