Box Score PROVO, Utah--Despite a leading effort in the first quarter, the Utah Valley women's basketball team fell to Brigham Young University 78-62 in their season opener in Provo, Utah.
 
Utah Valley led going into the second quarter 16-15, before BYU took a 10-2 run to take the lead for the remainder of the contest. The loss was the start of six games in ten days for the Wolverines, who will return home on Saturday to see Bethesda University.
 
The Wolverines were led by senior Sam Loggins who tallied 15 points and eight rebounds on the night. Sophomore Mariah Seals contributed 13 points on the night, while sophomore Taylor Gordon grabbed 10. Junior standout Rhaiah Spooner-Knight tallied eight points and Agnew and Blanks each scored five points. Freshman Quynne Huggins registered her first career minutes and three points in her Division I debut.
 
"On both ends of the floor, when we stuck to the game plan and played together as a team, we were pretty good," head coach Cathy Nixon said. "We had some great possessions defensively, and offensively when we executed and were patient we were able to get good shots. I think for 34 minutes of the game we played well, but some lapses in the first half and a long stretch in the second half we got out of our rhythm, and a good team like BYU will capitalize on that."  

Despite the deficit, Utah Valley shot 39.2 percent from the field, and 86.4 percent from the charity stripe. Seals, Spooner-Knight and Gordon each aided with three assists apiece on the night.
 
Brigham Young was led by Makenzie Pulsipher with a career high 27 points, and Kylie Maeda and Amanda Wayment shared a team high seven rebounds apiece, a career high for Wayment. BYU's Lexi Eaton Ryldach contributed 19 points and Jasmine Moody added eight points.
 
Utah Valley will return home to the UCCU Center on Saturday to take on Bethesda at 4 p.m. MT for their home opener on the season.