CEDAR CITY, Utah — Josie Williams finished with 17 points and pulled down a career-high 17 rebounds as Utah Valley University held off Southern Utah University, 60-54, on Tuesday night at the America First Events Center.
 
It was the third straight double-double to start the season for Williams, who helped the Wolverines (2-1) win for the first time in Cedar City since the 2016 season. UVU had a balanced scoring attack with Maria Carvalho adding 14, Madison Grange 13 and Megan Jensen chipped in 12 to go along with nine rebounds and three blocks. The Wolverines scored 42 of their 60 points in the paint and outrebounded the Thunderbirds (0-3) by 10, 42-32.
 
"I'm really proud of our team tonight," said UVU head coach Dan Nielson. "I thought our guards set the tone early on defense and our inside game controlled things offensively. Winning on the road is always hard and I thought we responded really well to their run in the fourth quarter. It always feels good to beat an in-state rival."
 
The Wolverines led by 11 entering the fourth and pushed the lead to 14 on a Kayla Anderson jumper with 6:26 remaining. SUU rallied out of a timeout, scoring nine straight points over the next 2:19 to make it a 52-47 game with 3:29 to go.
 
UVU's defense held off the T-Birds on the next two possessions, until Grange scored on a tough turnaround near the baseline to push the lead back to seven, 54-47, with 1:18 remaining. The Wolverines went on to hit 6-of-8 from the line over the final minute to hold off their future WAC foe.
 
The Wolverines finished the game at 44.6% (25-for-56) from the field while holding Southern Utah to just 29.7% (19-for-64). Kinsley Barrington led the T-Birds with 12 points.
 
Early on, Southern Utah led 9-7 when the Wolverines ran off 10 straight points on five consecutive makes from the field — all from inside the paint — to take a 17-9 lead with 2:19 left in the first quarter. Utah Valley made eight of its first 11 attempts from the field to build the eight-point advantage. The Wolverines led 21-15 after one on 10-for-15 shooting from the field.
 
In the second, the T-Birds got within a point on a 3-pointer from Madelyn Eaton but Williams and Carvalho hit consecutive buckets to push it to a 25-20 UVU lead. It was 25-23 with 5:48 left until the break when SUU went cold, hitting just one of its final eight field goal attempts. The Wolverines closed the half by scoring nine of the final 11 points en route to a 34-25 lead after 20 minutes of play.
 
Williams had nine points and nine rebounds while Grange also scored nine and Jensen added eight points in the opening half. Utah Valley scored 30 of its 34 points in the half in the paint on 16-for-23 shooting (55.2%) overall.
 
Out of the half, Samantha Johnston hit a three to get SUU to within six, 34-28, but that was answered on a deep three from Carvalho. The lead was nine, 41-32, with 2:48 left in the third when Jensen fed Tahlia White for a reverse layup and Jensen then scored on a put back to give UVU its biggest lead, 45-32. The Wolverines led 47-36 after three.
 
Utah Valley will now travel to Reno to face Nevada on Saturday afternoon. Tip is set for 1 p.m. PT/2 p.m. MT with the game airing on the Mountain West Network.