OPENING TIP

• Utah Valley University will make its fourth WAC Tournament Semifinal appearance on Friday when the Wolverines face top seed and regular season champions Stephen F. Austin on Friday. Tip is set for noon PT/1 p.m. MT from the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
• The Wolverines (16-14) defeated UT Rio Grande Valley on Thursday, 72-57. UVU improved to 4-8 all-time in the WAC Tournament at 3-2 as the higher seed. Friday will mark just the second time that Utah Valley will face the top seed.
• The winner of Friday's game will face the winner of No. 2 Grand Canyon vs No. 3 California Baptist in Saturday's championship. CBU defeated Sam Houston on Thursday, 85-78.
• Josie Williams leads UVU with 17.5 points and 12.3 rebounds per game. She's second in the WAC in scoring and entered the tournament fourth nationally in both rebounds per game and double-doubles.
• Williams was named to the All-WAC first team on Monday while Maria Carvalho earned her third All-WAC selection and was voted to the second team. Carvalho is averaging a career-high 13.8 points per game this season.
   

LAST TIME OUT
Josie Williams recorded her 23rd double-double of the season with a game-high 22 points and 15 rebounds while Maria Carvalho added 21 points to lead Utah Valley to a 72-57 win over UT Rio Grande Valley in the quarterfinals of the WAC Tournament on Thursday at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Megan Jensen added 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Wolverines, who outrebounded the Vaqueros 47-32.

UVU trailed 34-31 at the half but outscored UTRGV 18-3 in the third quarter to take control of the game. Jensen scored 12 of her 16 points in the second half, including eight in the third quarter.

ABOUT THE LADYJACKS
Stephen F. Austin will making its WAC Tournament debut in Friday's semifinal after going 17-1 in the regular season to win the conference championship in its first season as members.

The Ladyjacks have surpassed the 20-win mark for six straight seasons and will be making their fourth straight postseason appearance this season with at least at berth in the WNIT a guarantee. SFA won the Southland last season and played Georgia Tech in the NCAA Tournament, falling by just two points in overtime as a No. 12 seed.

The Wolverines fell 68-53 in the only prior meeting between the programs, earlier this season in Orem. SFA built a 21-3 lead after one quarter and coasted to the victory. In the game, Williams surpassed 1,000 career points for UVU and finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds.