OREM, Utah—The Utah Valley University women's basketball team dropped a 61-53 decision against Grand Canyon on Saturday in its Western Athletic Conference home opener.
 
The Wolverines (7-11) were paced by Deijah Blanks with 14 points and Sam Loggins with 10 points. Mariah Seals scored nine points, and Patrice Toston added eight points on the night. Rebecca MaWhinney chipped in six while Georgia Agnew and Quynne Huggins added three apiece to round out the UVU scoring. Loggins led on the boards with eight while teammate Blanks picked up six rebounds on the night.
 
Grand Canyon (9-10) had four scorers in double digits with Cheyenne Hendrington leading the way with 16, Jessica Gajewski with 12, Alyx Bloom with 11 and Tanesha Daniels grabbing a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Courtney Hayes had a career-high 14 assists and four steals on the night.
 
"I think our kids are playing hard, but maybe not always playing smart. There were two things that separated them from us tonight, and that was rebounding, and the three-point line. We let a few of them get loose on us and we had a hard time finding the basket," head coach Cathy Nixon said.  "I encouraged our girls to find a way to be a part of the solution. When you are in a bit of a downslide like we are, we need to pick ourselves up from our boot straps and we need to find a way to get better, and I am confident that our girls can do that."  
 
The Wolverines and the Antelopes each picked up three treys in the first quarter, and tied the contest at 15-all with four minutes remaining in the period. Two Daniels' layups and a Loggins' layup ended the first quarter with a Grand Canyon advantage 19-16.
 
Both teams found themselves in an offensive shortage in the second quarter, Utah Valley in a scoring drought for four minutes and Grand Canyon in a seven-minute drought with eight consecutive turnovers.
 
 A MaWhinney three-pointer combined with layups from Seals and Toston broke the Wolverine drought after four minutes. The seemingly never-ending Grand Canyon drought was finally broken by a Jessica Gajewski three-pointer with 1:23 left before the break, leaving the Lopes with just four second-quarter points and a Utah Valley 27-23 lead going into the third quarter.
 
The Lopes opened the second half on a 6-0 run, quickly cut short by a Rebecca MaWhinney three-pointer. The Lopes went on another 6-0 run, again cut off by an Agnew jumper, leaving the Lopes with a 35-32 lead. Deijah Blanks knocked down three consecutive free throws to tie the contest at 35 with less than three minutes remaining in the period.  Free throws and a Toston layup gave Utah Valley a 38-37 advantage going into the fourth quarter.
 
 
Gajewski hit a three-pointer with 6:37 left to spark another 7-0 run broken by a Blanks jumper, to lead 49-45 with half a quarter left. Hendrington sealed the defeat with two big threes to lead 57-48 with under a minute remaining. UVU responded with a quick trey from Huggins, and Sam Loggins hit two free throws to come within four, but Grand Canyon free throws and costly missed shots closed the 61-53 decision.
 
Utah Valley will remain home to host Missouri-Kansas City and Chicago State next week on Jan. 21 and Jan. 23, respectively, at 5 p.m. and 3 p.m. in the UCCU Center.