Kyle Bruderer, Sports Writer
The Utah Valley University women’s basketball team snapped their three game losing streak with a win against Boise State University 68-60.
“Boise State was predicted to win the Mountain West and they’ve had a good season so far and beaten some good teams,” said head coach Cathy Nixon. “I really challenged the girls after Tuesday to come in and just work and play for each other and it was great to see a result in a win.”
The Wolverines started the game off with a three pointer from Rebecca MaWhinney. They kept their foot on the gas going on an 11-3 run in the first four minutes of play. The Broncos rallied back with an 8-0 run of their own making it 16-16 midway through the first. UVU missed a lot of open looks in the latter part of the half shooting 9-31 from the field before the break. However in the final minute a jumper by Rhaiah Spooner-Knight and a buzzer beating reverse layup from MaWhinney cut the Bronco lead to 4.
In the second half the Broncos looked to get their star forward Deanna Weaver involved offensively after only taking 6 shots in the first half. Spooner-Knight was given the job of guarding Weaver and managed to hold her to 12 points.
“Their number one is probably one of the best players we’re going to see all year, Weaver is really good and Rhaiah was so good defensively against her tonight,” said Nixon. “That was something that might not have gotten noticed about Rhaiah’s game but she was phenomenal tonight.”
With five minutes left in regulation Spooner-Knight buried her first career three pointer to give UVU a nine point lead. The Broncos fed the ball inside and often to their center Miquelle Askew who scored 11 of her team high 18 points in the second half. Unfortunately for Boise State the inside presence of Askew wasn’t quite enough to spoil the biggest non-conference game of the year for UVU.
Spooner-Knight ended with a game high 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds. MaWhinney also had a stellar performance scoring 14 points on 5-9 shooting and pulled down 9 rebounds nearly recording a double-double.
The Wolverines play next against Air Force at home on Dec. 11. At 7 p.m.
