OPENING TIP
Utah Valley women's basketball is back in Texas this week to begin a stretch of three straight road games before closing out the season with two home contests. The Wolverines begin the week at UT Rio Grande Valley on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. CT/5:30 p.m. MT in a crucial game for both teams. 

UVU (9-15, 4-11) is in 10th and needs to climb into the top eight to secure a spot in the WAC Tournament. Both UTRGV and Tarleton are 4-10, one game ahead in the loss column, while Southern Utah is 5-10, and UVU is a game in front of Seattle U. Thursday's game could give Utah Valley a series sweep and an important tiebreaker, or push the Vaqueros two games in the loss column in front of the Wolverines. 

LAST TIME OUT
Utah Valley University dropped a double-overtime heartbreaker, 67-66, to Southern Utah University on Saturday in Lockhart Arena. Tahlia White led the Wolverines with 15 points, nine rebounds, and five steals while Ally Criddle finished with seven points, nine assists, seven steals, and five rebounds before fouling out in the first overtime. UVU had 24 steals, three shy of matching the school record and more than it has had against any other NCAA Division I school in program history. White recorded career-highs in both rebounds and steals, while Criddle notched career-bests in both assists and steals. 

The Wolverines defeated California Baptist in overtime two night earlier, 92-89, behind monster games from Tessa Chaney and Jenna Dick. Chaney had a career-high 25 points to go along with 14 rebounds while Dick finished with a season-high 26 points, five rebounds, and a career-high seven assists. 92 points is the highest scoring output for UVU since scoring 99 against Utah Tech in February of 2022.

NATIONAL RANKINGS
The Wolverines lead the WAC and rank sixth in the country in bench points per game, with 29.3 points per game coming off the bench. UVU also leads the league and ranks seventh in the nation with 12.0 steals per game as a team while also leading the conference in turnover margin (-4.67) and turnovers forced per game (20.92, 17th nationally).

ABOUT THE OPPOSITION
UT Rio Grande Valley (5-18, 4-10) dropped two road games last week, falling at Abilene Christian and UT Arlington. The Vaqueros  are led by Iyana Dorsey's 12.8 points per game while Kade Hackerott is averaging 11.6 points and 8.5 boards. Utah Valley leads the all-time series 22-16 and won earlier this season, 75-62, in Orem behind 17 points from Kylee Mabry. The Wolverines are 8-10 all-time against the Vaqueros on the road.

UP NEXT
The Wolverines will travel to Nacogdoches for a Saturday at 2 p.m. CT/1 p.m. MT against Stephen F. Austin.