OREM, Utah–  A red-hot three-point shooting display from Samantha Johnston and a dominant 19-point performance from Megan Jensen pushed the Southern Utah University women's basketball team past Utah Valley, 75-70, Saturday afternoon in Orem. With the win, the Thunderbirds improve to (15-8; WAC 11-1), while the Wolverines fall to (6-18; WAC 3-10). 

TBird Tidbits

• The Thunderbirds outshot the Wolverines from the field, 50 percent to 44.6 percent. 

• Southern Utah remained dominant on the boards outrebounding UVU 36 to 25, resulting in 18-second chance points compared to the Utah Valley's four. 

• SUU stayed composed from the free throw line shooting 78.6 percent compared to the Wolverines' 68.4 percent. 

Johnston tied her career-high in scoring with 20 points on 6-11 shooting from downtown while also dishing out six assists and corralling five rebounds. Jensen came up big against her former team once again, scoring 19 points on 7-9 shooting with five assists and seven rebounds. Daylani Ballena hit crucial shots down the stretch and added 12 points and four assists, while Lizzy Williamson finished with 12 points, six rebounds, and a game-high two blocks. 

First Half 

In the second matchup between these two I-15 foes, the Thunderbirds would get things rolling fast as Williamson drained three early buckets, and Johnston and Daugherty hit back-to-back threes to help give SUU the 16-8 lead with 4:27 remaining in the first quarter. 

Coming out of the first media timeout, Johnston splashed two straight triples, and Ballena hit a pull-up mid-range jumper, but Utah Valley started to find life and closed the quarter on a 6-3 run to bring the score to 24-16.

After the Wolverines connected from deep to start the quarter, Southern Utah would halt that run with a crafty Alexa Lord layup and Johnston's fourth made three-pointer of the first half to extend the lead to 31-20 at the 7:46 mark. 

As the quarter progressed, both sides began to trade buckets back and forth until the Devil Bears hit three-pointers on two straight possessions to cut the deficit to 38-32 with under three minutes left. 

Southern Utah found an answer right away as Ballena and Jensen struck from distance before Jensen sliced through the defense for a tough contested layup to send the Thunderbirds into the half with a 46-34 advantage. 

Second Half

UVU began the second half by rattling off a 6-0 run to bring the score back to single digits, 46-37, at the 9:02 mark in the third quarter. 

The Thunderbirds put a stop to the UVU's spurt with an explosive 11-2 run of their own, highlighted by an ankle-breaking step-back three-pointer from Johnston and three tough buckets from Jensen to push Southern Utah in front 57-41 with 3:59 remaining in the quarter. 

Southern Utah earned its largest lead after Johnston and Ballena each sunk threes, putting them in front 63-44 with 2:32 left, but the Wolverines would close out the quarter with a pull-up jumper and two made free throws to make the score 63-48. 

Utah Valley opened the fourth quarter by catching fire from downtown. The Devil Bears bolted out on a 13-2 run off three consecutive possessions with made three-pointers and two layups that brought the home side within six, 69-63, with under five minutes left to play. 

The Thunderbirds terminated this run with a Ballena mid-range jumper, but the Wolverines would not go away easily, hitting three free throws and a layup to put them back in striking distance 71-68 with 2:28 on the clock.  

On the following possession for the Thunderbirds, Jensen would corral a clutch second-chance rebound and would get fouled to send her to the line, where she drilled both free throws giving the Thunderbirds some breathing room with under 90 seconds to play. Utah Valley came right back with two free throws of their own to pull back within three points.  

Following a missed SUU three-pointer, the Wolverines had a chance to tie the game with under a minute to play, but a locked-down Thunderbird defense thwarted that opportunity and helped send Johnston to the free-throw line, where she clinched the 75-70 victory for Southern Utah. 

Up Next

After playing four games in the last week, the Thunderbirds have some time off before hosting the UTRGV Vaqueros on Thursday, Feb. 16, at 6:30 p.m. MT and the Stephen F Austin Lumberjacks on Saturday, Feb. 18, at 2 p.m. MT. 

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