STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Utah Valley University notched its fourth straight win, 60-58, holding off a late comeback attempt from Tarleton on Tuesday at Wisdom Gym. The win assures UVU of the No. 2 seed in next week's WAC Tournament in Las Vegas.
 
Maria Carvalho scored 14 of her game-high 16 points in the second half, Shay Fano added 13 points and 10 rebounds and Josie Williams also scored 13 and grabbed eight boards while blocking three shots. Nehaa Sohail and Kayla Anderson both scored seven with Sohail knocking down a pair of crucial free throws with 33.7 seconds to go to help secure the win.

"I thought we did a really nice job in the second and third quarter, getting the ball inside and building that lead up by asserting where we thought we had a little bit of an advantage," said UVU head coach Dan Nielson. "Credit to Tarleton in that fourth quarter, they made some big plays. We kind of took our foot off the gas and we need to clean up a few small things for tomorrow."
 
The Wolverines (11-5, 9-4) led by as much as 16 in the fourth quarter before the Texans nearly came all the way back. The lead was 12, 53-41, when Iyana Dorsey knocked down a three to get the Texans within nine. Marissa Escamilla then recorded a 3-point play with a layup and free throw to make it 53-47 with just over three minutes left.
 
Carvalho scored to push it back to eight before Kaitlyn Guiillory scored another and-one, and Emily Cunningham followed with a three to make it a 55-53 game with 1:40 left. Carvalho hit a big three from the corner to extend it back to five, but Cunningham hit another triple from the corner to again get Tarleton within two, 58-56.
 
Sohail's free throws made it 60-56, and the Texans got a bucket from Jayci Morton with 2.9 seconds left but time would run out on the comeback attempt.

Utah Valley outrebounded Tarleton 40-31 and also hit 46.8% from the floor compared to 33.3% by the Texans. 
 
With Tarleton in front 14-13 early in the second, Escamilla and Dorsey hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Texans a 20-13 lead. Fano then went to work down low, scoring nine of her 10 first-half points during a 13-4 run that gave UVU a 26-24 lead. The Wolverines hit six of their final seven attempts from the floor with five of the makes coming in the paint. Williams, who also had 10 at the half, scored with under a minute to go and Utah Valley led 28-26 at the half. UVU scored 22 of their 26 point in the paint in the opening half. 
 
Carvalho began the second half with a three that sparked an 8-0 run that was capped by a triple from Anderson to push Utah Valley's lead to 10, 36-26, and forcing a Tarleton timeout. Carvalho scored again to make it a 12-point lead, extending the UVU run to 10 straight points. The Wolverines held Tarleton to just 2-for-13 from the field in the third and got a layup and free throw from Williams to lead 46-33 after three. UVU outscored the Texas 18-7 in the third.

The teams will wrap up the series on Wednesday at 6 p.m. CT/5 p.m. MT in what will be the final regular season game of the season for Utah Valley. Next up will be the WAC Tournament, starting next Wednesday in Las Vegas.