The Wolverines have only 11 games left in the season, and they’re sitting on a losing record, ranked third in their conference behind NJIT and Texas-Pan American. Offensively, they’re leaving something to be desired. One consistent star on the team has been Sammie Jensen, leading the team in points and rebounds on the season. Jensen has also scored the team-high in 12 of their 15 games. But with so little time left on the proverbial shot clock, it seems as though the Wolverines may be making a desperation shot in hopes to capture the Great West Conference championship.
“We continued to work hard but we didn’t work smart,” Head Coach Cathy Nixon said after their loss to SUU. “We had 28 turnovers and we let Southern Utah control the tempo for a good portion of the game.”
Although the Wolverines were selected to win the GWC championship in the conference’s preseason coaches’ poll, they seem to be heading in the wrong direction, losing four of their last six games.
Don’t count the Wolverines out just yet though. There was a similar situation in another sport earlier this year. Being selected as the preseason coaches’ poll favorite, the women’s soccer team had a dismal start of the season, but when conference play came around, the Wolverines rallied back from their 1-10-1 record start and swept conference play to become the Great West champions.
The Wolverines have a long way to go. With conference play under way, they’re going to have to rely not only on Sammie Jensen’s offensive play, but senior Alle Cardwell’s defensive prowess. Leading the team with 12 blocks and 21 steals, Cardwell can very well change the pace of the game on the other end of the court. In the past four games, Cardwell has had only two steals and one block. Cardwell needs to be the wall that stops the opponent’s offense from scoring so many points against the Wolverines. Jensen can keep doing what she’s doing in her last year in a Wolverine’s uniform, but the rest of the team needs to chip in if they want to even touch the championship trophy.
Utah Valley hasn’t had much success as of late, but a new year can change a lot. For the Wolverines, they’re hoping it changes their luck.
Alex Rivera is the Sports Editor of the UVU Review. You can contact him at arivera.2011@hotmail.com or through his Twitter account @A_River_Uh.
