Nail-biter in Orem as Wolverines fall

Alyssa Synakowski, Assistant Sports Editor

Photo by Gabi Campbell

UVU came away with nine points off turnovers in a fast-paced, aggressive ‘Lopes defense. Georgia Agnew, Sam Loggins, and Rhaiah

Spooner-Knight all recorded steals for the night.

Loggins contributed a team high 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the floor with 2-for-3 from the foul line.  UVU finished with 44 in the paint points. The Wolverines also out rebounded GCU 29-25.

“I thought tonight was one of our very best games this season, especially when you look at offensive execution,” said UVU head coach

Cathy Nixon. “We had good contributions from so many kids tonight. The disappointing thing is that we came up one possession short. But I can’t fault the kids’ effort and the way they battled for 40 minutes tonight.”

UVU finished the first half with a made shot from deep coming from Tina Doughty and extended its lead going into the locker room to 7, up 35-28.

Momentum shifted in early second half play after a controversial backcourt violation call that sparked the GCU defensive pressure, which lead to four scoreless minutes.

The Antelopes were led down the stretch by seniors Johnna Brown and

Justine Johnson. Both finished with 18 and 14 points respectively.

GCU extended their lead by 8 points with 6:05 left to play.

UVU quickly chipped away the deficit to one. Agnew broke GCU’s press three possessions in a row and set up plays for her team to score each possession.

The Wolverines had gotten the lead down to only three points with just seconds to go in the game. Brown was headed to the foul line and the win in her sights with 43 seconds left.

With the one-and-one scenario, Brown missed the shot and GCU’s Deanna Daniels came in for the offensive rebounded that lead to seconds ticking off the clock with Brown hitting the layup, giving GCU a 65-60 advantage.

UVU tried to stop the clock with 19 seconds left and put Kaitlyn

Petersen on the line but she ended up extended the lead to six points.

Kyra Prause came off the UVU bench to hit a 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the game to make the loss official at 63-66.

Although the Wolverines didn’t get the win, they were able to bounce back from the 88-51 loss at Grand Canyon Jan. 11.

“We’re an entirely different team than we were down at (GCU’s) place earlier this year,” said Coach Nixon. “We’ve just got to continue to focus on the process, like we’ve emphasized all season long. Our shortcomings get a little amplified because we’re so young, but these kids come to work everyday and there’s a lot of satisfaction in that as a coach.”

The Wolverines’ (4-18, 1-8 WAC) next game will be on Jan. 14 at Seattle University (11-11, 6-3 WAC) at 8:00 p.m.