Kyle Bruderer, Sports Writer
The Utah Valley University women’s basketball team allowed Southern Utah University to remain undefeated on Tuesday night by coming up short in a thriller at the UCCU center with a final score of 76-72.
The Wolverines were able to tie the score up three times in the first six minutes of regulation but never took the lead. With the game tied at seven, SUU busted open a 9-0 run to take control of the game. Freshman guard Taylor Gordon and sophomore forward Rebecca MaWhinney put a stop to the run by each draining a three pointer midway through the half, MaWhinney was fouled on her shot and ended up with a four point play cutting the lead to two. The Thunderbirds finished off the first half with a balanced attack, they shared the ball extremely well with 15 first half assists which put them up 38-23 at the break.
“I think it demonstrated that if we come ready to work hard we’re going to be competitive and if we don’t we’re not,” said head coach Cathy Nixon. “It’s just simple, the game of basketball is not complicated I thought we didn’t come out ready to work at all, not a kid out there in the first half.”
As the second half began, UVU stepped out onto the floor with their backs against the wall but the fight wasn’t over. SUU kept their lead at double digits until a pair of free throws by sophomore guard Rhaiah Spooner-Knight with eight minutes left put the score at 48-56.  Junior guard Patrice Toston picked up the scoring load for the Wolverines shooting 5-6 in the second half, including an impressive layup and free throw with 13 seconds left to put UVU within two. The Wolverines then had to play the fouling game hoping that SUU would miss their free throws but they made all of their foul shots in the final seconds.
“I think we absolutely have gotten better. I think in the second half we actually played pretty good basketball,” said Nixon. “I thought we were really good on both ends of the floor, I saw some very bright spots in the second half, kids being aggressive and teammates playing hard for each other on both ends of the floor.”
Toston scored 14 of her team high 16 points in the second half after shooting 0-7 in the first. MaWhinney played a solid game with a season high 13 points shooting 3-5 from beyond the arc.
Mariah Seals, Gordon, and Spooner-Knight also chipped in with double digit scoring.
The Wolverines will play next at home on Saturday Dec 6. At 3 p.m. against Boise State.
