EUGENE, Oregon--Despite a game-high 23-point effort from Rhaiah Spooner-Knight, the Utah Valley University women's basketball team fell to undefeated Pac 12 foe Oregon, 79-68, at the Matthew Knight Arena on Saturday.
 
Oregon jumped out to a 9-7 lead, but Rebecca MaWhinney fired a three-pointer to kick off a 9-0 run for the Wolverines, for the first Wolverine lead 18-13, which they would keep for nearly seven minutes of the first quarter. Utah Valley was up 22-19 when Oregon's Maite Cazorla hit a three to close the first quarter at a 22-22 tie.
 
In the second quarter, Utah Valley regained their lead 28-25, but Cazorla hit another game-tying trey at 28-all. Three back-to-back UVU layups returned the advantage to Utah Valley 34-31. Oregon responded with a 9-0 run to take a lead they would keep through the remainder of the contest, and led 37-42 at the break.
 
After a back-and-forth third quarter, the Wolverines cut the deficit to as little as six points with a Duck advantage 50-44, but five straight points from Ducks Jillian Alleyne and Liz Brenner extended the gap once again. Back-to-back Wolverine layups ended the third period at 57-49.  
 
The Ducks opened the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run to lead by as much as 16. It was broken up by a Spooner-Knight three-point play with a layup and a free throw. The Ducks ran again for five straight points to take a 19-point lead 72-53 with half a quarter left to play. Utah Valley responded with an 8-2 run of their own, to lessen the advantage 61-74. After an Oregon layup by Brenner, Utah Valley ran for seven more to cut the deficit to just nine points, 68-77 with 1:08 remaining. A Cazorla jumper closed the contest at 79-68.

"I am really proud of the girls and the way we played tonight," head coach Cathy Nixon said. "They executed the game plan really well and came out with a fire in them, and I could see it in them. I could see that they weren't intimidated by Oregon's status or winning record. I'm really proud of the way they battled, for about 35 minutes we were just sharp, and then for about five minutes they caught us in transition and we struggled defending them. Other than coming away with a win, I couldn't be more proud." 
 
In addition to Spooner-Knight's 23 points, Sam Loggins scored 14 points on the night, and Georgia Agnew had a team-high six rebounds. Deijah Blanks had nine points, Mariah Seals added eight points, and Senior Patrice Toston had a season-high five points. Taylor Gordon had four points, Rebecca MaWhinney hit a lone three-pointe, and Georgia Agnew chipped in two to round out the Wolverine scoring. 
 
Utah Valley shot a 27-for-61 clip from the field (44.3 percent) and had 37 points off of the bench.
 
Next up, the Wolverines will return home to host in-state foe Utah State on Thursday Dec. 10.