Utah Valley vs. Dixie State (Nov. 28)
7 p.m. MT | Rebecca D. Lockhart Arena | Orem, Utah
Utah Valley Game Notes | Dixie State Game Notes
Game Information
Live Video Stream: WAC Digital Network
Live Stats Link: UVU vs. Dixie State Live Stats

Utah Valley vs. Southern Utah (Nov. 30)
7 p.m. MT | Rebecca D. Lockhart Arena | Orem, Utah
Utah Valley Game Notes | Southern Utah Game Notes
Game Information
Live Video Stream: WAC Digital Network
Live Stats Link: UVU vs. SUU Live Stats
 

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OPENING TIP
After beginning the season with 3,336.4 miles of traveling in November, Utah Valley opens its home slate with a pair of contests versus Dixie State Tuesday and Thursday against Southern Utah. Tip-off times are set for 7 p.m. for both games inside Lockhart Arena.

Despite Utah Valley guard Taylor Christensen's team-high 19 points, UVU fell to Eastern Washington, 61-41, its last time out Saturday at Reese Court. Christensen, who scored 11 second-half points, finished a perfect 2-of-2 from beyond the arc to reach a new personal season-high in scoring.

The Wolverines' backcourt of Taylor Christensen, Britta Spencer and Mariah Seals forms the  third highest scoring backcourt trio in the WAC with a combined 31.2 points per game. Christensen (13.6 ppg) ranks fifth in the WAC in scoring, while Spencer (9.0 ppg) is 16th and Seals (8.6 ppg) rounds out that list in 18th.

UVU's floor general, Seals begins the week ranking sixth in the WAC in assists with 2.8 dimes per         contest. At EWU, Seals extended her streak of consecutive games with an assist to 12 straight games.

Meanwhile, Spencer enters the week ranking ninth in the WAC in three-pointers per game, averaging 1.6 makes from downtown in five outings. Spencer brings a streak of eight straight regular season games with at least one made three-pointer into this week's contests.

On defense, Utah Valley has won the steals and turnover battle in three games, including a season-high 23 forced turnovers at BYU. UVU  leads the WAC in steals with 9.6 per contest and is second in turnover margin.

About the Trailblazers
Dixie State (4-2) brings a three-game winning streak into Lockhart Arena after claiming a 64-62 victory over Westminster College. Freshman guard Taylor Moeaki guides the Trailblazer offense with a team-high 10.0 points per game on 41 percent shooting from the floor. DSU's roster also features a freshman guard in Mariah Martin who ranks seventh in the Pacific West Conference in assists with 3.8 dimes per game.

Series History vs. Dixie State      
Tuesday's home opener for the Wolverines marks their third all-time meeting against the Trailblazers. UVU holds an unblemished record at 2-0 over DSU in the all-time series matchup. Utah Valley topped Dixie State, 68-56, in the last matchup between the two squads last season on Dec. 31, 2016 inside Lockhart Arena.

About the Thunderbirds
Southern Utah (1-4) is coming off a 59-85 loss to UC Davis at home on Nov. 24. The T-Birds received a career-high 20 points from freshman guard Natalie Sanchez in the defeat. Among the Big Sky Conference's top-20 scorers, Sanchez begins the week at 19th in scoring with a team-high 12.8 points per game on a team-best 48.8 percent shooting from the floor.

Series History vs. SUU      
Thursday evening's contest between Utah Valley and Southern Utah will be the 20th time the teams have met on the hardwood. The Thunderbirds enter the week with a 13-6 advantage over the Wolverines in the all-time series, while UVU has won two straight games in the series. At home, UVU is 4-5 against SUU. Utah Valley defeated SUU,70-64, in their last meeting in Centrum Arena on Dec. 6, 2016. Head coach Cathy Nixon boasts a 2-1 record versus her former UVU assistant and current SUU head coach Chris Boettcher.

Second-half surge lifts Eagles over UVU
Despite Utah Valley guard Taylor Christensen's team-high 19 points, Utah Valley women's basketball fell to Eastern Washington, 61-41, on Saturday at Reese Court. Christensen, who scored 11 second-half points, finished a perfect 2-of-2 from beyond the arc to reach a new personal season-high in scoring for the Wolverines (0-5). UVU's second-leading scorer on the day, junior guard Britta Spencer rounded out the squad's pair of double-digit scorers with 11 points. Spencer and Christensen combined to score 22 points in the second half, accounting for more than half of the Wolverine scoring in the game.

