SALT LAKE CITY – Utah Valley guard Taylor Gordon scored an individual season-high 17 points in Utah Valley's contest at Utah, but the Utes had five players reach double figures to top the Wolverines, 100-52, Saturday at the Jon M. Huntsman Center.
 
Gordon, who finished with nearly half of Utah Valley's (0-3) scoring at the half with 13 points (4-of-5 FG), made a season-high tying six field goals (6-of-11) to finish two shy of her career high. The 5-8, junior Gordon also hit all five of her free throw attempts for the game, each of which came in the opening 20 minutes.
 
"I thought Taylor was really good tonight," said Utah Valley head coach Cathy Nixon. "She was composed, confident and aggressive and I could barely get her a sub into the game for her. She just played really good on all accounts."
 
The Wolverines opened up the contest two points ahead of the Utes, who were called for technical on a violation for not having any players in the circle at the game's start. Prior to opening tip, Gordon nailed the ensuing pair of foul shots that were awarded to Utah Valley.
 
UVU extended its game-opening lead to 6-0 on back-to-back buckets made by Gordon. Seals followed with her first score two plays layers after a basket by the Utes to give Utah Valley an 8-2 lead just over the two-minute mark.
 
Trailing 21-10 after a 19-2 Utah run in the first quarter, the Wolverines went on another 8-2 run sparked by freshman Jordan Holland to cut the deficit to four. A steal by Gabrielle Leos led to two free throws off the fastbreak from Holland, who hit a corner three on UVU's next possession.
 
Utah (3-0) used a 16-3 run to open the second period to extend the lead to 38-23 with 3:38 remaining in the first half.
 
UVU junior Mariah Seals ended the Utes' early second-quarter run with a drive and layup to bring the Wolverines back to within 39-25. A quick three-point play by Gordon on a layup and foul at the first-half buzzer cut the score to 45-27 heading into the halftime break.
 
After the Utes went on a 15-2 run at the start of the third quarter, Gordon hit her fifth jumper to stop Utah's scoring run and bring the score to 60-34 with 4:45 to go in the period. Meanwhile, a Seals steal led to another fastbreak layup by the point guard for her second of the period.
 
A third layup by Seals in the third gave her six points in the period and brought the Wolverines to it's lowest deficit the rest of the way at 25 points with the score at 63-38.
 
The Wolverines finished the night with two double-digit scorers, headlined by Gordon's 17 points. Seals added 12 points on six made field goals (6-of-16) of her own to give the duo their third straight game in double-figures as individuals.
 
On defense, the Wolverines held the Utes' second leading scorer scoreless as Tanaeya Boclair went 0-2 from the field in the opening two frames of the game. Boclair, who entered the game averaging 16 points per contest, finished with a season-low four points.
 
Despite Boclair's scoring struggles, Utah saw its leading scorer on the season Emily Potter pour in 16 points to lead all Ute starters. Potter was joined in double figures by Daneesha Provo, who had a game-high 18, Paige Crozon and Kiana Moore with 15 points a piece and Malia Nawahine 's 12.
 
"I thought they controlled the tempo for 37 minutes. Hats off to them, they have a really good, talented team. Some of their experience is really good playing at that high level," Nixon said.
 
Utah Valley now returns to its homecourt for a pre-Thanksgiving game vs. Eastern Washington on Tuesday, November 22. Tip-off from the UCCU Center is set for 7 p.m. MT.