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Utah Valley vs. Park University Season Opener

Blackham leads revamped Wolverines into season-opening matchup with Park

11/2/2026 11:24:00 AM

OREM, Utah – Utah Valley women's basketball opens the 2026-27 season on Tuesday, Nov. 3, at 6 p.m. MT against Park University. It will mark the first time since the 2022-23 season that the Wolverines have opened against a non-Division I opponent, when they edged Park, 59-54.
 
BROADCAST INFO
All of Utah Valley's home games will air on ESPN+, with Ethan Jordan (play-by-play) returning for his second season behind the mic for the Wolverines. He will be joined by UVU veteran analyst Josh Kallunki calling the action. They will be joined throughout the year by Sammy Miller, who will be on the sidelines for several games this season.
 
SCOUTING PARK UNIVERSITY
The Buccaneers enter Orem with a 4-2 record and finished 0-2 this weekend at the Lewis-Clark State Classic, where they fell 98-52 to the host Warriors on Saturday before dropping a 79-67 decision to Southern Oregon.
 
Park is led by senior guard Allie Cummings, a transfer from Point Loma, who is averaging 12.8 points per game this season. Tucson, Arizona, native Cassie Coolidge averages nearly 11 points per game.
 
PREVIEWING THE WOLVERINES
The Wolverines finished 16-15 overall and 9-9 in conference play for a fourth-place finish in their final season in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). Dan Nielson enters his eighth season at the helm of Utah Valley's women's basketball program after overseeing two of the most successful campaigns of the Division I era and leading the Wolverines to postseason appearances in each of the last two seasons. He welcomes seven newcomers to replace the seven graduated seniors from last season's roster.
 
The Wolverines welcome back floor general Cambree Blackham, who earned Second Team All-WAC honors and a spot on the All-Defensive Team. The Lehi, Utah, native averaged 9.7 points and 4.16 assists per game. She broke the Utah Valley single-season steals record last season with 84 and averaged 2.71 steals per game.
 
Utah Valley's backcourt also returns junior Naia Tanuvasa and sophomore Anna Shreeve. Tanuvasa played in 28 games and made one start last season, scoring 12 points against La Sierra, where she broke the school record for steals in a game with nine. Shreeve played in 19 games and scored a career-high 10 points against the Eagles of La Sierra.
 
The backcourt adds four newcomers, beginning with Olivia Stephens (Draper, Utah), who was a four-time all-state selection between Brighton and Alta high schools in Utah. She averaged 16.1 points and 7.6 rebounds per game for the Hawks. Gabi Moultrie enters her freshman campaign from Wilsonville High School in the Portland metropolitan area. The Oregon scoring machine averaged 23.1 points per game for the Wildcats and is the program's all-time leader in points, assists, and steals.
 
UVU also brought in a pair of transfer guards in Hyde Park, Utah, native Maren McKenna, who returns from a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after spending her first season at Wyoming, and Heather Stedman. McKenna played in 28 games for the Cowgirls in 2023-24 and scored 15 points against Oklahoma State while knocking down four 3-pointers. Stedman originally attended CSUN and came north to join UVU as a midyear transfer. The Arizona product had a standout prep career that included Desert Valley Region Player of the Year honors before wrapping up high school at PHH Prep in Phoenix.
 
Utah Valley freshman guard Tabi Clark will likely see time at both guard and forward for the Wolverines. She is fresh off leading Pleasant Grove High School to a state championship after scoring more than 1,000 career points and earning multiple all-state honors.
 
The Wolverines will look to improve their rebounding after finishing last season near the bottom of the WAC. They addressed that concern with the addition of Lauren Johnson (Utah Tech), who led the Trailblazers with 7.3 rebounds per game. She also proved to be an offensive threat, averaging seven points per game. Creighton transfer Elizabeth Gentry averaged 2.4 rebounds in just 15 minutes per game for the Bluejays. She scored a career-high 17 points against Omaha last season and added 11 against No. 1 UConn.
 
The final major addition inside was Utah State transfer Gracie Johnson, a shot-blocking specialist who once blocked eight shots against Boise State to tie an Aggie program record. She averaged 1.37 blocks per game during her two seasons in Logan. Johnson also showed a soft touch from the perimeter during her time up north and was one of Utah State's best 3-point shooters among post players.
 
Kendra Kitchen is the second of two returned missionaries on this year's roster. She was limited to just one game during her freshman season before suffering a season-ending injury, but in that appearance, she scored 11 points against Kansas City in the 2024-25 opener in just 10 minutes on the floor. New Zealand native Evie Leeson scored a career-high 12 points against La Sierra last season in 20 minutes and averaged just over one rebound per game across 10 appearances for the Wolverines.
 
Utah Valley will play a challenging nonconference schedule that features Santa Clara, Utah, and BYU during the month of November and includes a total of three Mountain West opponents. The Wolverines begin play in The Big West this season after spending the last several years in the WAC. They are the only team outside California in the league and are joined by fellow newcomers California Baptist and Sacramento State.
 
The conference schedule features a double round-robin format, with the top eight teams qualifying for The Big West Championship in March at Lee's Family Forum in Henderson.
 
UP NEXT
The Wolverines will stay home and conclude the first week of play when they host West Coast Conference favorite Santa Clara on Saturday, Nov. 7, at 4 p.m. MT inside the UCCU Center. The game will also air on ESPN+ with live stats available on GoUVU.com/stats.
 
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