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UVU players watch from the bench as the time ticks off the clock during the WAC game against Seattle at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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UVU forward Shay Fano shoots a 3-pointer during the WAC game against Seattle at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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UVU guard Eleyana Tafisi goes up for a shot during the WAC game against Seattle at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Seattle guard Sheridan Liggett (15), who played high school basketball at Maple Mountain, celebrates with her teammates near the end of the WAC game against UVU at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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How crucial was sophomore guard Ally Criddle to the UVU women’s basketball team in Thursday’s WAC game against Seattle at the UCCU Center in Orem?

Looking at a part of the box score would give a misleading answer, since Criddle only had three points, three rebounds and three assists.

But another number gives a better idea of her impact: When Criddle was on the floor, the Wolverines outscored the Redhawks by 13 points.

Unfortunately for UVU, foul trouble prevented the former Skyridge star from playing nearly as much as her team needed her to play and Seattle was able to overcome a big early deficit to defeat the Wolverines, 66-58.

“When Ally went out of the game with a couple of interesting foul calls, it changed our game,” UVU head coach Dan Nielson said. “You look at the two quarters that she played, the whole first quarter and she played like eight minutes on the fourth, and those were by far their two lowest scoring quarters. People might say that Ally’s not the biggest scorer and so why does she play so much? She’s by far the best defender on our team.”

The first quarter was almost a dream for a Wolverine squad that has struggled a lot during the 2022-23 season.

With Criddle’s aggressiveness galvanizing the UVU defense, the home team scored 20 of the games first 23 points to build a big 17-point advantage.

The Wolverines were up 25-11 at the seven minute mark of the second quarter when Criddle picked up a pair of ticky-tack fouls in quick succession, giving her three for the game and sending her to the bench.

She would return for less than two minutes in the third quarter with UVU still leading, 35-26, before another tough call forced her to sub out once again.

Seattle capitalized on Criddle not being on the court, getting its offense rolling.

Behind the deadeye outside shooting of sophomore guard Taliyah Clard (7-of-8 from 3-point range with a game-high 25 points), the Redhawks flipped the script with a 29-11 run.

“Credit to Seattle,” Nielson said. “They made their shots. Their kid got hot and we didn’t adjust, despite talking about it.”

When Criddle returned to the game with 7:55 left in the contest, not only was her team down 55-46 but she had to be more cautious to avoid picking up her fifth foul.

UVU did stay close enough to be in striking distance. The Wolverines trailed 62-55 with a minute to play and had a couple of chances to get closer, but — as happened through much of the game — simply couldn’t get the ball to go in during those critical moments.

“We quit doing small things like playing personnel,” Nielson said. “They hit shots and we didn’t. It’s pretty frustrating at this point in the year, especially after the first quarter proved that our game plan would have worked. But credit to Seattle. They stuck with theirs and made enough shots to win the game.”

In addition to Clark’s big game, Seattle also got six points, two rebounds and an assist from freshman guard Sheridan Liggett, a former Maple Mountain star who had a vocal cheering section at the game.

The disappointing finish for UVU means that the Wolverines went winless in January and have now lost eight games in a row as injuries and inconsistency have derailed their season.

Nielson admitted that it isn’t easy to battle through when a team isn’t seeing success.

“These last couple of weeks have definitely gotten hard,” Neilson said. “They’ve stayed really positive. I think you saw it tonight as we came out with some good energy. But mentally it does start to wear on. It’s about trying to focus on the small victories throughout the game and all that but it’s a tough pill to swallow. We just talked about with the players how we bounce back. What we’ve said all year is who knows how many wins we’re going to get out of the year. But if it’s one more or if it’s five more, we want to get them all. It’s about being ready for that and continuing to work. so we’ll pick ourselves back up off the mat and keep trying.”

The Wolverines will look to end the losing streak when they play their next game at Abilene Christian on Feb. 2 at 5 p.m.

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