Utah Valley vs. Boise State | Saturday, Dec. 6, 2014, 3 p.m. MTLive Audio |
StatBroadcast| Live Video
OREM, Utah-Utah Valley University women's basketball welcomes Boise State Saturday Dec. 6 for a contest in the PE Building at 3 p.m. MT.
Boise State (5-2) was picked to finish second in the preseason Mountain West Conference poll. The Broncos return 5 starters, plus two other players who started a minimum of nine contests in the 13-14 season, where the Broncos finished 18-14, 12-6 MW, and finished third of 11 in the Mountain West.
Deanna Weaver returns as their most proved scorer with 13.7 points per game in the 13-14 season. Weaver earned MW All-Conference first team honors, MW Newcomer of the Year, and All-Defensive team honors last season, as well as being named preseason MW All-Conference this fall. Also returning is sophomore point guard Yaiza Rodriguez Ortego, last year's MW Co-Freshman of the year and a member of the MW All-Freshman team.
Boise State opened the season with a pair of wins at home against Montana State and New Mexico State. The Broncos found their first loss at Southern Utah, before they traveled to the Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage, Alaska. They were defeated by Long Beach State in their first contest and then snatched a win against Yale in overtime for third place. The Broncos earned their last two wins against Carroll College at home, and Idaho State on the road.
The Broncos also picked up Purdue transfer Camille Redmon for her senior season, who was named the MW Preseason Newcomer of the Year.
"Boise is very good, they have a couple of really good players and they are a good, experienced team," head coach
Cathy Nixon said. "It definitely will be a challenge for us, and I hope we have learned from our game earlier this week that we need to come out with intensity and urgency on both ends of the floor and play together as a team. When we do that, we can be competitive against Boise or anyone else."
This will be the 11th meeting between the Wolverines (3-5) and the Broncos. Boise leads the streak 8-2, with a five game winning streak. Their last meeting was Dec. 5, 2013 at Boise State with a Bronco win 63-60.
Utah Valley enters the contest on Saturday with a 3-5 record. The Wolverines dropped a 76-72 decision against Southern Utah on Tuesday night. Junior guard
Patrice Toston led the Wolverines with a team high 16 points, while four other Wolverines had points in the double digits;
Rebecca MaWhinney with 13,
Mariah Seals with 12,
Rhaiah Spooner-Knight with 11 and
Taylor Gordon with 10. Despite trailing 15 points at the half, Utah Valley was able to come back in the second half and close the gap to just two points with only seconds left. The Wolverines then played a fouling game and were shut out when SUU's Desiree Jackson made all six of her free throws to secure the victory.
Through eight games this season, Spooner-Knight leads the Wolverines with 13.8 points per game, while Toston tallies 11.
Karlee Norris leads on the boards bringing down 9.1 per game and
Mariah Seals leads in assists with 4.75.
Saturday's game will tip off at 3 p.m. MT and will be broadcast live on the Western Athletic Conference Digital Network.
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