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Senior Veva Ahlstrom will play the final home game of her career this Saturday
  
 
Women's Basketball Plays Final Home Games This Week

Wolverines host IFPW and New Jersey Tech

Feb. 21, 2007

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Coming Up...
Utah Valley State (12-13, 2-5 in United Basketball League) will play its final home games of the season this week agaisnt IPFW on Thursday and New Jersey Tech on Saturday. Live Gametracker and audio for both games can be accessed at www.WolverineGreen.com.

Saturday's game will be the final home game in the career of senior Veva Ahlstom, who has spent the last two seasons at Utah Valley after transferring from Eastern Utah.

The Wolverines are coming off of two losses on last week's road trip to North Dakota State and South Dakota State. After struggling to its worst loss of the season, 81-48 at NDSU, the Wolverines lost a heartbreaker, 61-59, at SDSU.

Robyn Fairbanks had 21 points in the loss to South Dakota State while Julie McMurray added 17 on her way to being named D-I Independent Newcomer of the Week.

Fairbanks, who is on her way to her second straight D-I Independent scoring title, is averaging 23.8 ppg, second in the nation. She also leads independents in field goal percentage at .553.

At Thursday's game, Fairbanks will be honored for becoming the first NCAA Wolverine to reach 1,000 career points, a milestone she reached on Febraury 3, 2007 at IPFW.

McMurray Named Newcomer of the Week...
Utah Valley State freshman Julie McMurray has been named Division-I Independent Newcomer of the Week for the second time this season.

McMurray averaged 17.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game last week for Utah Valley, hitting 12-for-21 (57%) from the field, 4-for-8 (50%) from the three-point line and a perfect 7-for-7 from the free-throw line.

In the Wolverines' near upset at South Dakota State, she keyed a late 13-2 run that gave UV the lead after trailing by nine. McMurray started the run with a three-point play capped it with a three-pointer from the corner, putting UV up 55-53. She finished 7-for-11 from the field with 17 points against the Jacks.

McMurray, who has reached double figures in four of the last games, is third on the team in scoring, averaging 7.6 points per game. She also won the award two weeks ago on February 3rd.

Record Setting Year for Wolverines...
Utah Valley started the season off to its best start since making the jump to NCAA Division-I Athletics. The Wolverines jumped out to a 9-1 start and in the February 10th win over Texas-Pan American, set a new school record for wins in a season at the NCAA level with their 12th win.

Scouting the Mastodons...
IPFW (12-13) is in the midst of a busy having played games on Monday (Tennessee-Martin) and Tuesday (New Jersey Tech). After losing to Tennessee-Martin, the Mastodons defeated NJIT by 15 in a game that had to be made up after it was postponed due to weather last week.

IPFW is 4-2 in United Basketball League play after its most recent win over NJIT. In that game, three Mastodons scored in double figures led by Tina Moen's 13 points. On the season IPFW is led in scoring by junior Johnna Lewis-Carlisle's 15.8 points and Ashley Johnson's 13.8 points per game.

The Mastodons led the all-time series against UV 2-0 after winning 82-70 earlier this season in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Robyn Fairbanks and Julie McMurray both had 22 points in that game but Fairbanks was limited to just six minutes in the first half after picking up two quick fouls. Lewis-Carlisle had 24 points to lead all scorers in the game while Johnson had 19 for IPFW.

Scouting the Highlanders...
New Jersey Tech (4-21) is coming off of a loss at IPFW on Tuesday night, but recently broke an 11-game losing streak with a 50-38 win over Longwood.

Jill Dickinson is leading the Highlanders with an average of 9.4 points per game while Kelly Crowe is scoring 8.5 per contest.

New Jersey is in its first season at the Division-I level after transitioning from D-II athletics.

In the first ever meeting between UV and NJIT, the Wolverines won in Newark, 79-48. Robyn Fairbanks had 17 points and 12 rebounds in just 14 minutes for Utah Valley while Julie McMurray had 13 as the Wolverines built a 23 point half time advantage.

Looking Ahead...
The Wolverines will travel to Edinburg, Texas next Saturday, March 3rd, for the final game of the 2006-07 season against Texas-Pan American.