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Freshman Julie McMurray is one of three Wolverines averaging 6.1 points per game this season
  
 
Wolverines Travel to UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara This Week

UV women trying to snap three-game skid

Jan. 8, 2007

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Coming Up...
Utah Valley State (10-6) travels to Southern California this week for games against the Big West's UC Irvine (3-12) and UC Santa Barbara (7-8). The Wolverines will face UCI on Tuesday and UCSB on Thursday with tip-off for both at 8pm MST.

Live audio for the Irvine game can be found by going to www.athletics.uci.edu while audio for the UCSB game can be accessed at www.ucsbgauchos.com. Gametracker can be found on the schedule page at www.WolverineGreen.com or by clicking HERE

It will be the first meeting ever against both schools for Utah Valley State. The Wolverines are still looking for their first win ever against a Big West opponent. They are 0-3 all-time, including 0-1 this year after falling 70-69 to UC Riverside on December 18th.

After a school record 9-1 start, the Wolverines have lost three in a row and five out of six after Saturday's home loss to Idaho State. In that game Sandy Marvin had 21 points to lead the Wolverines but a slow start negated a 55-point second half and comeback attempt.

Three of the Wolverines' six losses this season have come by a combined total of four points. UV lost by two in double overtime to Utah and by one point each to both Riverside and Portland State.

Fairbanks' Independent Reign Continues...
Robyn Fairbanks was again named the Division-I Independent Player of the Week on January 2nd after averaging 33.5 points and 7.8 rebounds during a four-game stretch from December 18-31.

It's the third time this season that she has won the award and the fifth time in her career. The three times she has won it this year have all come in the last five weeks.

Fairbanks set an NCAA school record with 34 points in a one-point loss to UC Riverside and broke the record one game later with a 43 point, 14 rebound performance in a win over Montana State.

She scored 36 points in a one-point overtime loss at Portland State. Fairbanks shot 64% (51-for-80) from the field and was 6-for-9 from the three-point line in the four games.

She also became the school's NCAA career scoring leader in last Thursday's game at Portland, surpassing Miriam Palkki for first on the list.

Heading into Tuesday's game at Irvine, Fairbanks is tied for the national lead in scoring with Western Michigan's Carrie Moore at 25.6 points per contest.

Scouting the Anteaters...
UC Irvine is coming off of an 86-67 loss at UC Santa Barbara on Saturday and is 3-12 overall and 1-1 in Big West Conference action.

The Anteaters had lost seven in a row before opening up conference play with a win at Cal Poly last Thursday.

Three players for UCI are averaging in double figures led by Stephanie Duda's 12.8 points per game. Duda is averaging a double double for the Anteaters with a 10.1 rebound per game average.

Irvine is coached by Molly Tuter, who is in her second season as head coach of the Anteaters. She played at Arizona State and for the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA before starting her coaching career at UCLA in 1998 before becoming an assistant at Irvine in 2000.

Scouting the Gauchos...
UCSB is 7-8 overall and tied for the top spot in the Big West standings with UC Riverside at 3-1. They are coming off of an 86-67 home win over UC Irvine last Saturday. In that game, Jessica Wilson had an impressive line of 15 points, 12 assists, six rebounds, four steals and three blocks.

6-4 junior Jenna Green leads the team with an average of 16.5 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.

The Gauchos are coached by seven-time Big West Coach of the Year Mark French. During French's 20 seasons at UCSB, the Gauchos have won 11 straight regular season conference crowns and until the 2005-06 season, had made nine straight NCAA tournament appearances.

Looking Ahead...
The Wolverines will play the remainder of their schedule against Independent schools beginning with South Dakota State on January 25th, which will be a two-week break in between games. UV will play SDSU, North Dakota State, New Jersey Tech, IPFW and Texas-Pan American two times each over the final 10 games of the year.

Last Time Out - 1/06 vs. Idaho State...
A frantic second-half run couldn't erase a 19-point deficit for Utah Valley State (10-6) as the Wolverines dropped an 85-74 decision to Idaho State (4-8) on Saturday in Orem.

Utah Valley was led by Sandy Marvin who scored 21 points. Robyn Fairbanks added 16 while pulling down eight rebounds and Julie McMurray rounded out double-digit scorers with 11.

ISU was led by Natalie Doma's career-high 35 points and 19 rebounds. She had 22 points and 10 rebounds in the first half, helping the Bengals build a 19 point edge at the break. Jeni Boesel also picked up a double-double, getting 11 points and 11 boards while Andrea Lightfoot had 19.