Backcourt in Front
Utah Valley's guards Taylor Christensen, Britta Spencer and Mariah Seals form the third highest scoring backcourt trio in the WAC with a combined 31.2 points per game. Christensen ranks fifth on the WAC scoring leaderboard with a team-high 13.6 points per game, while Spencer  (9.0 ppg) moved into 16th and Seals (8.6 PPG) claims the 18th spot among the WAC's top scorers. In addition, sophomore guard Gabrielle Leos enters the week averaging 8.6 points per game to give the squad the third highest scoring quartet of guards in the WAC. The group of Wolverine starting guards has combined for 39.8 points per contest in the squad's first five outings, as each ranks among the top-20 in the WAC in points per contest on the year. 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 12 games dating back to last season. In addition, she has racked up multiple assists in 11 of those contests, including a season-high five dimes in the UCCU Crosstown Clash at BYU. Seals sits at sixth the WAC in assists with 2.8 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 or tied for the team high in assists in four of her five 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 (326) to start 2017-18.

Home for the Holidays
After beginning the season with 3,336.4 miles of traveling in November, the Wolverines open their homestand with a pair of contests versus Dixie State and Southern Utah. The Wolverines play DSU on Nov. 28 and SUU on Nov. 30, with tip-off times slated for 7 p.m. for each game. Following a trip to Pepperdine on Dec. 2, UVU will play six straight home contests during the month of December to conclude the 2017 calendar year. UVU's first road trip of the year included a string of contests at Weber State, Portland, No. 21 Oregon State, crosstown rival BYU and Eastern Washingon.

Wolverine Gladiators
UVU guards Mariah Seals, Taylor Christensen, Britta Spencer and Gabrielle Leos each average 32-plus minutes per game entering the week. Seals headlines the group of Wolverine gladiators with 34.4 minutes per game to rank sixth in the WAC. Meanwhile, Christensen's 33.6 puts her at eighth in the WAC in minutes averaged and  Christensen rounds out the list at 8th in the WAC with 33.7 minutes per contest. Leos (32.8 MPG) and Spencer (32.0 MPG) rank third and fourth among all UVU players in minutes per contest. 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 96 starts to rank third all-time in program history entering her final season.

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 eight straight regular season games with at least one made three-pointer into the squad's home contests this week. Spencer begins the week ranking ninth in the WAC in three-pointers per game (1.6). The 5-7 sharpshooter also stis in seventh on the WAC field-goal percentage leaderboard, knocking down 42.5 percent of her shots on the year. In addition, her UVU backcourt teammate Gabrielle Leos ranks 11th in the WAC in three-point field goal percentage (33.3 percent).

Charity at the Line
UVU sophomore forward Jordan Holland leads all Wolverines at the charity stripe, converting 83.3 percent at the free-throw line to rank fourth in the WAC in that category. Joining Holland among the WAC's top free throw shooters, Wolverine guards Taylor Christensen and Gabrielle Leos follow in eighth and ninth, respectively, with a 80-percent clip from the charity stripe.

Stealing the Show
Last year's WAC steals leader, Christensen again finds herself atop the WAC steals chart with 2.8 steals per game.  Christensen has recorded a steal in each UVU outing this season, including a season-high five in its most recent contest at EWU. The Wolverines have won the steals and turnover battle versus Weber State, Portland and BYU. UVU forced a season-best 23 turnovers at BYU, while racking up a season-high 14 steals at Portland. Behind their success at limiting opposing offenses' possessions, Utah Valley leads the WAC in steals with 9.2 takeaways per contest and is second in the league in turnover margin.

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.

Older and Wiser
After returning only one starter a year ago, UVU welcomes back four starters from last season's squad that gave the program a WAC Tournament semifinal appearance for the second straight year. Seven players on the Wolverines' 2017-18 roster saw playing time last year, accounting for more than half of the full roster of 13 players. In 2016-17, Utah Valley returned only four active players who earned minutes the season prior. Guards Mariah Seals and Taylor Christensen give the Wolverines their first senior class and duo since the 2015-16 season, in which the squad posted its best record since joining the WAC. The Wolverines also welcome a pair of sophomore transfers, including guard Alexis Cortez (East Carolina) and forward Va'e Malufau (Northern Arizona).