RIVERSIDE, Calif. – A blistering start put the Utah Valley University's women's basketball team in a big hole as California Baptist opened WAC play with a 98-69 win on Friday in the CBU Events Center.
 
The Lancers (9-0, 1-0) remained perfect on the season behind a 36-point opening quarter. CBU scored the first 11 points and led 19-6 before finishing the first quarter on a 17-2 run. The run included a streak of 10 straight UVU (2-2, 0-1) misses and six consecutive makes from the field by the Lancers. California Baptist was 14-for-19 from the field in the opening quarter, including 3-for-5 from three and led 36-8 after one.
 
"We got punched in the mouth right away and we didn't respond the way we needed to. Give CBU credit. They were ready to go," said UVU head coach Dan Nielson. "The thing about this WAC schedule is that we get back out there in less than 24 hours, so we'll be able to see how we respond."
 
Josie Williams finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds for Utah Valley while Maria Carvalho added 14, Madison Grange chipped in 12 and Nehaa Sohail scored 11 to round out four scorers in double figures. Britney Thomas led all scorers with 24 points, on 11-for-15 shooting, for California Baptist. Nicole Avila-Ambrosi added 18 and Caitlyn Harper finished with 16 and Taylor Wu scored 13 as CBU also had four reach double figures. 
 
CBU finished with 29 assists as a team, with Sydney Palma and Ane Olaeta finishing with 10 and eight assists, respectively. The Lancers shot 56.5% (35-for-62) from the field and made 11-for-23 (47.8%) from the 3-point line. Utah Valley was 23-for-68 (33.8%) from the field overall.
 
The teams will wrap up the two-game opening weekend on Saturday at 12 p.m. PT/1 p.m. MT. The game will air live on the WAC Digital Network.