OREM, Utah – UT Rio Grande Valley used a double-double from Hild Kjartnasdottir and four double-digit scorers to down Utah Valley women's basketball, 64-45, in its season home finale Saturday afternoon inside Lockhart Arena.
 
Kjartansdottir, who finished with 10 points and 13 rebounds, recorded her fourth double-double in WAC play while guards Shawnte' Goff and Idil Turk poured in 17 points apiece to lead the Vaqueros (18-11, 8-5 WAC). The Wolverines (8-20, 3-10 WAC) received nine points from Jordan Holland and eight points from Mariah Seals to go along with six rebounds, four assists and one steal in the squad's last home game of the 2016-17 season.
 
"I thought we did have some good moments today," said Utah Valley head coach Cathy Nixon. "I don't know if I've seen a team attempt as many layups as we did and score so few points. I thought we did a great job of getting to the rim and being aggressive but shots didn't fall. On their end, we knew UTRGV would battle on offense and they ended up with 20 second chance points, which was the biggest difference in the game."
 
UVU sped to an early 6-0 lead to start the game behind two shots inside from Sariah Wi Neera and Taylor Gordon. Seals added her first points as well on a pair of free throws awarded on a technical against the UT Rio Grande Valley bench.
 
The Wolverines also held the Vaqueros scoreless in the first 4:37 of the contest, as UTRGV went 0-3 to start the game. However, UTRGV then overcame UVU's stifling defense with its own 7-0 run to take a lead which it never relinquished at 7-6 with 3:00 remaining in the opening period.
 
Junior guard Taylor Gordon responded with a scoring spurt of her own, as she added the Wolverines' next four points to help them regains the lead. She finished the first quarter with all six (3-of-6 FG) of her points for the day on 3-of-5 shooting from the floor.
 
Leading 14-12 after one, the Vaqueros caught fire in the second quarter for a 17-4 run over the next 7:20 of play after going 7-of-11 from the field and adding a pair free throws during that stretch. UTRGV took a 34-19 lead into halftime after finishing the half with an advantage in field goal percentage over the Wolverines with a 45.2 percent mark.
 
At the start of the third quarter, Jordan Holland scored five of her team-high nine points within a three-minute span to cut the Wolverine deficit to 13. Moments later, Seals added her eighth and final point on a driving layup to bring the score to 39-26 for Utah Valley's lowest deficit the rest of the way.
 
Following Holland's and Seals' baskets, UT Rio Grande Valley widened the scoring gap with an 11-0 run to take a 50-26 lead. Sophomore Britta Hall ended the Vaquero scoring onslaught with a three-pointer from the right wing assisted by Seals before UTRGV held off UVU in the fourth quarter.

Along with its 20 second chance points, the Vaqueros used 15 points off turnovers and 33 points bench on the day behind Turk's spark off the bench.

Outside of Seals' and Hollands' scoring contributions, the shorthanded Wolverines received scoring from all seven of their active players on the day. Behind Holland, Keana Delos Santos matched Seals with eight points, Gabrielle Leos added six point, Hall scored five points and Sariah Wi Neera rounded out the squad's scoring with three points.
 
Despite allowing UTRGV to convert their shots after their offensive rebounds, UVU held an 19-17 advantage on the offensive glass for the day led by Sariah Wi Neera's six offensive boards. The Vaqueros overcame the offensive rebound deficit to win the battle on the boards against the Wolverines, 46-36.
 
Utah Valley will now close the regular season when it visits Seattle U on Saturday, March 4. The game is slated to begin at 5 p.m. MT.