The UVU women’s basketball team scored 37 points in the fourth quarter Monday night in front of a sparse crowd en route to a big comeback win over the San Francisco Dons, 94-88 in overtime. The win was the fifth straight victory for the Wolverines since dropping the season opener to BYU.
The Wolverine offense started fast, getting out to a 14-9 lead, but sputtered to end the first period as San Francisco ended the quarter on a 10-0 run to take a 19-14 lead.
San Francisco clamped down in the second quarter, allowing UVU to score only seven points en route to winning the quarter 18-7 for a 37-21 halftime lead. The Wolverines shot just 25% from the field in the first half.
“In the first half, we just played really distracted,” said UVU head coach Cathy Nixon. “We let them control the tempo, we let them control the pace. We got frustrated and lost focus.”
The Wolverines battled back in the second half, winning the fourth quarter 37-19 including a 16-5 run. With 39 seconds remaining in the game and UVU trailing by eight, guard Deijah Blanks had a 4-point play followed by a 3-point shot by guard Mariah Seals to cut the lead to two. The Wolverines then stole a crucial inbound for the second time in three games, which led to a Karlee Norris layup to force overtime. In overtime UVU shot 80 percent from the floor and won the period 18-12 for the 94-88 outcome.
UVU shot 63 percent in the second half, including 43 percent from 3-point range. Seals was relentless in leading the come-from-behind victory, scoring 16 of her 33 points in the fourth quarter and also chipping in five assists and two rebounds.
“Mariah is just so passionate,” said Nixon. “She just has a relentless commitment to winning and I could see it in her that she was going to do everything she could.”
Joining Seals in double digit scoring was Blanks and forward Rebecca Mawhinney, with 20 and 22 respectively. Each also contributed four rebounds.
San Francisco forward Taylor Proctor feasted, shooting 13-20 for a game-high 39 points. Proctor also grabbed nine boards in the losing effort. Guards Rachel Howard and Zhane Dikes also chipped in 17 and 13 points for the Dons, respectively.
“The Boise win was kind of a breakthrough win for us and this one might be even bigger,” said Nixon.
The Wolverines will try to keep the streak rolling as they go on the road to take on the University of Nevada and the University of Alabama in the Nugget Classic in Reno, Nevada, Nov. 27 and 28.
