OREM, Utah—The Utah Valley University women's basketball team dropped a 56-47 decision at home against Idaho State Tuesday afternoon, despite an early fourth-quarter lead.
 
Karlee Norris was the only Wolverine (7-7) to score in double digits with 11, while Mariah Seals tallied nine points, and Sam Loggins had eight on the night. Taylor Gordon and Loggins led UVU on the boards with eight apiece, while Georgia Agnew and Rebecca MaWhinney each pulled down four boards.
 
"I thought the difference in the game came down to rebounds, they had 20 offensive rebounds and out-rebounded us by 19 total," head coach Cathy Nixon Said. "I thought we got a little bit passive on the offensive end settling for perimeter shots. Maybe we should have taken it to the basket more, we only shot eight free throws.
 
Idaho State (7-4) jumped out to a 4-3 lead before UVU went on an 8-0 run to lead 12-5 with just under two minutes left in the period. After a quick ISU layup, MaWhinney closed the quarter with a 3-pointer for a 15-7 Wolverine lead.
 
In the second quarter both teams went back and forth until a Bengals layup cut the Utah Valley lead to just six, at 22-16 to end the half.
 
ISU started the second half strong cutting the UVU lead to just four, however, back-to-back Norris layups gave the Wolverines a 10-point advantage at 38-28. ISU's Freya Newton then answered with a 3-pointer at the end of the quarter to cut the UVU lead to 38-31
 
The Bengals fought back in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 38 with 6:59 left to play. ISU went on a 9-0 run that included a jumper from Anna Policicchio that gave Idaho State their first lead since early in the first quarter. The run was broken up by freshman Quynne Huggins who hit a 3-pointer to cut the ISU lead to just one at 44-43. From there, the Bengals never looked back as they held UVU to seven straight missed field goals and 2 of 13 shooting to close the contest.
 
Idaho State had three players score in double digits led by Brooke Blair's game-high 15 points.
 
Utah Valley will continue its homestand against UC Davis on Dec. 31 at 1 p.m. in the PE Building.