Feb. 27, 2012

UVU Game Notes

OREM, Utah -- After splitting two conference games in Texas last week, the Utah Valley University's women's basketball team will return home to face Houston Baptist for the second time in five days Tuesday at 1 p.m. in the Activity Center. Admission to the game will be free of charge.

Live audio and stats for the game will be available at WolverineGreen.com.

The contest is a makeup game of Feb. 4th's originally scheduled meeting that had to be pushed back due to weather related travel problems for HBU. The game is also Utah Valley's second to last regular season contest, as the Wolverines will close their 2011-12 home schedule with Senior Day Saturday versus North Dakota.

Last week, UVU (13-13, 5-3 GWC) started its two-game Texas road swing with a 62-41 win over the HBU Huskies. The Wolverines were led by their bench in the game as UVU's bench outscored Houston Baptist's 33-0. Freshman guard Taylor Huber led the way off the bench with a team-high 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting (3-of-7 from behind the arc) while senior guard Jenna Johnson chipped in 12 (5-of-10 shooting).

The Wolverines also committed just 11 turnovers compared to 22 for the Huskies and UVU outshot HBU 40 percent to 29 percent from the field.

Last Saturday UVU then lost a heart-breaking 71-70 overtime game at Texas-Pan American. The one-point defeat along with a North Dakota win resulted in the Fighting Sioux clinching their second Great West Conference regular season title. UVU will now be looking to clinch second-place in the conference standings with a win over either HBU or UND this week to give the Wolverines a bye into the semifinals of next week's GWC Tournament.

Sammie Jensen's double-double average of 14.0 points and 10.3 rebounds per game leads the Wolverines, and also rank second and first, respectively, in the GWC. Jensen's rebounding prowess puts her among the nation's top rebounders as she ranks 17th in rebounds per game, and her 14 double-doubles on the year rank in a tie for 11th. Johnson is next in scoring at 8.0 ppg, followed by Whitney Jenkins, who puts up 6.9 ppg but is netting 10.0 ppg in conference play.

About Houston Baptist
HBU (1-24, 0-8 GWC) dropped two home games by double digits to UVU and UND last week. Freshman Devyn Weymouth led HBU with 16 points and nine rebounds against the Wolverines, and 13 points against the Fighting Sioux.

On Saturday against UND, HBU battled with the top-ranked Sioux but a late 20-5 run by North Dakota was the difference as HBU fell 57-36.

Weymouth leads the Huskies' active players in both scoring and rebounding at 8.5 ppg and 6.2 rpg. HBU's Shanice Steenholdt, has missed the last eight games for the Huskies but prior to that was leading the GWC in both scoring (18.7 ppg) and rebounding (10.9 rpg).

UVU leads the all-time series over HBU 5-0.

Up Next for UVU
UVU will close out its regular season at home against North Dakota for senior day on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the UCCU Center. Prior to tipoff, seniors Abbie Beutler, Jenna Johnson and Tasha Sanborn will all be honored.