• Utah Valley begins a stretch of seven straight road contests with a pair of games against Big Sky Conference opponents this week. The Wolverines will play at Montana on Thursday at 7 p.m. MT and at Montana State on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. MT. Both games will air on ESPN+.
   
• UVU is 2-0 so far against Big Sky schools, with wins over Southern Utah and Portland State. After this week's games, the Wolverines will play at Idaho State on Dec. 21 to wrap up this season's slate against five different schools from the conference.
   
• Josie Williams is among the national leaders in rebounds per game, averaging 12.7 per contest and is currently ranked fourth. She enters this week just one rebound shy of 500 for her career and will become the seventh Utah Valley player to reach the mark with her next rebound. Williams has also recorded a double-double in five of seven games so far this season.
   
• Maria Carvalho leads the team in scoring at 15.9 per game while Williams is averaging 15.1 points and Madison Grange is at 11.4 per contest.

KEY DUO RETURNS
After missing the first six games of the season due to injury, Shay Fano and Babalu Stewart made their season debuts against UNLV. Fano, in her second season with the Wolverines, finished with seven points and five rebounds in 19 minutes, while Stewart — a transfer from BYU — made her Wolverine debut and finished with nine points and two steals in 14 minutes.

LAST TIME OUT
Utah Valley University saw its two-game win streak snapped in a 73-63 loss to UNLV on Dec. 1 at the UCCU Center. The Wolverines were led by Josie Williams' 11 points. The Lady Rebels 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.

ABOUT THE OPPOSITION
Montana is off to a 7-1 start and has won six straight under first-year head coach Brian Holsinger. The Lady Griz won both games to open Big Sky play last week, over Northern Colorado and Sacramento State, with their lone loss this season coming to Gonzaga, a team ranked No. 25 in the current NET Rating. Carmen Gfeller leads three players in double figures at 14.4 points per game and is hitting 62.9% from the field while also pulling down 7.3 rebounds per game. Montana has won all three prior matches between the schools, including both played in Missoula.

Montana State is 4-5 overall and also swept the same Big Sky opponents as Montana last week. The Bobcats have won three straight after five straight losses — two of which came to Gonzaga and UNLV. Darian White is averaging 14.2 points to lead the team while Leia Beattie was named Big SKy Player of the Week after averaging 14.5 points and 6.0 rebounds in the two wins last week. MSU is 7-2 against UVU all-time; 4-0 at home.

COMING UP
The Wolverines will play just once next week, at Utah on Saturday, Dec. 18, before closing out the non-conference and pre-Christmas slate at Idaho State on Dec. 21.