Dave Iba/UVU Review

The Lady Wolverines have lost five of their last six games played since just before Thanksgiving break, putting them at 3-6 for the season.

UVU took its first road trip beginning Nov. 18 and traveled East to face No. 25 Mississippi State as well as Longwood in Farmville, Virginia. Both competitions ended in a loss on their first road trip of the season.

The Wolverines then returned home on November 24 to take on Boise State. The Broncos gave UVU a run for their money quick in the first half hitting seven of their first 10 shots behind the arc and then used 18 turnovers from the Wolverines during the game to give them 25 points, ultimately winning the game 79-55.

UVU then left for their second road trip of the season for the Wingate Thanksgiving Classic in Bozeman Montana. The Wolverines kicked off the Classic against Winthrop, dropping another game 72-59.

UVU then faced Southern Utah in the Classic, picking up a win 68-54. Senior Julie Smith scored a season high 26 points and received All-Tournament honors. Ericka Newbold contributed 10 points and eight rebounds. Asumi Nakayama put in seven points and got five steals while Jenna Johnson and Kyra Prause each bucketed seven points.

The Wolverines returned home on Dec. 3 and faced Ohio taking another loss 57-43. Ohio kept a lead the entire game. UVU brought the game within two points in the second half, but was not able to get ahead.  Smith finished with 15 points and six rebounds. Kayla Burningham contributed eight points and four rebounds. Newbold put in seven points and Johnson finished with six points.

The Lady Wolverines will return to home court after finals week on Dec. 18 to take on Portland State.

---

[Translate]

Photo by Diana Pratt/UVU Review

The lady Wolverines played three games from Nov. 13-16 to begin their 2009-10 regular season.

UVU began the season on the road in Provo against BYU. During the first half, the Wolverines only shot 40 percent from the field and went into the second half trailing by 19 points.

In the second half UVU contained BYU’s offense, but it wasn’t enough. The Cougars ultimately won the contest 73-51. Senior Julie Smith finished with a team-high 20 points and freshman Kaycee Mansfield added eight.

The next day the Wolverines recorded their first win in the home opener against Mesa State.

At the half, the score was tied at 28-28. The score was kept tight until the last few minutes of the game when UVU was able to get a small lead, inching them toward the win.

On Nov. 16 UVU took on the College of Idaho and captured the win by  16 points, 72-56. The College of Idaho immediately put on the pressure to make the Wolverines work for the victory.

“I knew when we scheduled them that they’d be a handful with the way that they press and run. I felt it was good for us to get this kind of test before we head out on the road,” said UVU coach Cathy Nixon.

In the first half UVU had an eight-point lead, but College of Idaho bounced back to pass the Wolverines while holding them scoreless for a period of time. College of Idaho then scored seven more points without a UVU bucket. Despite the constant struggle the Wolverines went into the second half with a five-point lead.

UVU maintained a lead in the second half, but not without effort. College of Idaho pressured the ball each time UVU attempted to bring it up the floor.
Smith led the Wolverines with 16 points. Seniors Blake Reynolds, Asumi

Nakayama and freshman Kyra Prause all finished with 10 points while Kayla Burningham and Erika Newbold each finished with eight.

---

[Translate]

UVU’s women’s basketball team uses a retreat to help build unity and camaraderie in their young team.

Athletic teams participate in different activities to come together as a group. Some have team building games to build trust; others have workshops that help each teammate get to know each other. The UVU women’s basketball team is no different.

Over the fall break the team drove down to Moab for a retreat. This was not a time for them to relax and casually become familiar with other teammates. Instead, they started out the experience Thursday afternoon hiking up an 180-foot arch and then rappelled back down.

This was not only physically tiring but transformed into emotional exhaustion for one girl that experiences an intense fear of heights.
Her teammates turned it into the ultimate team building experience by helping her through the activity.

