LAS CRUCES, N.M.--Despite a career high 14 points from freshman Deijah Blanks and a 53.1 percent shooting night from the field, costly turnovers led the Utah Valley University women's basketball team to drop a heartbreaker to WAC leader New Mexico State 67-62 on Thursday Feb. 19 at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces, N.M.
 
Utah Valley (9-16, 3-7 WAC) led for more than 26 minutes on the night and four Wolverines shot in double digit figures, but the effort was not enough to overcome big three pointers and a combined 41 points from Aggies Brianna Freeman and Shanice Davis.
 
Freshman guard Mariah Seals led the Wolverines with 15 points, while Rhaiah Spooner-Knight tallied 13, Georgia Agnew finished with 10 and Blanks added her career high 14. Junior Sam Loggins chipped in six points and Norris ended with four.  Loggins led on the boards with seven, while Agnew brought down six, and Seals and Blanks each grabbed five.
 
New Mexico State (17-7, 10-1 WAC) took the lead 61-60 with a huge three from Davis with 2:57 remaining. Davis extended the lead with a layup at 1:25, and was followed with a layup from teammate Freeman with 33 seconds left to play. Rhaiah Spooner-Knight added a clutch layup with 19 seconds remaining to close the five-point deficit to 63-60.
 
The Wolverines missed a layup with 12 seconds remaining, and a foul sent the Aggies to the line, where Sasha Weber made both free throws with 10 seconds remaining. A last second attempt at a jumper from Seals wasn't enough for the Wolverines to take home the victory.
 
"The thing that cost us the game was our turnovers. We had 22 turnovers that resulted in 23 points, and a lot of those were fast break points that we couldn't really defend. We had a few too many turnovers and some untimely ones at the end, but I'm very proud of our team. If we execute on the offensive end, and defend like we are capable of, then we can compete with any team in our league," said head coach Cathy Nixon.  "Defensively, we were really good, and New Mexico State was talented and can score. For the most part, we controlled the pace of the game and had a very good offensive effort tonight. We have to be able to close games, and to have 22 turnovers and still have it be a close game, we were fortunate, because against a team like New Mexico State you can't give them that many points."
 
The Wolverines closed the first half with a tied score at 36-36 and shooting 64.0 percent from the field. Midway through the first, Utah Valley went on a short spurt with a jumper from Spooner-Knight, a jumper from Seals, and two field goals from Blanks to control the game.
 
The Aggies retaliated with a handful of layups to tie the game at 23 with 7:41 left before the break. A jumper from Spooner-Knight, combined with a layup and two free throws from Loggins and another jumper from Spooner-Knight gave Utah Valley a 31-23 lead, their largest lead of the half.
 
 An Aggie jumper, a three and a layup closed the gap to just one point. Agnew tallied a jumper, until Aggie Shanice Davis put up a three to close the gap once more at 33-33. Spooner-Knight added a jumper and a free throw to try and extend the Wolverine lead into the half, but a clutch last second three pointer from Sasha Weber tied the score at the break. 
 
Utah Valley will close out their road stretch at Texas-Pan American on Saturday Feb. 21 at 1 p.m. MT in the UTPA Fieldhouse. Links for the live stream and live statistics can be found on WolverineGreen.com.