Utah Valley women’s basketball lost 64-54 at the UCCU Center on Jan. 30 to visiting Texas-Pan American. UVU now falls to 1-6 in conference play, and 4-16 overall.
UVU and UTPA came away from the game shooting poorly from the floor.
UVU finished 15-52 (28.8%) on FG and UTPA shot 21-61 (34.4%).
“This was a missed opportunity for us,” said UVU head coach Cathy
Nixon. “We had all the opportunities on the offensive end to win this game. If we would have just capitalized on that in a reasonable way I think we could have gotten a win tonight. But things just didn’t go our way so we’ll look to regroup tomorrow and get ready for a tough
New Mexico State squad on Saturday.”
UVU headed into the locker room at halftime with an 8-point deficit, falling behind 31-28. The Wolverines came out strong in the second half with a man-to-man defense that shook up UTPA’s offense. Within the first two minutes of the half, UVU forced the Broncos to take last second shots as the shot clock was winding down.
The Wolverines took advantage of the shooting slump for UTPA, cutting the lead down to three points after a steal by center Sam Loggins converted and two quick jump shots by Rhaiah Spooner-Knight.
Rebecca MaWhinney came off the bench in the second half to score 11 of her game high 18 points. The freshman also pulled down nine rebounds and was a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line.
In a seven-minute span both teams were held to one shot each. Play grew physical as players became frustrated with poor shooting.
Sophomore standout Katie Kuklok drew three quick offensive fouls and later fouled out of the game.
The teams traded free throw for free throw instead of trading buckets.
UVU took advantage of the early foul bonus and made 22-25 (88.0 %) from the line.
The Wolverines were unable to capitalize easy opportunities in the paint into points. Starting guard Whitney Jenkins went 1-9 from the floor, missing layups and unable to get any second chance points.
The Wolverine defense tightened down as UVU broke into a full court press with nine minutes to go. Coach Nixon used MaWhinney, Tina Doughty, and Ashley Baugh for much of the second half. And in the closing minutes of the game, the benches were standing on their feet as UVU cut into the Broncos 10 point lead.
Baugh and Agnew trapped KaeLynn Boyd of UTPA. Baugh picked the ball and passed it off to Agnew for an easy layup at the other end of the court. Baugh stole the ball again on the next defensive possession and
Agnew completed that possession with two points from the FT line to bring UVU within six.
An experienced UTPA team, led by mostly juniors, was able to hold off the late charge by UVU. Boyd finished the game with 17 points, three assists, and a pair of steals.
UVU will play again on Saturday, February 1, in the PE building at
2:00 p.m. against New Mexico State (3-4 in WAC). The aggies are coming off of an 86-63 loss to Bakersfield.
