Utah Valley at BYU (Nov. 21)
11 a.m. MT | Marriott Center | Provo, Utah
Utah Valley Game Notes | BYU Game Notes
Game Information
Live Video Stream: BYUtv  (Spencer Linton & Kristen Kozlowski)
Live Radio: BYU Radio
Live Stats Link: UVU at BYU Live Stats
 

---

OPENING TIP

As part of its five-game road swing to start the year, Utah Valley will make the trek down University Parkway into Provo Tuesday to face BYU in the UCCU Crosstown Clash at 11 a.m., inside the Marriott Center.

UVU suffered a 98-41 defeat at the hands of No. 18 Oregon State inside the Gill Coliseum on Nov. 15. Senior guard Taylor Christensen finished with a team-high 15 points and helped the Wolverines (0-3) put together the highest-scoring quarter by an OSU opponent this season with 18 points in the opening frame.

The Wolverines' backcourt trio of seniors Taylor Chrisensen and Mariah Seals, and sophomore Gabrielle Leos sits among the top-20 on the WAC scoring leaderboard. Christensen (14.7 PPG) ranks sixth in the WAC in scoring, while Seals (10.0 PPG) is 14th and Leos (9.0 PPG) rounds out that list in 20th.

UVU's floor general, Seals begins the week ranking eighth in the WAC in assists with 2.3 helpers per game.At Oregon State, Seals pushed her streak of consecutive games with an assist to ten games.

Junior guard Britta Spencer enters the week ranking ninth in the WAC in three-pointers per game and three-point field goal percentage (33.3 percent). Spencer brings a streak of six straight regular season games with at least one made three-pointer into this week's contests.

November will see the Wolverines accumulate 3, 336.4 miles of traveling to open the 2017-18 prior to their home opener on Nov. 28 versus Dixie State.

About the Cougars
BYU owns a 2-1 record coming into the week after picking up a 73-79 road victory on Friday over Eastern Washington. The Cougar win over the Eagles helped salvage a two-game roadtrip to the Evergreen State, as they also dropped a contest to Washington last week. Senior guard Cassie Devashrayee finished with team highs of 25 points and six steals for the Cougars in their win at EWU. Joining Devashrayee in double figures in that contest, sophomore guard Brenna Chase followed with 17 points. Entering the week, Devashrayee leads the West Coast Conference in scoring with 24.0 points per contest. The 5-9 guard has recorded a 20-point effort in each of BYU's outings. The Cougars are led on the glass by WCC rebound leader in sophomore forward Shalae Salmon, who averages 14.3 boards per game.

Series History vs. BYU      
Tuesday morning's contest will mark the eighth all-time meeting between the Wolverines and Cougars. BYU holds a 7-0 record in the all-time matchup against Utah Valley. The last UCCU Crosstown Clash resulted in BYU earning a  68-50 win over UVU in the season opener at home for the Wolverines at the start of the 2016-17 season on Nov. 11, 2016. Utah Valley guard Britta Hall scored a team-high 18 points and drained five three-pointers in the loss. Utah Valley last visited the Marriott Center on Nov. 13, 2015, when it fell to the Cougars, 78-62, as the two squads met on the hardword for the first time since the 2010-11 season. The Wolverines seek their first-ever road win against BYU, as they also enter the week 0-5 in the all-time series matchup. Head coach Cathy Nixon and BYU's head coach Jeff Judkins square off for the eighth time.

