Feb. 4, 2010

Box Score

OREM, Utah - Utah Valley trailed by just two points at the half in its Great West Conference contest with Texas-Pan American Thursday afternoon, but the Wolverines couldn't make up the difference in dropping a 71-61 decision to the Lady Broncs.

Julie Smith paced the Wolverines with 27 points, while Jenna Johnson added 14 and Erika Newbold chipped in with eight points and a team-high seven rebounds. Bianca Torre led the Lady Broncs with 23 points.

With the loss, the Wolverines fall to 4-19 overall and 0-6 in league play, while the Lady Broncs improve to 8-13 and 4-1 and move into a first-place tie with North Dakota atop the league standings.

The Wolverines pulled within a point on two occasions in the second half on two foul shots by Smith and then a lay-up by Newbold with just over 16 minutes left in the game. UTPA led by as many as 12 points late the second half.

The game was tied five times and the lead changed hands four times in the first half. The Lady Broncs, who shot 43.8 percent from the field, held their largest lead of the half at 9-4 when Rose Jean drilled a three-pointer with 17:06 left.

Smith, who had 13 points in the first half, scored eight of the Wolverines' next 10 points, giving UVU a three-point lead with 13:37 left in the half. UVU built its largest lead of the half at 17-13 a three-pointer by Kaycee Mansfield with 13:06 remaining in the half.

UTPA tied the score at 29-29 at the 3:25 mark and increased its lead to four before leading 35-33 at the break.

Both teams shot 50 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes.

The Wolverines return to action Saturday afternoon when they host Houston Baptist at 4:30 p.m. in the UVU Events Center.