OPENING TIP
Utah Valley University hosts in-state rival Southern Utah  on Saturday at 2 p.m. MT in Lockhart Arena. The Wolverines are currently tied for fifth in the WAC standings at 5-5 in league play and just one game in the loss column behind third. The first 100 fans in the door can receive a free whiteout t-shirt with the opportunity for others to receive additional shirts as giveaways during the game. 

Tahlia White leads the Wolverines at 12.2 points per game, which is 11th overall among WAC players. During league play, she's upped her average to 17.7 points per game, which ranks second in the conference. Over the last six games, White is averaging 21.0 per contest and last week scored 34 and 20 points, respectively, in road games at UT Arlington and Tarleton State. 

Danja Stafford Collins is the leading rebounder in the WAC overall, at 9.3 per contest. She also sits atop the WAC and among the nation's leaders in offensive rebounds per game, with her 4.3 average putting her 10th in the nation. 

As a team, the Wolverines continue to lead the WAC and rank fourth in the country with 13.7 steals per game. UVU is also eighth in the country with 23.6 turnovers forced per game, 36th in offensive rebounds per game (14.1) and 33rd in bench points per game (25.0). 

LAST TIME OUT
The Wolverines dropped a pair of close heartbreakers last week on the road in Texas. UVU fell 85-83 at second-place UT Arlington and 68-61 at Tarleton State. Both games were one-possession contests in the final minute but Utah Valley came up on the wrong end of the score at the end of the night. 

White had the second-highest scoring output among WAC players this year with her career-high 34 at UTA. She's the first Utah Valley player to scored 30 points or more since the 2021-22 season, when former Wolverine and current SUU T-Bird, Jaeden Brown, scored 31 at Utah Tech. Stafford Collins scored 16 points in each of last week's games and also added her fifth double-double of the season with 10 boards at Tarleton State.

ABOUT THE OPPOSITION
Southern Utah snapped a four-game losing streak with a rivalry win at Utah Tech on Thursday night, 69-66, after outscoring the Trailblazers by eight in the fourth quarter. The T-Birds are now 5-19 overall and 3-8 in WAC play and in seventh place in the standings. 

Daylani Ballena, who had 18 points to lead SUU in the win at UTU, leads the team with an average of 10.8 points per game while Ava Uhrich is averaging 10.7 points. Southern Utah leads the all-time series 19-9 and has won four straight over the Wolverines, including a double-overtime thriller in the last meeting between the teams, last season in Orem.

UP NEXT
The Wolverines will host Utah Tech next Wednesday, Feb. 19 in the UCCU Center at 6 p.m. before traveling to Seattle to face the Redhawks on Saturday, Feb. 22.