The next day the team went on a two-mile bike ride. Another member of the team was terrified because of a constant fear of flipping over her handlebars. Everyone on the team again had to pull together and provide needed support.

After the bike ride, the team went on a six-hour hike where they rappelled down two more cliffs; one 80 feet and the other 120 feet.
During the hike, team members had to maneuver through different obstacles while carrying objects needed for rappelling.

With only six returning players, the team desperately needed to come together during the retreat and learn how to trust.

Equipped with this much needed experience the Wolverines will be more confident heading into this year’s season. This will be their first year with the potential of playing in the NCAA tournament as a part of the Great West Conference. However, with eight underclassmen playing on the team this year the younger players will end up being the difference makers.

---

[Translate]

Coming off her best season yet, Julie (McMurray) Smith looks to have a great senior season.

“I have to realize that these are my last competitive games that I’m going to be playing, so I have to make the most of every single one of them because I probably won’t have too many more,” said Smith

With her marriage this summer to former UVU golfer Andrew Smith, last season’s McMurray will now be listed on the roster as Smith, but the talent level of the power forward is still the same if not better coming into her final season.
Last season Smith averaged 18.3 points per game and had a career high of 31 points in a win over Utah State.

With practice well underway for the Wolverines and with some changes this season Smith said, “Practice so far is a lot of new things because we have a lot of new players so it’s a lot of teaching and learning.” As a senior with experience Smith has been able to assist the learning freshmen.

Smith is ready with new goals for her senior season and said, “Every year I come in with the attitude that I want to do better than the last season in whatever that means, if it means being more of a leader vocally or if it means contributing more on defense or offense.  Every year I just try to step it up a little bit.”

This season seems different than others because of the large  number of incoming freshmen.  “The biggest difference is definitely our work ethic this year.  Those freshmen bring a lot of work ethic to the team and they’re always working hard and always hustling,” said Smith.

Smith says her career with UVU basketball has been great and is grateful for the friendships. “You build friendships that you’ll have forever and that’s probably been my favorite part.”

After three years as a student-athlete Smith still battles to find an equal balance in her life. She finds herself quite able to manage the task but said, “It’s definitely tough especially when we go on the road for a week or 10 days at a time and you have to stay caught up in your classes.”

Smith looks forward to her final year with UVU women’s basketball and said, “I hope we have a winning season and I just hope I have a good senior year, fun and enjoyable.”

After this season wraps up in the spring Smith will continue her education in PE teaching and will graduate after a semester of student teaching.  Smith hopes to get into PE teaching and coaching and said, “One day hopefully I can become a coach and have the same experience that we’re having.”

---

[Translate]

Dave Iba/UVU Review

The women’s basketball team consisting of six returning players and six freshmen battled Montana Tech in their Exhibition game winning 69-54.

Senior Julie Smith led the Wolverines with 23 points, scoring 18 in the second half.

“I think we all know Julie is capable of that if we can get her the ball in situations where she can go to work, then I have no doubt that she’s going to put points up on the board,” said head coach Cathy Nixon.

The score was kept tight by both teams up until the last part of the second half when UVU stepped up on defense as well as offense.
“I like the weapons that we have offensively and we have a lot of young kids so its going to take us some time to put the process together but overall I was really pleased with our effort and I thought some kids showed some really good potential” said Nixon.

Freshman Kaycee Mansfield came into the game to score 13 of her 14 points in the second half helping the Wolverines seal the win. “The thing that I liked about it was actually the points that she scored really when the game was hanging in the balance, when we were down and when we took our early lead in the second half,” said Nixon.

The lady wolverines will open their regular season on Nov. 13 at BYU and will host Mesa State the following day for their home opener.

---

[Translate]

Dave Iba/UVU Review

With last years winning season behind them, UVU women’s basketball is ready to tackle a new season.

“We’re just really excited.  We feel like we definitely have the program going in the right direction and hope to build off of the momentum that we’ve had in the past,” said head coach Cathy Nixon.

