CEDAR CITY, Utah– The SUU women’s basketball team erased a 13-point second half deficit to earn a 60-59 win over in-state rival Utah Valley University on Tuesday afternoon in the America First Event Center. SUU is now 3-0 at home and 2-0 versus in-state opponents.
“It’s a great learning experience for us to be down for quite a bit and battle back,” head coach Tracy Sanders said. “It proves what we are capable of. We really try to focus on defense and we did a good job of getting stops and making big shots there at the end.”
Harley Hansen and Rebecca Cardenas were key contributors in SUU’s comeback as the two combined to make nine three-pointers. Hansen finished with 21 points while Cardenas ended up with 16 points.
After jumping out to a 16-8 lead with 1:38 remaining in the first quarter, the Lady T-Birds went cold. They didn’t score again until the 4:10 mark in the second quarter. UVU took advantage of SUU’s dry spell en route to a 29-24 halftime lead.
The third quarter didn’t go much better for SUU as they found themselves trailing 50-39 entering the final period. Early in the fourth, Cardenas drained three consecutive three pointers to cut the UVU lead to only 54-52.
Hansen gave SUU a 60-59 lead with her three at the 2:28 mark. SUU got three consecutive stops and held a the one point lead until the buzzer sounded. UVU went without a made field goal in the last 3:25 of the game.
SUU (3-4) hosts Denver this Saturday at 1:00 p.m. in the America First Event Center. The game will be streamed on Pluto TV Channel 236.
Stay up to date with the Lady T-Bird Basketball team by following @SUUWBasketball on Twitter and Instagram and liking the Southern Utah Women’s Basketball page on Facebook.
Story by: Aaron Peterson
aapete3232@gmail.com
Photo by: SUU Athletics Strategic Communication
