EDINBURG, Texas – Utah Valley women's basketball battled back from a nine-point, second-half deficit in the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime at UT Rio Grande Valley, before suffering a 71-64 loss Saturday evening inside the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
 
The Wolverines (10-16, 4-7 WAC) withstood travel issues with flight delays to end the night with three double-digit scorers, including junior guard Britta Spencer's season-high 19 points. Sophomore forward Jordan Holland and senior guard Mariah Seals, who combined for the last eight UVU points in regulation, each contributed 11 points in the squad's defeat at UTRGV (13-13, 3-8 WAC).

"We had opportunities," said Utah Valley head coach Cathy Nixon. "That's what you really hope for is to give yourself a chance, especially on the road against a team that has some momentum going for itself feeling confident off an overtime win against Seattle U. I think this came down to [UTRGV] grabbing 21 offensive rebounds and us missing 10 of our free throw attempts. If we cut both of those in half, I think the game would've swung the other way, but I'm proud of the way the girls fought tonight."
 
Holland came up big in the final 2:34 of the fourth quarter, nailing a pair of free throws and finishing a layup set up by Seals' sixth and final assist of the game to give the Wolverines a lead, 60-58, for 28 seconds. Prior to scoring her final points of the night, Holland drew a charge on UTRGV sophomore guard Megan Johnson to gain another possession for UVU.
 
In addition, Seals tied the game for the 11th time on the night with a layup assisted by freshman Ally Bates at 58-58 with 2:04 left in the fourth. Seals also converted a driving layup to give UVU a one-point lead over the Vaqueros heading into the last 3:12 of regulation.
 
UTRGV answered with a two-point jumper from junior guard Jameka Dowell to even the score at 60-60. The Vaqueros then proceeded to outscore the Wolverines 11-4 in the five-minute overtime period for the victory.
 
Spencer joined in the comeback attempt,  as she made a pair of layups within the last 5:16 of the fourth period to give the Wolverines' scoring trio 15 of their squad's final 18 points in regulation. Along with those pair of layups, Spencer also drained a season-high matching three three-pointers on 3-of-4 shooting from downtown on the night
 
Answering UVU's triple threat scoring offense, UT Rio Grande Valley finished the game with a 25-point effort from sophomore forward Megan Johnson and a 15-point, 15-rebound double-double from graduate forward Alicia McCray.
 
In spite of winning the shooting battle with a 37.7-percent mark compared to UTRGV's 34.5 percent shooting, UVU couldn't overcome 22 second chance points by the Vaqueros. Behind their winning the second-chance point effort, the Vaqueros grabbed 21 offensive rebounds in the outing.
 
The Wolverines return home for its final pair of home games of the regular season starting on Thursday versus WAC frontrunner CSU Bakersfield at 11 a.m. in Lockhart Arena. UVU then hosts Grand Canyon on Senior Day Saturday at 3 p.m. MT.