Utah Valley women’s basketball: Wolverines turn over Weber State for 59-55 victory
How does a basketball team score just one field goal in the final 6:05 of a ballgame and come away with a win?
Cambree Blackham can tell you.
The Utah Valley sophomore guard and Skyridge High alum picked Weber State for eight steals Wednesday night in Orem, including the clincher: with her team up three, UVU didn’t allow WSU to get a shot up in the final 22 seconds, capped when Blackham thieved possession from Weber guard Sydney White (once a Mountain View High player) with 4 seconds left.
That sealed a 59-55 victory for the home team and a third straight for the Wolverines in the Ogden-Orem rivalry series. Curiously, the last three final scores have been 59-55, 57-55 and 56-55.
Blackham also happened to lead Utah Valley (5-1) in scoring with 17 points, going 8 of 10 at the foul line. The Wolverines shot a putrid 29.8% from the field but won the game in two ways: going 22 of 26 at the free-throw line and turning Weber State over 27 times for a 24-13 advantage in points off turnovers. WSU was 10 of 15 at the charity stripe.
Senior forward Antoniette Emma-Nnopu again led Weber State (2-3), tallying 21 points and eight rebounds while totaling half of the team’s field goal production; she shot 10 of 13 from the field, the rest of her teammates were 10 of 37.
Emma-Nnopu scored three times in the paint to open the contest and a Lanae Billy 3-pointer had the Wildcats up 11-2 early; the visitors led 15-10 after one quarter.
Blackham grabbed four of her eight steals in the second quarter and helped key the Wolverines to an 11-2 run of its own to open the frame. WSU guard Hannah Robbins, who totaled 12 points and seven assists, connected on two triples down the stretch to give WSU a 27-26 halftime lead.
Weber shot 3 of 10 from the 3-point line in the first half and only 2 of 10 in the second to net another low percentage from deep.
Weber led 43-41 after three quarters but Utah Valley got one of its three 3-pointers in a game-deciding rally to open the fourth. Blackham sandwiched a triple between two Kaylee Headrick drives and two post-up buckets from Tessa Chaney for an 11-0 run to go up 52-43 with 6:05 remaining.
Billy hit a 3-pointer and Emma-Nnopu scored in the paint four times — one a putback-plus-foul on a missed Billy shot — to give WSU a 12-4 run, cutting the score to 56-55 with 1:20 left.
UVU kept WSU from scoring the rest of the way.
Chaney had 15 points to help Blackham for UVU. Saige Gibb and Halle Nelson each scored nine points while Headrick pulled down nine rebounds.
Billy added 15 points for Weber State. The Wildcats continue their tour of four straight in-state foes with a 2 p.m. Saturday date at BYU.
UVU next plays at Nevada on Monday.