UVU-BYU Crosstown Connections

2007 Hall of Fame Inductee: Cathy Nixon
Utah Valley's 23rd-year head coach Cathy Nixon was inducted into the BYU Hall of Fame in 2007 as a player. Nixon is fifth all-time at BYU in career scoring (1,771 total points) and sixth in scoring average (16.1 points per game). Her .857 single game field-goal percentage in 1985 is tied for fifth all-time at BYU with a minimum of 10 attempts. During an exciting game against Florida in 1987, Nixon reached a career high of 36 points in a single game. Nixon started and ended her career strong as a Cougar. Helping BYU finish either first or second in the league during her tenure. Nixon was the fourth player in program history to score at least 1,000 points.As a freshman Nixon helped lead her team to the NCAA Tournament in 1985, placing 17th in the tournament. That year she received High Country Athletic Conference honorable mention, which was the first of many awards to follow.Throughout the following three seasons, Nixon became a six-time All-Tournament honoree, including Most Valuable Player of the 1987-88 BYU Holiday Classic. During her sophomore year, Nixon was a Kodak All-District VII selection. Honors continued the following year as she was named to the All-Rocky Mountain Region Team. More prestigious accolades were awarded to Nixon in 1987 and 1988 as she was named an All-American twice by the American Women Sports Federation. In 1988 Nixon received the Leona B. Holbrook Spirit of Sport Award, the highest honor BYU confers on a female athlete.

BYU Associate Head Coach: Dan Nielson
BYU Associate head coach Dan Nielson spent four seasons as an assistant coach at Utah Valley University under former BYU All-American Cathy Nixon (2009-2013). During those four years, the Wolverines won one regular-season Great Western Conference title and advanced to the league championship game three times and won the title once. This is Nielson's second stint with the Cougar women's program. He spent four years with the team as director of operations, a graduate assistant, a volunteer practice player and a basketball summer camps counselor for both the men's and women's team. He was a two-time All-District 14 honoree while playing basketball at Round Rock High School in Texas.

BYU Senior Women's Administrator: Liz Darger
BYU associate athletic director Liz Darger, the program's senior women's administrator, served as an assistant coach at Utah Vally University under head coach Cathy Nixon from 2009-2015. During her first four years at UVU, the Wolverines won one regular-season Great Western Conference title and advanced to the league championship game three times and won the title once. In addition, Darger spent time on the UVU sidelines during the squad's first two years in the Western Athletic Conference.  She also coached alongside BYU associate head coach Dan Nielson from 2009-2013.

Backcourt in Front
Utah Valley's backcourt trio of seniors Taylor Chrisensen and Mariah Seals, and sophomore Gabrielle Leos sits among the top-20 on the WAC scoring leaderboard. Christensen (14.7 PPG) ranks sixth in the WAC in scoring, while Seals (10.0 PPG) is 14th and Leos (9.0 PPG) rounds out that list in 20th. In addition, junior guard Britta Spencer enters the week averaging 42.4 points per game to give the squad the seocond highest scoring quartet of guards in the WAC in the early part of the season. The group of Wolverine starting guards has combined for 42.4 points per contest in the squad's first three outings. The Wolverines return their top-two scorers from 2016-17 in senior guards Taylor Christensen and Mariah Seals. Each ranked among the top 10 in the WAC in scoring during 2016-17, as Gordon was fifth with 13.7 points per game and Seals eighth (13.1 ppg) in their respective junior campaigns. Together Gordon and Seals formed the second highest-scoring backcourt duo in the WAC last season, averaging a combined 26.7 points per contest. The dual-threat tandem of Christensen and Seals teamed for 29-plus points in four WAC contests last year.

Mariah's Helping Hands
UVU's floor general, senior Mariah Seals has pushed her streak of consecutive games with an assist to ten games dating back to last season. In addition, she has racked up multiple assists in nine of those contests, including a season-high four dimes in the Wolverines' season opener at Weber State. Seals begins the week ranking eighth in the WAC in assists with 2.3 helpers per game.  Her 144 assists last year marked a new career high, topping her previous high of 82 as a sophomore. The Wolverines' 5-3 point guard, Seals has recorded  a team high in assists in two games. Seals led or tied for the team lead in assists 23 times last season. Among the  program's all-time assists leaders, Seals is third on UVU's all-time career assist chart (319) to begin 2017-18.

