Utah Valley graduate guard Noah Taitz and senior forward Hayden Welling were honored prior to the game as part of Senior Day festivities.

Utah Valley improves to 22-7 overall and stays in first place in the WAC at 12-4. The Wolverines maintain a one-game lead over California Baptist and a 1.5-game cushion over Utah Tech heading into the final two games of the regular season. A win Thursday at Southern Utah would guarantee at least a share of a second straight WAC regular-season title.

Leading 34-32 at halftime, UVU scored the first basket of the second half to push the lead to 36-32, but ACU responded with a 13-2 run over a 5:36 stretch to take a 48-38 advantage with 13:45 remaining.

Hayden Welling and Braden Housley answered with back-to-back buckets to spark an 11-3 Utah Valley run that cut the deficit to 51-49 with 10:18 to play. A Leonhardt three-pointer gave UVU the lead back at 55-54 with 7:42 on the clock and ignited a 13-5 surge over the next 4:36 as the Wolverines built a 65-59 lead.

Abilene Christian pulled within three at 70-67 with 27 seconds remaining, but Utah Valley scored the final four points to seal the 74-67 victory.

Leonhardt finished with 16 points on 4-of-9 shooting, including two three-pointers, and went 6-of-8 at the free-throw line. He narrowly missed a triple-double, recording nine rebounds, seven assists, three steals, and two blocks.

Davis scored 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting, including a three-pointer.  Jackson Holcombe  also reached double figures with 13 points, adding a team-high four blocks, three rebounds, and two steals. Weatherspoon IV chipped in nine points off the bench.

As a team, Utah Valley shot 56.5 percent (26-of-46) from the field and 43.8 percent (7-of-16) from beyond the arc. Abilene Christian shot 38.3 percent (18-of-47) overall and 38.9 percent (7-of-18) from three-point range.

The Wolverines were outrebounded 32-28 but outscored the Wildcats 38-18 in the paint.

Utah Valley closes out the regular season with road games at Southern Utah on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. and at Utah Tech on Saturday at 7 p.m. Both games will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and on the Wolverine Sports Network/ESPN The Fan.

Men’s track seizes WAC indoor team title

SPOKANE, Wash. — The Utah Valley men’s track and field team clinched its first indoor conference championship since 2015 as the Wolverines rode strong performances from their distance runners to secure the title.

After Friday’s wins in the 5000-meter and DMR, the Wolverine men picked up championship runs from Sila Kiplagat in the mile and Porter Whitworth in the 3000-meter, sweeping the podium in both events and taking seven of the top eight in the 3k. Between the mile, 3k, 5k, and DMR, Utah Valley secured 102 of its 197.5 points.

“It was a great weekend, both the men and women performed really well. We were fortunate to have two really solid days from top to bottom on the men’s side,” said head coach Scott Houle. “Porter Whitworth winning both the 3k and the 5k, that double’s pretty hard to do. We look forward to seeing what we can continue to build on and bringing the other events into the outdoor season. Finishing first and second, collectively, we feel like the kids represented the department and the school really well, and we’re excited about the outcome.”

Utah Valley beat out Tarleton State for the men’s title, with the Texans posting 174 team points. The Wolverine women fell just short of the team title, with Tarleton State edging out UVU 180.5 to 159.

Gavin Stafford led the men’s sprinters with a pair of medal finishes. Stafford took third in the 60-meter dash with a new PR of 6.67 — moving into third place all-time in the UVU record books — and placing second in the 200-meter with a school-record time of 20.98.  Kade Thompson  finished just off the podium in each race, taking fourth in the 60-meter with a time of 6.70 and fifth in the 200-meter at 21.33.

James Duncan  matched a school record in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.02 to take bronze. Fellow Wolverine Matthew Maclennan was just behind him at 8.03 to take fourth.

For the women, Aubrey Tasker won the first title of the day for the Wolverines, matching the school record in the high jump with a mark of 1.71m to take gold.

