The Utah Valley women’s basketball team earned their first win of the 2021 WAC season with a hard-fought 66-56 victory over the Seattle U Redhawks on Friday, Jan. 15 at the UCCU Center.
The Wolverines came into Friday’s game looking to avenge last year’s season-ending loss to Seattle in the first round of the WAC tournament, a 61-48 upset by the underdog Redhawks.
UVU built up an early double-digit lead — opening the game on a 17-2 run — but turnovers kept the Wolverines from extending that lead to put the game completely out of reach.
Sophomore forward Shay Fano led UVU in the first half with 12 points, shooting 4-of-5 from 3-point range. The Wolverines shot 55% in the first 20 minutes of play compared to the Redhawks’ 27%, leading by a score of 39-23 at intermission.
SU fought hard to stay within striking distance, but was unable to cut the Wolverine lead to single digits in the second half. Junior guard Maria Carvalho logged 10 of her 18 points in the second half, including shooting 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.
The Redhawks seemed to be gaining some momentum early in the 4th quarter when UVU center Josie Williams fouled out. But The Wolverines were able to gather themselves quickly, as sophomore center Megan Jensen came off the bench and scored six of her eight points in the final minutes to help put the game on ice.
It will be a quick turnaround for both teams, as they meet again Saturday for the second game of their series. The Wolverines (3-3, 1-2 WAC) and Redhawks (4-6, 0-1) will face off at 5:30 p.m. MDT, with the game being featured on the WAC Digital Network.
