The Utah Valley women’s basketball team lost to California Baptist on Saturday, Jan. 9, by a final score of 62-53.
For the Wolverines this was their second game of a back-to-back on the road against California Baptist. UVU was predicted to finish first and California Baptist second in the WAC preseason coaches poll. The Wolverines had previously lost to CBU on Jan. 8, by a score of 98-69.
This time around, UVU played a closer game. Both teams started a little sloppy by turning the basketball over seven times each in the first. The Wolverines trailed 17-14 at the end of the first quarter.
The Wolverines ended the second quarter with a three-and-a-half-minute scoring drought. Along with hot shooting by the Lancers — 58% from the field and 50% on 6-12 shooting from three — the Wolverines found themselves down 39-29 at the half. Junior guard Maria Carvalho led the Wolverines in scoring with 11 points in the half, with nine of those points coming in the second quarter. Junior center Josie Williams added eight points and three rebounds.
The Wolverines’ defense picked up in the second half by only allowing the Lancers to score 10 points in the third quarter. UVU trailed 49-41 after three quarters as they attempted to cut into the Lancers lead.
UVU had a four-minute scoring drought early in the fourth quarter that was followed by a 7-0 run to cut their deficit to just six points. Even with the Wolverines strong defensive second half and late fourth quarter run, they were unable to come back as they lost by a final score of 62-53.
The Wolverines held CBU to 24% shooting from the field in the second half and 41% for the game. They were unable to capitalize, however, as they shot 29% from the field in the second half and 34% for the game. The Wolverines also struggled to get bench scoring — they finished with two bench points for the game. Carvalho finished the game with 14 points, seven rebounds and three assists and Williams finished with 14 points and five rebounds. Redshirt junior Nehaa Sohail had a double-double adding 12 points and 11 rebounds for the game.
UVU falls to 2-3 on the season and 0-2 in conference play with both losses coming to CBU. The Wolverines will be back home to play Seattle University on Friday, Jan. 15, at 5:30 p.m. MDT. This game will be aired on the WAC Digital Network.
