PHOENIX, Ariz. – Utah Valley received double-digit scoring efforts from Taylor Gordon and Leya Harvey, but Grand Canyon countered with 25 points from guard Marina Laramie to earn a 60-42 win over Utah Valley women's basketball Saturday afternoon at the GCU Arena.
 
The WAC's leading scorer, Laramie guided the Antelope (14-10, 6-5 WAC) offense with the third 20-point performance in her last four outings. Gordon poured in a UVU (8-18, 3-8 WAC) team-high 13 points and Harvey scored 10 to go along with six rebounds in the setback.
 
"The first half I thought we were really good on both ends of the floor," said Utah Valley head coach Cathy Nixon. "Then we came out in the third quarter and gave up 22 points. The whole difference in that second half was that shots were falling for them and not for us when we needed them. Anytime Grand Canyon shoots the way they did today, it's going to be hard to beat them."
 
UVU took a 21-20 lead into the halftime break after Seals drove the lane for a layup and Harvey scored her fourth basket to finish with eight points along with five rebounds in the first half. The pair of baskets inside gave the Wolverines a 16-2 advantage in points in the paint during the first 20 minutes of the game.
 
Utah Valley pulled even with Grand Canyon on a pair of layups from freshman forward Leya Harvey to close out the first quarter, while the Wolverine defense held the Antelopes without a field goal in the final 3:30 of the period. In addition, UVU's stifling defense kept the GCU offense in check with a 25 percent clip from the field in the opening period.
 
Overall, Utah Valley posted its best shooting performance in a quarter during WAC play, hitting 63.6 percent of its shots in the second quarter. It also marked the Wolverines' fourth best field-goal percentage from the floor in a period this year.
 
After the squads traded baskets to open the second quarter, the Wolverines went on a 9-3 scoring surge to extend their lead to 17-11 with 4:13 left in the period. Junior guard Mariah Seals opened the burst with another score inside the painted area before Jordan Holland made a three-pointer, while Gordon and Sariah Wi Neera also added two points during that stretch.
 
The 'Lopes responded with a 7-0 run to grab an 18-17 lead as guard Jessica Gajewski nailed a three and a two-point jumper. Laramie added her 10th point and fifth basket of the half from outside to cap off the second GCU lead of the game.
 
Grand Canyon came out firing again in the third, regaining the lead at 35-23 behind a 15-2 run in a seven-minute span to start the second half. GCU's Laramie, Laura Marcos-Canedo and Casey Rarrick combined for a trio of three-pointers to spark the game-changing sequence en route to 66 percent shooting from beyond the arc in the period.
 
A Taylor Gordon three-point play following a layup and foul paired with another basket inside gave her a personal 5-2 run to cut UVU's deficit back to single digits, 37-28 with 1:16 to go in the third quarter. The 'Lopes then used an 8-0 scoring spree at end of the third and start of the fourth to pull away with the double-digit advantage the rest of the way.

Despite losing the battle in field goal percentage and three-point shooting, the Wolverines ended the contest with a 30-14 advantage on scoring inside the paint for the day.
 
Utah Valley now returns home for its final homestand of the season to host New Mexico State on Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. and UT Rio Grande Valley at 3 p.m. on Feb. 25.