LAS VEGAS, Nev.— Shay Fano had 18 points and 12 rebounds and Kaylee Byon scored 16 points in her first WAC Tournament game, but Utah Valley came up just short in its bid to knock off No. 5 seed Utah Tech in the opening round on Monday at Michelob ULTRA Arena.
 
The 12th-seeded Wolverines (6-24) led 68-66 after Fano scored late in the game but the Trailblazers (19-11) closed with a 6-0 run to advance to face California Baptist on Wednesday.
 
"I'm really proud of this group. It was a tough year, but they showed up and fought all year. It's a credit to their character. You saw that today. It would have been easy to just mail it in, but they didn't," said UVU head coach Dan Nielson. "We had some really good opportunities to win the game towards the end. We'll get back and get healthy and we'll be in a much different position next year."
 
The Trailblazers came out of the gate hot, hitting their first four shots with three of those coming from beyond the arc to take an 11-0 lead less than two minutes in. Utah Valley responded with eight straight; Mae Afoa buried a three to get the Wolverines on the board, Eleyana Tafisi hit a jumper and Byon made a 3-pointer to make it 11-9.
 
UVU took its first lead after Fano scored five straight points, giving the Wolverines a 15-14 lead with 3:22 left in the first. Utah Tech got a three from Brooke Vance with just seconds to go and the Trailblazers led 23-19 after one.
 
The Wolverines started the second quarter on an 11-3 run including the first eight points of the quarter. Fano scored and was fouled for a 3-point play, Byon hit a three and Kylee Mabry made it 27-23 with a layup that capped a textbook fastbreak. UVU stretched the lead to seven after a Byon jumper and a Mabry three that made it 35-28 halfway through the second.
 
Utah Tech responded with eight straight points to regain the lead, but Elina Tausinga scored five points during a 6-0 run to end the half and put the Wolverines in front 41-36 at the break. Fano led the Wolverines with 11 while Byon added eight in the opening 20 minutes.
 
Ally Criddle scored on a driving with her left hand early in the third that gave the Wolverines a 45-39 lead before the Trailblazers ran off 11 straight points, capped by a 3-pointer from Maggie McCord that gave UTU a 50-45 lead. The Wolverines closed to within one, 58-57, entering the fourth.
 
Utah Valley trailed 60-57 before a 9-0 spurt, capped with a steal and layup from Criddle, that gave the Wolverines a 66-60 lead with 5:28 to go. The Trailblazers tied it with 3-pointers from McCord and Amber Kartchner before Fano's bucket with 3:54 remaining made it 68-66.
 
McCord tied it with a layup and Breauna Gillen gave UTU the lead with 2:04 to go. The Wolverines had a chance to tie the game with just seconds to go but couldn't get the shot to fall and Emily Isaacson hit two free throws with 3.9 seconds left to clinch the win.
 
Utah Valley had a 37-28 advantage on the glass and turned 11 offensive rebounds into 15 second-chance points. UVU finished with 17 assists with Criddle dishing out a career-high eight. Criddle also had seven points while Tafisi and Mabry finished with eight, Afoa had six and Tausinga chipped in five. McCord led all scorers with 19 points and hit 5-for-9 from three. Utah Tech finished 12-for-33 from beyond the arc.