OREM, Utah — Jenna Dick scored 14 of her season-high 17 points in the fourth but Utah Valley's fourth-quarter comeback attempt ran out of time in a 72-63 loss to Stephen F. Austin on Thursday night in Lockhart Arena.
Dick hit five 3-pointers, four of which came in the fourth, while
Ally Criddle finished with 12 points, six assists and three steals, and
Tessa Chaney added 10 points and six rebounds for the Wolverines (8-11, 3-7).
SFA (14-7, 8-2) had four players score in double figures, led by 15 points off the bench from Avery VanSickle. Kurstyn Harden finished with 14 points and nine rebounds, Lydia Cooke-Wiggins scored 12, and Destini Lombard added 11.
Utah Valley trailed by 17 after three and then by 20, 57-37, early in the fourth before Dick keyed a 10-0 run with eight points to cut the lead in half with six minutes remaining. Out of an SFA timeout, the Ladyjacks scored five straight to extend it back to 15 to put the game out of reach. Dick did hit two more from distance down the stretch but UVU would get no closer than eight the rest of the way.
The game was back-and-forth in the opening quarter with the lead changing hands seven times and neither team leading by more than four points. The Wolverines trailed 20-16 late when
Tahlia White hit a corner three to make it 20-19 after one.
UVU went cold in the second, suffering through a stretch of 11 straight misses, allowing SFA to score the first 12 points of the quarter before the Wolverines got on the board on a Chaney layup with 3:52 before halftime. The Wolverines trailed 35-24 at the half after VanSickle hit a putback jumper right as the buzzer sounded. VanSickle led all scorers with 10 at the half while Chaney and White had six each for Utah Valley. SFA outscored UVU 15-5 in the second with the Wolverines making just two of their 12 attempts from the field.
The Ladyjacks scored six straight points out of the break to extend the lead to 41-24 and later extended it to as much as 21, 49-28, in the third.
Eleyana Tafisi hit a jumper late in the third to make it a 54-37 score entering the fourth.
SFA won the rebounding battle 45-33, taking advantage of 15 offensive rebounds that led to 18 second-chance points. The Wolverines had 13 boards on the offensive glass but only turned that into five points.
The Wolverines will now head to Phoenix to face the WAC leaders Grand Canyon on Saturday at 2 p.m. MT.
