STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Tahlia White scored 20 points and Danja Stafford Collins added a double-double, but Utah Valley University dropped a narrow 68-61 contest at Tarleton State on Saturday inside Wisdom Gym.
 
Stafford Collins had 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Halle Nelson also grabbed 10 boards as the Wolverines (13-9, 5-5) had a 42-32 edge on the glass. Tarleton State's (16-9, 7-3) Jakoriah Long led all scorers with 25 points and hit six 3-pointers in the game as she helped the Texans to their fifth straight win.
 
The Wolverines raced out to a 13-5 lead in the opening quarter with Stafford Collins scoring six of the first 13 points for UVU. Nelson buried a 3-pointer late in the first to make it 16-8 and the Wolverines carried a 16-10 lead into the second quarter.
 
Long hit four of her six triples in the opening half, but Utah Valley maintained the advantage in the second quarter. Gracie Sorenson had back-to-back buckets to push the lead to seven with 3:40 left until halftime and the Wolverines led 29-24 at the break.
 
Stafford Collins and White both hit 3-pointers early in the third to give Utah Valley its biggest lead of the game, 35-26. The Texans responded with a 9-0 run, tying the game for the first time since the opening minutes. The Wolverines scored five straight to take a 40-35 lead, but TSU tied it by the end of the third when Arieona Rosborough just beat the buzzer with a one-foot desperation three that banked in, tying it at 42-42.
 
Tarleton State took its first lead of the game early in the fourth when Long went 1-for-2 from the line before a Rosborough jumper made it 45-42. With the Texas up three, 48-45, Long hit her fifth three and followed with a jumper to extend the advantage to eight, 53-45.
 
Down six with just under two minutes to go, White and the Wolverines made one last push to try and steal the road win. She got a steal and layup to cut it to four with 1:14 and then scored and was fouled with 42 seconds left on a tough bucket that cut it to one, 62-61. From there though, the Texans would hit all six of its attempts from the line over the final 22 seconds to secure the win.
 
Tarleton State was able to limit its turnovers to just 11, far below Utah Valley's average of over 24 forced per game, which ranked seventh in the nation coming into the game. The Wolverines were held to six steals, eight below their season average, which ranks third in the country.
 
Up next for Utah Valley will be an in-state rivalry game against Southern Utah on Saturday, Feb. 15 at 2 p.m. MT in Lockhart Arena.