CEDAR CITY, Utah ? Nov. 15 ? Despite leading the Wolverines in many statistical categories, Southern Utah women's basketball was not able to recover from a slow start and fell to Utah Valley 75-55 in the Centrum Arena on Thursday night. The loss drops the Thunderbirds to 1-2 on the season while UVSC improves to 3-0.
“We had some good looks in those opening minutes, but we didn't make the shots,” head coach Steve Hodson said after the game. “We could blame the start on youth or many other things, but the problem is your opponent doesn't care about any of those things and you better come out and play every night.”
Southern Utah began the game with the first points of the contest as Aubrey Mackintosh sank a jumper off an opening UVSC turnover. However, it would be the only points for the Thunderbirds over the next seven minutes as the Wolverines built an 11-2 advantage.
SUU continued to struggle in finding its shooting touch during the remainder of the half, connecting on only 27-percent of its shots. Utah Valley's lead continued to grow as the Wolverines shot over 50-percent (51.6) to take a 42-20 advantage into the break.
The Thunderbirds came out of the halftime break and began to chip away at the UVSC lead, trimming the gap to 44-26 over the first two minutes of the half.
However, the Wolverines held their ground and the lead with the Thunderbirds coming only as close as 16 with seven minutes on the clock.
The final horn sounded as Southern Utah outscored the Wolverines 35-33 in the final 20 minutes, but UVSC came out on top 75-55.
UVSC's Julie Mcmurray led all scorers with 23 and was joined by teammates Sandy Marvin (21), Robyn Fairbanks (13) and Rebekah Peterson (10) in double figures.
Freshmen Caitlyn Sears and Challis Pascucci led the Thunderbirds in points with 13 and 12, respectively. Sears' three 3-point baskets helped prolong SUU's streak of long-range connections to 321 games.
Pascucci finished the game with six blocks to put herself on the Southern Utah record books, ranking third all-time in a game with former SUU great Myndee Larsen.
Anne Westwood also set a new career high with 18 rebounds, collecting more boards as an individual than half of the Utah Valley roster.
As a team, Southern Utah out rebounded the Wolverines to the tune of 48 to 35.
The Thunderbirds will be back in action next week when SUU travels to San Diego for two games over the Thanksgiving break. Southern Utah will begin against San Diego State on Tuesday, Nov. 20 and then wrap up the road trip with the University of San Diego on Friday, Nov. 23.
