Nov. 30, 2011

Box Score

CEDAR CITY, Utah - Utah Valley fought back from a double digit deficit and pulled within a couple of points a couple of times Wednesday night in Cedar City, but it wasn't enough as Southern Utah defeated the Wolverines 80-65.

UVU (2-3) freshman Taylor Huber led the way off the bench for the Wolverines with a season-high 15 points while Erika Newbold added 14 and Abbie Beutler chipped in 11.

"We dug ourselves in an early hole and just couldn't get out of it," UVU head coach Cathy Nixon said. "We had some nice stretches and got within two a couple of times but turnovers prevented us from overcoming their lead. We had the chances but just didn't capitalize on them."

After a Jenna Johnson three-pointer gave the Wolverines an 8-6 lead early in the game, SUU (2-4) rallied by going on a 15-2 run to take a 21-10 advantage. During the T-Bird spurt Hailey Mandelko and Carli Moreland led the way with six points apiece.

Southern Utah would later stretch its first half advantage to 14 points, at 26-12, but back came the Wolverines. UVU would cut the deficit to five (30-25) after a 13-4 spurt of its own. Huber helped spark the run as she drilled two three pointers during it.

Late in the half a Beutler layup and two made freebies from Newbold and two more from Huber pulled the Wolverines all the way within two, at 37-35, with 1:23 to the break. But two late SUU buckets gave the T-Birds a six-point lead at intermission.

In the second half the Wolverines got within three points, at 44-41, following a Kaycee Mansfield layup with 13:21 to play. SUU then responded on its home court with a 14-4 run to go up 58-43 with 10 minutes to play. UVU fought back from there and got within single digits numerous times but just couldn't get over the hump as it fell by 15 points.

Mandelko led Southern Utah with a game-high 23 points while Moreland finished with 17 points and eight boards.

The game marked the first of six games to be played against in-state opponents for the Wolverines on the season. UVU will play home-and-home series' with SUU and Weber State in the next couple of weeks and will also play at Utah and Utah State over the next month.

The Wolverines will now return home to start a five-game homestand beginning with the Tulsa Golden Hurricane on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the Activity Center. UVU will then face Weber State on Dec. 8 and SUU on Dec. 10. The Wolverines will wrap up the homestand with contests against Northern Arizona on Dec. 17 and South Dakota on Dec. 19.

"This was a tough loss for me but with our homestand coming up hopefully we will start to be a little more consistent," Nixon added. "It's always good to be home and hopefully these home games will help spark us."