Utah Valley at Eastern Washington (Nov. 25)
2 p.m. PT/3 p.m. MT | Reese Court | Cheney, Wash.
Utah Valley Game Notes | Eastern Washington Game Notes
Game Information
Live Video Stream: Big Sky Conference
Live Stats Link: UVU at Eastern Washington Live Stats
 

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OPENING TIP

Utah Valley will conclude its five-game road swing to start the season with contest at Eastern Washington on Saturday at 3 p.m. MT. The last road game of November will complete a month in which the Wolverines will accumulate 3, 336.4 miles of traveling prior to their home opener on Nov. 28 versus Dixie State.

In its last contest, UVU 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. Leos also grabbed all five of her team-high rebounds on the offensive glass to help the squad win the offensive boards battle, 20-10.

The Wolverines' backcourt of Taylor Christensen, Gabrielle Leos  and Mariah Seals forms the  third highest scoring backcourt trio in the WAC with a combined 32.9 points per game. Christensen (12.3 ppg) ranks ninth in the WAC in scoring, while Leos (10.8 ppg) is 12th and Seals (9.8 ppg) rounds out that list in 17th.

UVU's floor general, Seals begins the week ranking third in the WAC in assists with 3.0 dimes per contest. At BYU, Seals extended her streak of consecutive games with an assist to 11 straight games.

Junior guard Britta Spencer enters the week ranking ninth in the WAC in three-pointers per game (1.8) and three-point field goal percentage (33.3 percent) for the Wolverines. Spencer brings a streak of seven straight regular season games with at least one made three-pointer into the weekend.

On defense, the Wolverines have won the steals and turnover battle in three games, including a season-high 23 forced turnovers at BYU. UVU ranks second as a team in the WAC in steals with 9.5 per contest.

About the Eagles
Eastern Washington comes into Saturday with a 1-3 record, dropping its second straight contest at Oregon 40-81 earlier in the week on Nov. 21. Senior guard Delaney Hodgins spearheads the Eagle offense, leading the squad in scoring with 17.8 points per contest to rank seventh in Big Sky Conference. A 6-0 guard, Hodgins also leads Eastern Washington in rebounds with 8.0 boards per contest. Along with Hodgins, junior guard Violet Kapri Morrow complete's EWU's dynamic scoring duo with 12.8 points per game. Hodgins is the Eagles' second leading rebounder, pulling down 6.5 rebounds per game. Behind Hodgins' and Karpri Morrow's rebounding abilities, Eastern Washington brings down 14.5 offensive rebounds per game to rank 2nd in the Big Sky.

Series History vs. EWU      
Saturday's matchup will be the sixth all-time meeting between Utah Valley and Eastern Washington on the hardwood. UVU looks for its first-ever win against the Eagles, as EWU owns an unblemished 5-0 record against the squad in the all-time series matchup. Last season, the Wolverines fell to the Eagles, 83-50, at home inside the UCCU Center on Nov. 22, 2016. Guards Taylor Christensen and Mariah Seals guided UVU's offense with 14 points and 10 points, respectively, n the last game of the series. In the squad's last trip to Cheney, Wash., UVU dropped a close 68-64 decision to EWU on Dec. 3, 2015 on Reese Court. The Eagles hold a 3-0 all-time record over Utah Valley on their home turf.

Backcourt in Front
Utah Valley's guards in seniors Taylor Chrisensen and Mariah Seals, and sophomore Gabrielle Leos forms the  third highest scoring backcourt trio in the WAC with a combined 32.9 points per game. Christensen leads all Wolverines with 12.3 points per contest to rank ninth in the WAC, while Leos (10.8 ppg) follows at 12th and Seals (9.8 PPG) 17th on the WAC scoring leaderboard. In addition, junior guard Britta Spencer enters the week averaging 8.5 points per game to give the squad the second highest scoring quartet of guards in the WAC on the season. The group of Wolverine starting guards has combined for 41.4 points per contest in the squad's first four 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.