Road Warriors
The Wolverines kick off their season-opening with a five-game road swing that includes 3, 336.4 miles of traveling in November to open 2017-18. UVU heads to Oregon for its first pair of out-of-state contests at WCC-foe Portland and nationally-ranked No. 19 Oregon State from the PAC-12 on back-to-back nights Nov. 14-15. UVU's first road trip of the year continues in Utah with the trek down University Parkway to Provo for a contest at BYU in the UCCU Crosstown Clash on Nov. 21. The season-opening road trip concudes at Eastern Washington with a post-Black Friday contest on Nov. 25.

Wolverine Gladiators
UVU guards Gabrielle Leos, Taylor  Christensen, Mariah Seals, and Britta Spencer each  average 31-plus  minutes per game entering the week. Christensen leads UVU with 34.3 minutes per game to rank seventh in the WAC. Meanwhile, Leos joins Christensen among the top-10 minutes averaged leaders sit at ninth in the WAC with 33.7 minutes per contest. Seals (32.7 MPG) is third and Spencer (31.0 MPG) is fourth among all Wolverines. Seals and Christensen spent 1,000-plus minutes on the court during 2016-17, finishing top-10 in the WAC in minutes per game. Seals led the WAC in minutes per game with 36.7 and total minutes played with 1,001 during her junior campaign. Christensen joined her Wolverine gladiator counterpart in the 1,000-minute club with 1,036 minutes, while ranking eighth in the league in minutes per game with 33.4. In three years as Utah Valley's floor general, Seals has amassed 94 starts to rank third all-time in program history entering her final season.

Taylor-Made Glass
UVU senior guard Taylor Christensen leads the squad on the glass in the early season, grabbing 4.7 boards per contest in three games. Christensen left her mark on the glass in her junior season, ranking second among guards in the WAC with 6.4 rebounds per game. The 5-8 guard also sat in third on the conference's defensive rebounds list, grabbing 4.8 boards per contest last year. In UVU's 2016-17 season opener, Christensen pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds versus BYU. She also added 11 points to complete a double-double performance in that contest.

Get That Dirt off Your Shoulder
After nailing a pair of shots from downtown at Oregon State, Utah Valley junior guard Britta Spencer brings a streak of six straight regular season games with at least one made three-pointer into this week's contests. Spencer enters the week ranking ninth in the WAC in three-pointers per game and three-point field goal percentage with a 33.3 percent mark. She sits second on the team in three-point percentage behind teammate Mariah Seals, who is fourth in the WAC with a 40-percent mark from deep. Despite missing two seasons after serving an 18-month LDS mission in Chile prior to 2016-17, Spencer erupted for 18 points and five three-pointers against the Cougars in last year's season opener at home inside the UCCU Center. She ranked second among UVU players in three-pointers made with 35 last season.

Stealing the Show
Last year's WAC steals leader, Christensen ranks second in the conference with 2.7 steals per game.  Christensen has recorded a steal in each of UVU's contests this season, including a season-high four on the road at Portland. UVU sophomore Gabrielle Leos follows Christensen on the league's steals list in sixth with 2.0 steals per contest. Leos finished with a season-high three takeaways at Weber State. The Wolverines won the steals and turnover battle in their first two contests of the year versus Weber State and Portland. UVU recorded a season-best 14 steals and forced 15 turnovers against the Pilots. Against the Wildcats, Utah Valley forced 21 turnovers and finished with nine steals on the day.

Making History in the Valley
Senior Taylor Christensen is coming off a record-breaking season of disrupting opponents' passing lanes, setting UVU's single-season program record with 78 steals in the 2016-17 season. Seals also etched her name inside the Utah Valley all-time record books last year, becoming the sixth player in the Division I era for the Wolverines to eclipse the 1,000-point plateau. In addition, Seals currently sits at fourth on the program's all-time minutes played list with 3,156 minutes of playing time. The 5-3 guard is 192 minutes shy of Utah Valley's all-time minutes leader Asumi Nakayama (2006-10), who logged 3,348 minutes during her career. After increasing her minutes total every season since becoming a Wolverine, Seals currently holds the top spot on the school's minutes per game chart with 34.7 MPG.