PHOENIX-The Utah Valley University women's basketball team fell to Grand Canyon University 65-64, despite a double-double effort from senior
Sam Loggins with 22 points and 12 rebounds in the final regular season contest.
The loss seals a No. 4 seed for UVU in the upcoming Western Athletic Conference Tournament. The Wolverines will play the No. 5 seed Missouri-Kansas City on Wednesday March 9 at 2 p.m. PT in the Orleans Arena in the first round of the tournament.
"That game will be great preparation for us for the tournament next week: we are on the road, this is a good Grand Canyon team. They hit threes and made plays and it was challenging. I do think we were able to do some good things, and
Sam Loggins was absolutely fantastic tonight and her stats show it. We were able to go to her, and she was aggressive and made her way to the basket."
With two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Loggins made a jumper to tie the game at 61-61 and converted on a three-point play to take a one-point advantage. With 47 seconds left, the Antelopes made a layup to take the lead 63-62. The Wolverines responded with a layup from
Deijah Blanks for a 64-63 advantage with 31 seconds remaining, but Alyx Bloom hit a perfect jumper and the Wolverines could not find a basket as time expired.
Loggins recorded her third double-double of the season with 22 points and 12 rebounds and picked up 2 blocks along the way. Loggins' 22 points came from 9-of-16 from the field and 4-of-5 from the charity stripe in 37 minutes of play.
Sophomore
Mariah Seals tallied 14 points on the day, while
Karlee Norris earned nine points along the way. Blanks picked up eight rebounds and six points, and
Georgia Agnew had six rebounds and four assists in the contest.
The Wolverines shot 13-of-14 free-throw line for a 92.9 margin on the day, and earned 42 points from in the paint. Additionally, UVU shot 44.4 percent (24-for-54) from the field while Grand Canyon shot 44.1 percent (26-of-59).
"This game felt like March Madness. Both of our fours were in foul trouble early, so we were playing without a four and had to get creative on the offensive end, but our team adapted to that and obviously we were able to recover. We had a chance to beat a good team tonight, and it didn't come down to that. But I don't think we have lost any of our momentum that we will need for next week, and this might be the best case scenario in terms if learning and preparedness. We will rest up and be ready to go on Wednesday."
Utah Valley will now look to the WAC Tournament where they will see UMKC on Wednesday March 9 at 2 p.m. PT in the Orleans Arena.