Mariah's Helping Hands
UVU's floor general, senior Mariah Seals has pushed her streak of consecutive games with an assist to 11 games dating back to last season. In addition, she has racked up multiple assists in 10 of those contests, including a season-high five dimes in the UCCU Crosstown Clash at BYU. Seals sits at fifth the WAC in assists with 3.0 helpers per contests.  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 three of her four outings to begin 2017-18. 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 (324) to start 2017-18.

Road Warriors
The Wolverines kick off their season with a five-game road swing that includes 3, 336.4 miles of traveling in November. 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 32-plus  minutes per game entering the week. Leos headlines the group of Wolverine gladiators with 34.2 minutes per game to rank sixth in the WAC. Meanwhile, Seals' 33.8 puts her at eighth in the WAC in minutes averaged and  Christensen rounds out the list at 11th in the WAC with 33.7 minutes per contest. Spencer averages 32.0 minutes per game to rank fourth on the UVU squad. 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.

Crashing the Glass
UVU sophomore guard Gabrielle Leos begins the weekend at 10th in the WAC in offensive rebounds with 2.3 offensive boards per game. Leos led the Wolverines on the glass at BYU, finishing with all five of her rebounds on the offensive end on the day. Joining Leos among the league's top rebounders on the offesnive glass, sophomore center Leya Harvey ranks 15th and sophomore forward Jordan Holland concludes the list in 16th in the WAC with 1.8 offensive rebounds per game.

Get That Dirt off Your Shoulder
After nailing a pair of shots from downtown at BYU, Utah Valley junior guard Britta Spencer brings a streak of seven straight regular season games with at least one made three-pointer into this weekend matchup against EWU. Spencer enters the weekend ranking ninth in the WAC in three-pointers per game (1.8) and 10th in three-point field goal percentage with a 33.3 percent mark. In addition, her UVU backcourt teammate Gabrielle Leos ranks 12th in the WAC in three-point field goal percentage (33.3 percent) and 14th in three-pointers made per contest with 1.3. Senior guard Mariah Seals rounds out the WAC's three-point field percentage top-15 list, shooting 30.8 from downtown this season. As a team, Utah Valley has made 30.4 percent of its shots taken from beyond the arc this year.

Stealing the Show
Last year's WAC steals leader, Christensen grabs 2.3 steals per game to rank third on the WAC steals leaderboard.  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 top-10 list for steals, sitting in seventh with 1.8 steals per contest. Leos finished with a season-high three takeaways at Weber State. The Wolverines have won the steals and turnover battle in three of their four contests this year, including at Weber State, Portland and BYU. UVU forced a season-best 23 turnovers at BYU, as well a season-high 15 steals at Portland.

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.

UVU senior duo tabbed Preseason All-WAC in WAC preseason polls
Utah Valley women's basketball seniors Mariah Seals and Taylor Christensen received Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Preseason All-Conference selections, as announced in the WAC preseason polls released at WAC Preview and Media Day. Seals and Christensen were selected to the Preseason All-WAC first team by the league's eight coaches. In the media poll, the senior duo of Christensen and Seals was selected to the Preseason All-WAC second team. Joining Seals and Christensen on the first team in the coaches poll were GCU's Brie Mobley, NMSU's Brook Salas and Seattle U's Alexis Montgomery.

Wolverines picked to finish fourth, fifth in WAC preseason polls
The Wolverines were voted to finish fourth in the WAC in the coaches poll, ahead of Grand Canyon, UT Rio Grande Valley, UMKC and Chicago State. In the media poll, Utah Valley was picked fifth, edging UTRGV, UMKC and Chicago State. Utah Valley was picked fifth in the media team poll, edging UTRGV, UMKC and Chicago State. In the media and coaches polls, reigning back-to-back WAC champion New Mexico State received seven first-place votes from media and six top votes from the coaches. Seattle U and CSU Bakersfield finished behind the Aggies in the voting, as the Redhawks and Roadrunners traded spots for second and third, respectively, in the media and coaches polls.