OREM, Utah - Jan. 13 - Southern Utah women's basketball saw its shooting touch go cold late in the first half as the T-Birds dropped a 50-72 decision at Utah Valley on Tuesday night. The loss drops SUU to 6-10 on the year while UVU moves to 7-8.
Both teams came out of the gate slowly as the Wolverines held a 2-0 lead during the first four minutes of the game before Anne Westwood Higbee finally broke through to tie the game at 2-2. Another jumper and free throw by Higbee gave the Thunderbirds a lead that the team would not relinquish until the 5:11 mark in the first half with the score tied at 18-18.
The Southern Utah scoring machine stalled over the final 6:40 of the half as the Wolverines pulled together a 15-0 run to close out the half and headed into the locker rooms with a 32-18 advantage.
"We let the game get away from us right before the half," interim head coach Kit Janes said after the game. "Our shot selection wasn't bad during the game, but they just didn't drop for us tonight."
SUU opened the second half with three points from Dani Hosking on a jumper and free throw, but the 11-point gap (21-32) is as close as the Thunderbirds would get over the final 20 minutes.
Higbee led Southern Utah with a team-high 11 points and 13 rebounds for her third double-double this season. Freshmen Amanda Farish and Morgan Slade followed with career-highs of nine and eight, respectively. Slade also tied a career high with six rebounds as fellow bench contributor Jamie Sagers tied a career high with five blocks. The five swats ranks No. 5 all-time in the record books at SUU.
Southern Utah's leading scorer, Challis Pascucci, was held without a point in the game as the sophomore shot 0-of-6 from the field. Pascucci, Caitlyn Sears and Kaila Goff, who together are averaging almost 25 points per game, combined to shoot 0-for-19 on the night. As a team, SUU was held to a season-low 27 percent field goal percentage.
UVU's Robyn Fairbanks led all scorers with 34 points and 12 rebounds. Sandy Wall was also in double figures with 19 points on the night. Southern Utah's defense did limit Utah Valley's second leading scorer, Julie McMurray, to only three points on 1-of-10 shooting from the floor.
Southern Utah will be back at home this weekend, facing the top two teams in The Summit League in South Dakota State and North Dakota State. Tip-off for the game on Saturday against SDSU is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. with the men's game to immediately follow. SUU will then square off against NDSU on Monday night at 7:00 p.m.
