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Asumi Nakayama leads all Independent players in assists with an average of 5.0 per game
  
 
Wolverines Host SUU, Travel to Weber State

Utah Valley continues in-state portion of schedule this week

Dec. 6, 2006

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Coming Up...
Utah Valley State (7-1) will continue the in-state portion of its schedule with games against Southern Utah and Weber State. The T-Birds come to Orem on Thursday night at 7:05pm before UV will travel to Ogden to take on the Wildcats on Saturday at 2pm.

Thursday's game will feature live audio and Gametracker at www.WolverineGreen.com. Live audio for Saturday's game can be found by accessing www.weber.edu/athletics.

Utah Valley is playing all five in-state D-I schools this year. So far they are 1-1 with a win over Utah State and a double overtime loss to Utah. UV will conclude the in-state schedule next Saturday when BYU comes to the McKay Center.

The Wolverines have won a school record five straight games and are also off to the best start in school history. By comparison, last season Utah Valley won its seventh game on January 17th. This season, the seventh win came last Saturday, December 2nd at Idaho State.

The win at ISU also doubled the school's road win since making the jump to Division-I athletics.

Fairbanks, Wolverines Among Nation's Elite...
As of Wednesday, Robyn Fairbanks' 23.0 points per game is second nationally behind Western Michigan's Carrie Moore, who averages 28.3 ppg. She is 11th in the nation in rebounding with an 11.3 per game average.

In addition to leading all D-I Independent players in scoring and rebounding, Fairbanks is second in field goal percentage, hitting 56.1% of her shots.

As a team, Utah Valley is 13th in the nation in scoring offense, with an average of 80.6 points per game. The Wolverines are 38th in scoring margin, outscoring teams by an average of 14.0 points per game.

Other Wolverines among the D-I Independent leaders include Sandy Marvin, who is fourth in scoring (17.3), fifth in free throw percentage (84.3%) and fourth in assists (3.75). Asumi Nakayama is first in assists (5.0) and second in both steals (3.13) and 3-pt percentage (44.8%). Hollie Beaman is second in assists behind Nakayama, averaging 4.0 per game.

As a team, the Wolverines lead all Independents in field goal percentage (46.9%), rebound margin (+4.2), 3-point % (35.6%) and assists (19.9 apg) in addition to scoring offense and scoring margin.

Marvin Named Player of the Week...
Utah Valley State guard Sandy Marvin was named Division-I Independent Player of the Week after averaging 23.5 points per game in two Wolverine wins last week. It's the first time that the sophomore from Spring Lake, Utah has won the award in her career.

It's also the second consecutive week that a Utah Valley player has earned the honor after Robyn Fairbanks was named player of the week on November 28th.

Marvin helped the Wolverines to an 81-66 win over Boise State in which she set a new career high with 28 points on 6-for-10 shooting, including a perfect 3-for-3 from the three-point line and 13-for-13 from the free-throw line.

She capped off the week with a 19 point performance in a come-from-behind win at Idaho State. Trailing by five against the Bengals in overtime, she scored five straight points and dished out an assist on the go ahead basket to help the team to the victory.

Scouting the T-Birds...
Southern Utah dropped to 2-6 after losing a heartbreaker on a buzzer beater at New Mexico State on Monday.

The T-Birds struggled out of the gate, beginning 0-4, but are 2-2 in the their last four games with wins over Southern Virginia and UNLV.

They are led in scoring by Julie Stradling (9.7 ppg) and Erin McClean (9.5 ppg) offensively with both Stradling and Anne Westwood tied for the team lead with an average of 6.3 rebounds per contest.

Scouting the Wildcats...
Weber State is 4-3 heading into a Thursday night match up at UCSB in Santa Barbara, California.

After starting the season 4-1, the Wildcats have lost consecutive home games to Utah and Southern Illinois.

They are led by Sara Tuomi's 18.7 points and 7.7 rebounds per game while Chelsey Warburton averages 15.6 ppg.

Looking Ahead...
Utah Valley State will host consecutive 2005-06 NCAA Tournament participants beginning with its final in-state foe on Saturday, December 16th when neighbor BYU comes to the McKay Center.

The Wolverines will then host UC Riverside on Monday, the 18th before finishing up play before Christmas with Montana State on the 20th.