UVU women’s basketball loses to UT Rio Grande Valley
Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald
UVU guard Kaylee Byon dribbles the ball up the court during the WAC game against Grand Canyon at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022.Utah Valley couldn’t overcome a slow start as the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley picked up a 69-59 win on Tuesday night in the UCCU Center, ending an eight-game losing streak to UVU.
The Wolverines (6-22, 3-14) were led by 18 points from Kaylee Byon while fellow freshman Tessa Chaney scored a career-high 13 points on 6-for-7 from the floor. Shay Fano added 11 points as UVU had three players reach double figures in scoring. The Vaqueros (12-16, 6-11) were led by Tiffany McGarity’s 13 points. UTRGV had a season-high 13 makes from three on a season-high 44 attempts with McGarity and Iyana Dorsey each hitting a trio of 3-pointers each.
The Vaqueros hit their first three shots from the field to jump out to a 7-0 lead and forced a UVU timeout after taking an 11-2 advantage just over three minutes in. After Byon hit a jumper, UTRGV ran off eight straight points to take a 19-4 lead. It was 24-11 after one quarter with the Vaqueros holding a 16-4 edge on the glass including six on the offensive end that led to seven points.
After the teams traded 3-pointers to start the second quarter, UTRGV made another run, scoring 10 of the next 12 points to take a 38-16 lead. Utah Valley got a boost on the offensive end from Chaney, who hit all five of her attempts from the floor and had 10 points in the quarter. She surpassed her previous scoring high in the second quarter alone with 10 of Utah Valley’s final 12 points of the half, including a bucket with 45 seconds left that made it 45-28 at the break.
UT Rio Grande Valley hit nine 3-pointers in the opening half, two shy of their season-high. Dorsey had all three of her makes in the first half and had 12 points at the break to lead all scorers.
In the third, Utah Valley found itself down 51-30 after McGarity and Mele Kailahi hit consecutive triples for the Vaqueros before going on a 13-2 run over the next five minutes. Byon scored seven points during the run that trimmed the deficit to 10, 53-43, but the Vaqueros would close the quarter with seven straight points to take a 60-43 lead into the fourth.
UT Rio Grande Valley outrebounded Utah Valley 45-26 and had 17 offensive rebounds while limiting the Wolverines to just four. The Vaqueros had an 18-4 advantage in second-chance points.
The Wolverines outshot UTRGV, hitting 45.3% (24-for-53) overall while the visitors were 23-for-61 (37.7%), but the Vaqueros were plus-10 on 3-pointers and had two more made free-throws en route to the win.
Utah Valley is now set to close out the regular season on Thursday night against Utah Tech in the Old Hammer Rivalry. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m. MT with the team’s lone senior, Kayla Anderson, being honored postgame.
