Kaylee Byon scored 16 of her career-high 21 points in the fourth quarter and overtime as Utah Valley University picked up a 63-59 road win at Tarleton on Saturday in Wisdom Gym. Byon scored with under a second to go in regulation to force the extra frame and then added eight more points in the OT to help UVU snap an eight-game losing streak.

Shay Fano added 14 points, Mae Afoa finished with nine, Ally Criddle scored eight and Eleyana Tafisi finished with seven points and six assists and iced the game with two free throws with just seconds to go.

“This team has been through so much and I’m just so proud of the way we persevered today,” said UVU head coach Dan Nielson. “We had so many players step up and make big-time plays and contribute to this win. It’s tough to win on the road and this result was hard-earned and deserved.”

Byon tied the game on a jumper from the free throw line that hit the front rim, touched the glass and then dropped through with under one second to go.

In overtime, the game was deadlocked at 51-51 when Criddle scored on a driving layup and Byon hit a jumper from the baseline to give UVU a 55-51 lead. The Wolverines (5-16, 2-8) then hit 8-of-10 from the line over the last 1:13 to secure the win. Utah Valley withstood a pair of late 3-pointers from the Texans (7-14, 1-9) with Tafisi putting the game away with four seconds left after hitting two foul shots.

The Wolverines had a 41-27 edge on the glass with Fano leading the way with a game-high nine while Criddle added six boards. Utah Valley was 24-for-50 (48%) and made 10-of-14 in the fourth quarter and OT combined. Tarleton finished the game at 35.8% (19-for-53).

Utah Valley scored the game’s first six points with three different players making early field goals. Byon had five points in the opening quarter and gave UVU an 11-5 lead after rebounding her own miss at the line and hitting a jumper with 3:10 to go. The Texans finished the quarter with three consecutive makes from three including two from Tyler Jackson. Tarleton hit four 3-pointers in the opening quarter with nine of its 12 attempts from the field coming from beyond the arc.

The Wolverines were hampered by turnovers in the second quarter, with nine giveaways leading to nine of the Texans’ points in the quarter. The Texans outscored UVU 12-5 in the second and led 26-16 at the break.

In the third, Tarleton led 28-18 when Byon hit a jumper and Afoa buried a three from the top of the arc to cut the deficit in half. Utah Valley trailed by eight, 33-25, when Fano scored back-to-back buckets on feeds from Tafisi to make it 33-29. Fano also hit a three with just 15 seconds to go in the quarter and UVU trimmed the deficit to four, 36-32, after three quarters.

Elina Tausinga got the Wolverines within two, 36-34, after battling for a bucket down low just over one minute into the fourth. The lead was back at four for Tarleton when Afoa hit a jumper from the elbow and Byon tied it on the next possession to make it 41-41 with just under 4:30 remaining.

Emilia Axelsson broke the tie with a big 3-pointer at the 3:06 mark to put the Texans back in front. Tarleton extended it to five with two free throws from Mayra Caicedo to make it 46-41. Byon got to the line with 1:07 remaining and cut it back to three and Utah Valley got a stop and the ball back with 43.6 seconds left.

Out of a timeout, Byon knocked down a baseline jumper from 15 feet out to get Utah Valley within a point, 46-45, with 34 seconds left. That was answered with a 3-pointer by Jenna Dick that gave the Texans a 49-47 lead with 10 seconds left. Byon then hit the game-tying jumper from the free-throw line with half of a second left to force overtime. Byon scored eight of her points in the fourth quarter.

Nya Mitchels led Tarleton with 14 points off the bench as she and Dick combined to score 26 of the team’s 28 bench points.

The Wolverines will now head to Abilene Christian for a Monday matinee at 2 p.m. CT/1 p.m. MT. That game was originally scheduled for last Thursday but ice storms in the Dallas area forced the schedule change of that game and two others in women’s WAC play.

UVU wrestling loses to Wyoming

Utah Valley University Wrestling fell to Wyoming 26-6 on Saturday afternoon inside the UniWyo Federal Credit Union Center in Laramie. The Wolverines got victories from (HM) Chase Trussell at 285 and 149-pounder Isaiah Delgado.

“We did not have a good team performance today,” said head coach Greg Williams. “It doesn’t matter who we put out on the mat or how many starters we have out, we expect every guy on our team to fight for every position and point. We had some guys not do that today, and it was disappointing. Congratulations to both Isaiah and Chase for doing what they needed to do in the third period to win their matches.”

Trussell rallied from a 2-0 first-period deficit to defeat Mason Ding 3-2. Trussell scored escapes in the first and second periods and the match was tied 2-2. The two wrestlers did not allow a point in the third period, but Trussell had over a minute of riding time to win the bout.

Wyoming’s Warren Carr and Delgado went head-to-head in a low scoring bout, with a second period escape the only point in a 1-0 victory at 149. Delgado was able to hold on in the third period, despite numerous attempts from Carr to get the victory.

Two UVU school track record broken

Krista Farley and Maysen Rollo both set new school records as Utah Valley University wrapped up action at the Washington State Open on Saturday. The meet was held at the Podium in Spokane, the site of the 2023 WAC Indoor Track & Field Championships on Feb. 24-25.

Farley hit 5.71 meters in the long jump to set a new school record while Olivia Pixton moved into second all-time in the same event, with 5.67 meters. Farley finished fifth and Pixton was seventh in the long jump. Rollo bested 3.76 meters in the pole vault to set the indoor record in that event. She was tied for first before winning gold following a jump-off against Rosalie Folger-Vent of Eastern Washington. With those two school records, a total of five have been set so far, this indoor season.

Caleb Furnell won the men’s 200-meter race with a time of 21.22 seconds while Aaron Johnson was fifth (21.59) and Mikhail Carvalho’s time of 21.90 seconds is 10th all-time. On the women’s side, Emma Newbold, Quincy Bonds, and Larissa Dabb all hit school top 10 times in the 200. Newbold (24.93) is now No. 6; Bonds is No. 8 (24.97); and Dabb is 10th (25.02).

School record holder Aiden Garnett won the high jump, with his best mark of 2.11 meters while Carter Cook hit 2.07 meters and moved into the No. 5 spot in the school’s top 10.

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