OPENING TIP
- Utah Valley University makes the short trip to Provo to take on BYU on Saturday at 2 p.m. MT in Marriott Center in the Crosstown Clash.
- The Wolverines (1-7) fell 63-52 to Montana last Saturday at home with sophomore Madison Grange leading the team with a season-high 10 points.
- UVU led by five points after three quarters but the Lady Griz hit 9-of-14 from the field en route to a 25-9 fourth quarter to pick the up the road win.
- Nehaa Sohail made her first start for Utah Valley and finished with nine points and six rebounds.
- Eve Braslis, who finished with nine points and eight rebounds against Montana, leads UVU with 10.5 points per game, Jordan Holland is averaging 10.1 points and Josie Williams leads the team with 6.1 rebounds per game.
- First-year UVU head coach Dan Nielson makes the return to Provo, his alma mater, and where he was most recently the program's associate head coach.
- Nielson's coaching staff are all BYU graduates as well, including Ashley Garfield, who was an assistant coach on the staff in Provo prior to coming to Orem.
ABOUT THE COUGARS
BYU (3-4) dropped a 66-55 contest at Boise State on Wednesday night and have lost three straight after a three-game winning streak. The losses have come to Utah, at Arizona State and BSU, who also defeated Utah Valley, 77-69, earlier this season. Paisley Johnson is averaging 16.0 points per game to lead the Cougars, while Sara Hamson is leading the team with 9.4 rebounds 3.6 blocks per game. BYU is 9-0 all-time against the Wolverines including 5-0 at the Marriott Center in Provo.
COMING UP
Utah Valley will wrap up its in-state contests next week starting at Weber State next Tuesday at 5 p.m. before returning home to host Utah State on Saturday, Dec. 21 in the UCCU Center at 2 p.m. MT.