Tessa Chaney had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds but Utah Valley fell behind early and couldn’t recover, dropping a 66-53 contest at Abilene Christian on Saturday in Moody Coliseum in Abilene, Texas.

The double-double is the third of the season for Chaney, with all three coming in WAC contests. Kaylee Byon also reached double figures in scoring for the Wolverines (8-14, 3-10) with 13 points as UVU got 36 of its 53 points from its bench.

The Wildcats (10-11, 6-6), who jumped out to a 12-0 lead to start the game, got 16 points from Bella Earle, 11 from Payton Hull, and Addison Martin finished with 10. Zoe Jackson pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds while also scoring nine points for ACU.

Abilene Christian led 12-0 just three minutes into the game before the Wolverines were able to get on the board on a layup from Byon at the 6:18 mark. Byon had all four UVU points in the first as ACU built a 17-4 advantage after one.

The Wolverines kept pace in the second quarter with Ally Criddle scoring six of her eight points in the second. The Wildcats were able to tack one point on the lead in the second quarter to lead 32-18 at the break. UVU struggled to find the bottom of the basket in the half, making just 27.3% from the field while also missing all eight attempts from three.

Abilene Christian stretched the lead to as much as 21 in the third quarter before the Wolverines began to chip away. Byon scored seven points during a 16-3 Utah Valley run that trimmed the deficit to just eight, 44-36, with 4:23 left in the third. The Wolverines trailed 48-39 after three.

Saige Gibb got Utah Valley within seven with a bucket to begin the fourth, but the Wolverines weren’t able to get it any closer than seven the rest of the way.

Utah Valley finished with 14 steals and forced 20 ACU turnovers but were only able to turn that into eight points. The Wildcats took advantage of 17 Wolverine turnovers, scoring 20 points off of the giveaways.

The Wolverines return home next week to host California Baptist (Feb. 15) and Southern Utah (Feb. 17). Both games will be played in Lockhart Arena.

UVU softball falls just short of upsetting No. 13 Nebraska

Peyton Hall blasted her first collegiate homer and Halle Morris pitched 5.2 strong innings of relief, but the Utah Valley offense was only able to muster up two hits as the Wolverines fell 3-2 to the No. 13 Nebraska Cornhuskers on Saturday in Puerto Vallarta.

Rachael Brown stepped to the plate in the bottom of the 7th with a runner on third and sent a sinking line drive to left, but Samantha Bland was able to make a diving catch to secure the win for Nebraska.

Halle Morris allowed one run in 5.2 innings of relief for Payge Armendariz, who allowed two runs over 1.1 innings.

After falling behind 3-0 and a one-out walk by Morris in the fourth, Hall stepped to the plate and delivered a clutch two-run homer down the left field line to cut the deficit to just one. However, that would be the last hit Utah Valley would get on the afternoon.

Utah Valley will return to action on Friday, Feb. 16 at the Fresno State Invitational in Fresno, California. The Wolverines will play five games in three days, starting with a pair against Saint Mary’s and host Fresno State on Friday. Only Friday afternoon’s game against the Bulldogs will be streamed, but all five games will have live stats available at UVUStats.com.

Wolverine wrestling loses to Northern Colorado

Utah Valley University wrestling fell on Saturday night to the University of Northern Colorado, 22-15, inside the Bank of Colorado Arena in Greeley, Colorado.

Utah Valley (2-6, 1-6) won five of the night’s ten matches, but it was the bonus point victories that put Northern Colorado (9-5, 2-4) over the top.

“We split 5-5 just as we did last night but lost again on bonus points. As a team we have to do a better job, both in not giving up extra points and creating more opportunities to score more when we are ahead,” said UVU head Coach Greg Williams.

“Chase did a great job of wrestling one point at a time to come back from a 6-1 deficit in the third period. Jax also kept wrestling to score in his match but didn’t get the call at the end for what seemed to be a fairly obvious takedown, which would have forced overtime. Overall, we feel many of our guys showed some progression this week. We know we still have more to improve on this last month.”

The Wolverines will have their final dual of the season on Feb. 24 against California Baptist at 11:00 a.m. MT inside Lockhart Arena. UVU will honor Ty Smith, Jayden Woodruff, Jacob Armstrong, Chase Trussell, Hunter Morse, Isaiah Delgado, Kobe Nelms, and Cameron Haddock before the match.

UVU track sets new women’s indoor long jump record

Utah Valley University wrapped up a successful weekend at the Mountain States Games in Pocatello, Idaho, on Saturday with a total of nine gold finishes, one school record, and 23 Top-10 marks.

Kelsi Oldroyd, who saw Olivia Pixton match her indoor long jump program record last week, took back sole possession of the record with a first-place finish on Friday. She hit 5.86 meters, besting the old mark of 5.75 meters.

Kali McEuen had a big weekend. On Friday she reached No. 5 in the 60-meter hurdles after finishing the prelims in 8.79 seconds. She also improved on her 8th-best time in the 400, finishing in 57.55 seconds before improving on that time in Saturday’s final. McEuen moved up to No. 6 in the 400 on Saturday with a time of 56.71 seconds. She finished second in the finals to teammate Larissa Dabb, who holds the school record and won the race on Saturday in 56.54 seconds.

McEuen was also part of the winning 4×400 squad on Friday. The quartet of Dabb, Sarah Ballard, Ella Hopper, and McEuen set the 5th-best time, finishing in 3:48.83. Ballard continued her weekly ascension in multiple top 10 categories. Like McEuen, Ballard had PRs on consecutive days in the same event. After finishing the 200 prelims in 24.88 seconds, good for a tie for seventh, she bested that with a time of 24.78 seconds on Saturday, which puts her fifth in the record book. Ballard also ran 7.64 in the 60-meter prelims on Friday, which is No. 6 in the top 10.

Cameron Franklin won the men’s 400-meter final and improved on his own No. 2 time in the record book. He finished in 48.54 seconds, just in front of Isaiah Archer’s time of 48.99, which was third place in the finals and good enough for the sixth spot in the top 10.

Gabriel Remy won the 200-meter final on Saturday and set personal records in the event on both days. He ran it in 21.47 seconds on Friday for the 5th-best time and then won the finals on Saturday in 21.47 seconds to improve on the No. 5 time. Remy also won the 60-meter finals on Saturday with a time of 6.78 seconds.

The meet was the final tune-up before the WAC Indoor Championships on Feb. 19-20 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

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