Feb. 6, 2010

There were two Great West Conference women's basketball games on the docket Saturday with Utah Valley defeating Houston Baptist, 81-69, and Texas-Pan American falling at Chicago State, 78-63.

Four Utah Valley players scored in double figures in leading the Wolverines to their first Great West Conference win of the year.

Jenna Johnson led all UVU scorers with 20 points and Erika Newbold added 16 points and eight rebounds, while Julie Smith and Asumi Nakayama added 13 and 10 points, respectively. Kaycee Mansfield posted a career-high 11 rebounds to go along with her nine points, and Nakayama tallied a game-high seven assists.

Johnson paced with the Wolverines (5-19, 1-6 GWC) with 19 first-half points by connecting on 6-of-11 field goals, including 3-of-6 from the three-point line and 4-of-4 from the foul line.

Four minutes into the game, the Wolverines trailed 9-2, but they went on a 12-2 run over the next three minutes to take a brief 14-13 lead with 12:52 left in the half.

HBU's Taniqua Hollis buried a three-pointer to give the Huskies the 18-16 lead, but a three-pointer by Johnson gave the Wolverines the lead for good at 21-18.

Leading by six, Utah Valley, which committed just nine turnovers in the first half, went on a 14-0 run to end the half to lead 42-24 at the break.

The Wolverines shot 51.6 percent from the field in the half, while holding HBU (3-18, 1-5 GWC) to just 31.3 percent from the field.

Utah Valley led by as many as 25 points in the contest with the last coming with 10:25 left on two foul shots by Nakayama.

The Wolverines shot 49.1 percent from the field, while HBU shot 36.5 percent. UVU outrebounded the Huskies 48-28.

In the other GWC game, four Chicago State players scored in double figures as the Cougars picked up the win over visiting Texas-Pan American during their annual Homecoming game Saturday afternoon.

Tressa Beckel led the Cougars with a game-high 18 points and two blocked shots, while Alyssa Waldon posted 17 points with six steals. Courtney Waldon added 14 points and sophomore Natalie Marlowe recorded 12 points with a game-high eight rebounds for the Cougars (10-14, 5-2 GWC).

UTPA (8-14, 4-2) was led by senior Aleeya Grigsby's 14 points and seven boards on 6-of-8 shooting. Senior Marah Guzman tallied a double-double of 12 assists and 11 points, and senior Rose Esther Jean notched 10 points and two blocks.