Nixon comes into this season losing five seniors, but has six players returning and an additional six incoming freshmen. “It’s easy sometimes to focus on the players that have left and the players that are coming in, but you look at that core of kids that we have returning and those are the kids that help me sleep at night,” said Nixon.

Even with such a chunk of new players Nixon is not worried and says, “The super six we have as freshmen are just a great group of kids. They are learning very quickly and I can’t imagine a group of kids that would work harder than these guys have, they’ve been just awesome.”

This years seniors are Julie (McMurray) Smith, Asumi Nakayama and Blake Reynolds. Nixon does nothing but praise these three athletes.

Nixon says Smith is ready for her senior season. “Julie had a great year last year.  I think she’s just ready to build off of the momentum and ready to step into a bigger role.  She’s ready to have a fantastic year and be a player that we can depend on, be that go-to player.”

With everything Nakayama has overcome the last three years Nixon says, “This is her team as far as being the quarterback and she’s ready to have a great senior year. I hope this is the year where she can just relax and be the great player that she is.”

Nixon says Reynolds has been more than just a great basketball player for UVU, “She’s a great communicator,” said Nixon. “She understands what to do and she’s a good calming presence on the floor.  I’m glad she’s back and brings experience.  She’s ready to handle the pressures that she’ll face as a senior.”

Along with the seniors Nixon really looks to the other returning players for contribution. “I think those are the kids that have already made a big impact and have contributed the last several years and they’re ready to go and ready to step into bigger roles and fill any gaps that might be there.”

As far as this year’s schedule goes Nixon says, “Our schedule is very difficult and will be very challenging for us, but I feel like it’s the direction that our program wants to be going and hopefully will prepare us for our conference play and tournament.”

The lady Wolverines open their season on the road at BYU on Nov. 13 and  will then have their home opener the following day against Mesa State.With last years winning season behind them, UVU women’s basketball is ready to tackle a new season.

“We’re just really excited.  We feel like we definitely have the program going in the right direction and hope to build off of the momentum that we’ve had in the past,” said head coach Cathy Nixon.

Nixon comes into this season losing five seniors, but has six players returning and an additional six incoming freshmen. “It’s easy sometimes to focus on the players that have left and the players that are coming in, but you look at that core of kids that we have returning and those are the kids that help me sleep at night,” said Nixon.

Even with such a chunk of new players Nixon is not worried and says, “The super six we have as freshmen are just a great group of kids. They are learning very quickly and I can’t imagine a group of kids that would work harder than these guys have, they’ve been just awesome.”

This years seniors are Julie (McMurray) Smith, Asumi Nakayama and Blake Reynolds. Nixon does nothing but praise these three athletes.

Nixon says Smith is ready for her senior season. “Julie had a great year last year.  I think she’s just ready to build off of the momentum and ready to step into a bigger role.  She’s ready to have a fantastic year and be a player that we can depend on, be that go-to player.”

With everything Nakayama has overcome the last three years Nixon says, “This is her team as far as being the quarterback and she’s ready to have a great senior year. I hope this is the year where she can just relax and be the great player that she is.”
Nixon says Reynolds has been more than just a great basketball player for UVU, “She’s a great communicator,” said Nixon. “She understands what to do and she’s a good calming presence on the floor.  I’m glad she’s back and brings experience.  She’s ready to handle the pressures that she’ll face as a senior.”

Along with the seniors Nixon really looks to the other returning players for contribution. “I think those are the kids that have already made a big impact and have contributed the last several years and they’re ready to go and ready to step into bigger roles and fill any gaps that might be there.”

As far as this year’s schedule goes Nixon says, “Our schedule is very difficult and will be very challenging for us, but I feel like it’s the direction that our program wants to be going and hopefully will prepare us for our conference play and tournament.”
The lady Wolverines open their season on the road at BYU on Nov. 13 and  will then have their home opener the following day against Mesa State.

---

[Translate]