OREM, Utah — Utah Valley University saw its two-game win streak snapped in a 73-63 loss to UNLV on Wednesday at the UCCU Center.
The Wolverines (4-3) were led by
Josie Williams' 11 points while
Babalu Stewart, in her UVU debut, finished with nine points and a pair of steals. The Lady Rebels (5-2) got a game-high 16 points and five assists from Essence Booker and had six players score eight points or more while also outrebounding Utah Valley 38-29.
"UNLV came in averaging 80-plus per game, they get to the free-throw line, and they rebound it well... and they did all of those things today. Credit to them, they played really well," said UVU head coach
Dan Nielson. "It was frustrating to see us not play with the effort needed to beat good teams. I thought we had a chance at the beginning of the third but couldn't finish and they were able to stretch it out. We've got to keep getting better. That wasn't good enough tonight."
UNLV scored the game's first six points and were able to get to the line 10 times in the first quarter, converting on eight. That offset a 4-for-13 quarter from the floor while the Wolverines were 5-for-14 overall and trailed 18-11 after one. Williams scored all eight of her first-half points in the second quarter, but UNLV scored the last five points of the half to take a 36-26 lead at the break. The Rebels had a 22-13 edge in rebounding at the half.
UNLV scored the first four points of the third to go ahead 40-26 before
Kayla Anderson knocked down her second three of the game.
Madison Grange later buried a corner three to make it 42-32. UVU trailed 47-34 after Khayla Rooks hit a three from the top of the arc before
Maria Carvalho hit consecutive jumpers to cut it to nine. Alyssa Durazo-Frescas answered that with another UNLV 3-pointer to push it back to 12. The Wolverines trailed 56-45 after three.
UNLV quickly pushed the lead to 17 after scoring the first six points of the fourth in just over one minute of game time.
Ally Blackham hit a three for the Wolverines, but the Lady Rebels went on an 8-1 run over the next two minutes to take a 70-49 lead and put the game away.
The Wolverines put a dent in the final score, finishing the game on a 13-0 run. Stewart scored six points and
Tahlia White added four during the game-ending spurt. In addition to Stewart,
Shay Fano also made her season debut and scored seven points and grabbed five rebounds.
Utah Valley will be off until next week when the team will embark on a two-game trip to Big Sky Country. UVU will face Montana (Dec. 9) and Montana State (Dec. 11).