Morgan Nokes won her first of two titles on Saturday in the mile, breaking her own school record with a time of 4:45.52.  Reagan Doman  and  Caren Kipsirat  rounded out the podium for a Wolverine sweep. Nokes later took gold in the 3k for her third win of the weekend.

Utah Valley swept the Outstanding Track Performer awards, with Whitworth taking it on the men’s side and Nokes claiming it on the women’s. Whitworth swept the 3k and 5k this weekend, while Nokes did the treble by winning the mile, 3k, and 5k. Notably, Nokes has never lost a final at the WAC indoor championships after winning the 3k and 5k in her only other appearance back in 2024.

Utah Valley will now turn its attention to the outdoor season, which will begin with the Utah Tech Invitational in St. George on March 20-21.

Tough loss for women’s basketball at Abilene Christian

ABILENE, Texas — Utah Valley suffered at heartbreaking 58-57 loss in a back-and-forth matchup at Abilene Christian on Saturday afternoon at Moody Coliseum.

The Wolverines (14-13, 7-9) took a 55-54 lead with 51 seconds to go on a layup by Cambree Blackham as she and Breanna Davis traded baskets four times in the final minute. It was Davis’ bucket with 14 seconds left that went as the game winner. Blackham had a chance in the waning seconds of the game but slipped and her attempt at from three was off balance.

Amanda Barcello led three UVU players in double figures with 13 points behind a trio of 3-pointers. Halle Nelson and Blackham both had 12, with Nelson also hauling in eight rebounds.

The Wildcats (21-8, 12-4) got a team-high 11 points from Payton Hull while Aimee Flippen chipped in 10.

The teams were fairly even statistically, with UVU hitting 49% (18-for-37) and ACU shooting 47% (23-for-49) overall. Both teams were right at 29% from beyond the arc, turnovers were even at 19 apiece, and rebounds were slightly in favor of the Wildcats, 26-23. Utah Valley was able to get to the line 21 times, making 17, while ACU was 6-for-10 from the free-throw line.

The Wolverines return home for the final two regular season games next week. Utah Valley hosts Southern Utah next Thursday, March 5 before hosting Utah Tech on March 7 on Senior Day.

Baseball claims doubleheader sweep of UC Riverside

Kaden Carpenter went 5-for-9 with two home runs, four extra-base hits and seven RBIs on Saturday to lead Utah Valley to a doubleheader sweep with victories of 11-3, and 7-2 over UC Riverside at UCCU Ballpark.

Utah Valley (4-6) hit .300 as a team across the two games with 12 extra-base hits. The pitching staff limited UC Riverside (3-8) to a .185 batting average and 12 total hits on the day.

The Wolverines collected 11 hits and scored 11 runs in the opener as the first five hitters reached base in the bottom of the first inning.

Carpenter finished 2-for-5 with three RBIs in the opener. Luke Iverson passed former teammate Cole Jordan for seventh on the program’s career home run list with the 25th homer of his career and now needs one more to tie Nate Bach  for sixth. Five different Wolverines recorded extra-base hits in the game.

Utah Valley’s offense continued in the nightcap, led again by Carpenter, who went 3-for-4 with two home runs, three runs scored, and four RBIs.

Starter Garrett Miller logged a career-high five innings for the Wolverines and set the tone early on the mound. Cooper Littledike  recorded the final two outs in his 2026 home debut while recording the final three outs.

Softball powers past Utah State

ST. GEORGE, Utah — Bailey Marvin went 3-for-4 with two doubles and four RBIs and Emma Haygood and Megan Sterzer each drove in a pair to lead Utah Valley to its fourth-straight victory and the seventh in its last eight as the Wolverines took down Utah State, 13-7.

With the win, Utah Valley matches its best start through 18 games in the WAC era (since 2014) at 12-6, which was last achieved during the 2020 COVID-shortened season. The four-game win streak is also the team’s longest since rattling off seven straight down the home stretch of the 2024 season.

Utah Valley will wrap up the weekend with the marquee matchup of the Beehive Classic, pitting the Wolverines up against the 16-5 Utah Utes in a showdown of the teams with the two best records in the state.