Josie Williams finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds, but Utah Valley University came up short in the WAC opener, 69-63, at Abilene Christian University on Thursday afternoon in the Teague Center.

The Wolverines (5-7, 0-1) built a 12-point lead in the second quarter, but the Wildcats (9-3, 1-0) closed to within four by the break and then turned 11 second half turnovers by UVU into 14 points.

“The second half was really disappointing, especially defensively and with our inability to take care of the ball,” UVU head coach Dan Nielson said. “Credit to ACU, they made plays and hit some shots, but this was a really frustrating way to start conference play. We didn’t play well enough to win and if we’re going to have success we need to improve in a lot of areas.”

Shay Fano added a season-high 15 points and Maria Carvalho finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and six assists. ACU had four players in double figures led by 16 points and 10 rebounds from Jamie Bonnarens.

ACU scored on four of its first five possessions to take a quick 8-2 lead, but Utah Valley responded with seven straight points and 14 of the next 16 over a five-minute span to jump on top 16-10. Fano hit a pair of 3-pointers and had eight points during the run and UVU led 16-12 after one.

The Wolverines got consecutive buckets from Williams and Megan Jensen to start the second quarter during an 11-3 UVU run and a 27-15 lead. It was 31-19 after Jensen scored her third bucket of the half before the Wildcats went scored 11 straight to get within a point, 31-30, with just over a minute remaining until the half. Fano hit her third 3-pointer of the half with 29 seconds to go, stopping the run and a three-minute scoring drought for Utah Valley. She had 13 points and the Wolverines led 34-30 at the break.

Kamryn Mraz hit a pair of 3-pointers right out of the break as Abilene Christian tied the game at 36-36. A free-throw from Bonnarens gave ACU a 37-36 lead, it’s first since the opening quarter of play. Sarah Griswold added two more to extend the Wildcats’ run to 20-5 dating back to the second quarter.

Williams tied the game at 42-42 with 3:21 left in the third on UVU’s first trip to the line in the game. The Wildcats closed the quarter on a 7-2 spurt, getting a corner three from Bonnarens with just over three seconds left to take a 49-44 lead after three. Abilene Christian outscored Utah Valley 19-10 in the third.

Carvalho hit a pair from the line and later found Williams for two to get UVU within a point, 49-48. The Wildcats answered with nine straight, with Bonnarens hitting her third three to give ACU a 58-48 lead.

The Wolverines trailed 64-53 with 3:05 to before chipping away and eventually getting to within two, 65-63, with 30 seconds left on a pair of Kayla Anderson free throws. But Utah Valley was forced to foul, and Tatum Barber hit all four of her attempts to put the game away.

Utah Valley had 38-23 edge on the glass and hit 46.3% (25-for-54) from the field compared to 43.9% from the Wildcats. Abilene Christian came in as one of the top 3-point shooting teams in the country and hit 8-for-19 (42.1%) from beyond the arc. ACU also took advantage of 16 UVU turnovers, scoring 21 points off turnovers while giving it away just four times in the game.

Thursday marked the only time the teams will meet during the WAC regular season. UVU will wrap up the two-game Texas trip on Saturday at Tarleton at 2 p.m./1 p.m. MT.

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