Tessa Chaney had a double-double to help lead Utah Valley to a 75-62 win over UT Rio Grande Valley on Saturday afternoon in the UCCU Center. Chaney finished with a career-high 18 points and 11 rebounds, Kylee Mabry matched her career-high 17 points, and Eleyana Tafisi scored a season-high 15 to help the Wolverines (6-9, 1-5) notch the win in WAC play.

“We’ve had spurts of the energy we need over the last few games but our challenge has been to do it as consistently as possible. We needed a win, desperately, and I’m proud of the total team effort we got today,” said UVU head coach Dan Nielson. “I thought for the most part we executed our defensive gameplan. Credit to them, they hit some tough deep shots in the third, but in past games we’ve sort of backed off and gotten frustrated. Today we stayed right there and kept the lead and that was a big step of growth for us.”

Chaney was 6-for-6 from the field and 6-for-7 from the free-throw line while Tafisi finished with six rebounds and five assists as UVU dished out 20 assists on the night. Ally Criddle finished with nine points, Tahlia White had eight points and a career-best six rebounds, and Liana Kaitu’u had five rebounds and four steals.

Arianna Sturdivant led the Vaqueros (2-13, 1-5) with 18 points while Charlotte O’Keefe finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Utah Valley went 26-for-57 (45.6%) overall from the field while UTRGV shot 30.4% (21-for-69).

Utah Valley had a 40-20 advantage on points in the paint and also scored 18 points off of 18 UTRGV turnovers while limiting the Vaqueros to just eight points off of turnovers.

The Wolverines will wrap up their three-game homestand next Thursday against Grand Canyon at 6 p.m. MT in the UCCU Center.

UVU men’s hoops falls at UTRGV

Trevin Dorius scored 14 points and Jaden McClanahan added 12 in a 76-68 setback on the road to UT Rio Grande Valley on Saturday night at UTRGV Fieldhouse in Edinburg, Texas.

Utah Valley falls to 8-9 overall and 3-3 in WAC play while UTRGV improves to 6-12 overall and 2-5 in league play.

Dorius scored his 14 points on a 6 of 8 clip from the floor and a 2 of 4 mark from the free throw line. He also pulled down eight rebounds with one block and a steal.

McClanahan went a perfect 6 for 6 from the free throw line and knocked down a pair of threes for his 12 points. He also pulled down three rebounds with two assists and a pair of steals.

Drake Allen was also in double figures with 11 points, while K’mani Doughty scored seven. Trevin Leonhardt and Nate Tshimanga each score six points.

Utah Valley shot 32.8% (22-67) from the field with a 17.2% (5-29) clip from long range. The Wolverines connected on 79.2% (19-24) clip from the charity stripe. UTRGV shot 50% (24-48) from the field with a 37.5% (6-16) mark from three-point range. The Vaqueros shot 68.8% (22-32) from the free throw line.

The Wolverines outrebounded UTRGV 42-35 on the night and outscored the Vaqueros 34-32 in the pain.

Utah Valley will continue WAC road play as the team now travels to The Valley of the Sun to take on Grand Canyon on Thursday, Jan. 18 at GCU Arena. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. (MT). The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and on ESPN 960 AM radio.

Wolverine men’s wrestling loses at Northern Iowa

Utah Valley University fell on Saturday night to No. 13 Northern Iowa 32-6 inside the Leid Recreation Center on the campus of Iowa State University. UVU (1-2, 0-2) picked up wins by 2023 NCAA qualifiers Isaiah Delgado at 149 and 197-pounder Evan Bockman but could not overcome a fast start from UNI (3-4, 2-0).

The Wolverines got on the board with three points with Delgado’s 5-0 decision. He used a four-point second period that featured an escape and a takedown to build a 4-0 lead before adding a riding time point for the victory.

The only ranked matchup featured No. 19 Wyatt Voelker and No. 22 Bockman. After a scoreless first period, the action picked up with the UNI’s 197-pounder striking first on an escape, but the two-time NCAA qualifier on UVU’s side responded with the only takedown of the bout to go up 3-1. The second period ended with a second escape from Voelker before Bockman added one of his own in the third period for the 4-2 decision.

Utah Valley returns home for their next three duals, starting with Wyoming on Jan. 20 at 6:00 p.m. MT before welcoming in North Dakota State (Feb. 2) and No. 11 South Dakota State (Feb. 3).

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