PROVO, Utah – Utah Valley women's basketball received a career-high 16 points from sophomore guard Gaby Leos, but a pair of BYU runs helped the Cougars pull out a 75-54 win over the Wolverines Tuesday afternoon inside the Marriott Center.
Leos, who added 10 points in the second half, also grabbed five rebounds on the offensive end to help the Wolverines (0-4) win the offensive boards battle on the day, 20-10. However, the Cougars (3-1) countered with four double-digit scorers and a couple of offensive outbursts in the second half to overcome Leos' big day.
"Really what you want to do is create opportunities and I thought we had them," said Utah Valley head coach
Cathy Nixon. "We forced 23 turnovers and had 64 shots to their 49, but those dropped for them and didn't for us. We're working on our mentality and what a great environment to test that out. I thought our girls did step up after coming out of the gate a little slow."
Along with the advantage on the offensive glass, UVU racked up a game-high nine steals en route to forcing BYU into an opponent season-high 23 turnovers, which it turned into 22 points. It marked the third time this season the Wolverines finished with less turnovers than their opponent, as they only turned the ball over a season-low 12 times.
"I think when we're working together and expending our energy on the defensive end, we can make things happen. We learned that regardless of who we're playing that it's just about us focusing our efforts on the defensive side. Hopefully we can continue to create those opportunities offensively because we got some open looks. We just need to hit those when they're open," Nixon said.
After BYU took an early 11-2 lead, UVU junior guard
Britta Spencer nailed a three-pointer from the right wing to spark a 6-3 run and pull the Wolverines to within 11-5. Leos then added her own three-pointer from the right wing to cut the early deficit to six at 14-8.
Another Cougar spurt ended on Leos' second three-pointer of the game that started with a steal by Spencer to start a 6-0 Wolverine burst over the last 2:21 of the first quarter. Following another steal, senior guard
Taylor Christensen capped UVU's run with an and-one play on a layup and foul that brought the Wolverines to within 21-14.
UVU caused four of the Cougars' 23 turnovers over the course of BYU's final six offensive possessions to claw its way back into the game in the opening period. UVU sophomore center
Leya Harvey matched Spencer with a game-high two steals on the day.
The Wolverine scoring burst continued into the second quarter, as Spencer opened the period's scoring with a layup in the paint to help extend the quarter-ending run to 7-2. Two possessions later, UVU sophomore forward
Jordan Holland's free throws made the score 23-18 with 7:32 remaining in the half.
BYU then outscored UVU 9-1 to spark offensive surge that stretched to 14-1 at the beginning of the third quarter. The Cougars then reeled off a 15-6 scoring burst to end the period, led by a three from guard Cassie Devashrayee and a pair of shots from downtown by Malia Nawhinie for six of her game-high 21 points to pull away with the win.
In response to the 14-1 BYU run in the beginning of the third quarter, Harvey scored four straight UVU points inside the paint on a layup and jumper to cut UVU's deficit to 14 with 7:37 left in the third. The pair of buckets down low preceded an and-one from Leos to cap a quick 7-0 spurt over the span of one minute, 30 seconds that cut the BYU lead to its lowest the rest of the way at 37-26.
The Wolverines now close out their five-game, season-opening road swing with a trip to Cheney, Wash., for a contest at Eastern Washington on Saturday, Nov. 25. Tip-off for the post-Black Friday matchup is set for 3 p.m. MT.
