Cougars take game from lady Wolverines
Shane Maryott/UVU Review
Crosstown rival BYU came on Thursday night and left with a 74-47 win against the lady Wolverines.
The Cougars’ 27-point finish may have been due to Utah Valley’s 19 turnovers, which BYU turned into 27 points.
“I feel like the first 10 minutes we stood toe to toe with them [BYU], handled their defensive pressure, did what we needed to do on the defensive end; we went through a stretch of nine possessions and turned it over seven times,” said Coach Cathy Nixon.Going into the half, the lady Wolverines only trailed 17 points and came out hard the second half to compete, but couldn’t make up the difference the Cougars kept building through the rest of the game.
“I felt like we came out the second half and did the same thing, kind of stood toe-to-toe with them. We had a lapse there where we turned it over five out of seven possessions and we’re just not a team that has that much room for error,” said Nixon.
The loss puts the lady Wolverines at 1-7 for the season and 0-5 all-time against the Cougars.
Sophomore transfer Sammie Jensen and true freshman Kim Bell led the lady Wolverines offensively, each finishing with 10 points a piece and Jensen also pulling down 10 rebounds to give her a double-double.
Whitney Jenkins, another true freshman, came off the bench to put up eight points while sophomore Kaycee Mansfield added seven and picked up six rebounds.
“I’m really proud of what we did tonight,” said Nixon. “These young kids, these are the types of games they need to gain the experience we need to be competitive and I love coaching these girls, they compete, they come to practice every day wanting to work hard, they care about the game, they care about each other and they’re working hard for us.”
Despite the loss, fans from both UVU and BYU helped to create a record-breaking attendance of 1,983 for UVU women’s Division I basketball.
Utah Valley will next face Southern Utah University on Saturday for a second time this season. The lady Wolverines will return home Dec. 18 to face Cal State Bakersfield at 3:00 p.m.