Feb. 12, 2011
Box Score
OREM, Utah - Abbie Beutler and Sammie Jensen both notched double-doubles as Utah Valley won its third consecutive game over Texas-Pan American Saturday on "Pink with a Purpose" day in Orem. The win upped UVU to 5-18 overall and 3-5 in Great West action, while with the loss UTPA dropped to 10-17 and 2-7 in GWC play.
Beutler finished with career-highs of 27 points and 11 assists for her second double-double of the year, while reigning GWC Player of the Week Jensen dropped in 20 points and 14 boards for her 11th season double-double. Jenna Johnson also finished in double figures with 17 points.
"We're kind of starting to come into our own as a team," UVU head coach Cathy Nixon said. "We knew it would take us some time this year to understand the process but now I think we are playing much better basketball."
"We statistically gave ourselves a chance to win tonight. Our assist to turnover ratio was solid and we really committed to rebound the basketball. Overall I thought that we controlled the momentum and we were able to get stops on the defensive end."
The Wolverines got off to a quick start as Beutler scored a layup in the early stages to give UVU the early lead. The Broncs quickly came right back however and took the lead right back follwoing a 3-point play from Bianca Torre.
From there the Broncs held a couple point advantage for the majority of the first half. UTPA's largest lead of the first period was seven points. The Broncs finished a hot 5-of-6 from behind-the-arc in the first half, while UVU was 6-13 and had three players in double figures as Jensen and Beutler had 12 and Johnson had 10 at the break.
In the early stages of the second half UVU went on an 8-0 run (an 11-0 run dating back to the first half) to take a 49-45 lead. The Wolverines then extended their lead to 55-49 following a Johnson trey.
UTPA answered managing to roll off a 6-0 spurt of its own to tie the ballgame at 55-all. The Wolverines then countered with another 6-0 run to go back up by six at 61-55. UVU then built their lead all the way up to 12 at 72-60 with 3:24 to play following a Kaycee Mansfield 3-pointer.
The Wolverines held on the lead down the stretch as they managed to pull out the 12-point win.
UVU finished with just 12 turnovers in the game while dishing out 19 assists. The Wolverines also outrebounded UTPA 44-38. Mansfield and Jensen both finished with 14 boards apiece.
Bianca Torre paced the Broncs with 22 points.
The Wolverines return to action at the UCCU Center next week against conference foes South Dakota and North Dakota on Feb. 17 and 19.
UVU dedicated the "Pink with a Purpose" game to 17-year old Orem resident Emily Austin who is currently battling cancer. For more information how you can help Austin and her family CLICK HERE.
