UVU WBB: UVU Opens GWC Tournament Title Defense Wednesday Add Comment    Mar 08, 2011

UVU Opens GWC Tournament Title Defense Wednesday

The Wolverines are hosting the second annual Great West tournament for the second consecutive year.

March 8, 2011

OREM, Utah -- The Utah Valley University women's basketball team will begin its quest to repeat as Great West Conference Tournament Champions Wednesday at the UCCU Center in Orem when the Wolverines open the 2011 Pepsi GWC Basketball Championships by playing Texas-Pan American at 7:30 p.m. Last year the Wolverines defeated the Broncs in the semis of the tournament en route to the conference tournament championship.

Live video, audio and stats of the game can be found at WolverineGreen.com.

The Wolverines (7-20, 5-7 GWC) who won five of their seven final games of the season will enter the conference tournament as the No. 4 seed and will matchup with the fifth-seeded Broncs (12-18, 4-8 GWC). Last season UVU entered the inaugural GWC tournament as the sixth seed and the Wolverines went on to do the unthinkable as they defeated the top three seeds to win the tournament crown.

Utah Valley will enter Wednesday's game on a two-game winning streak. The Wolverines concluded the regular season with a 17-point win at NJIT in Newark. In that game, four players finished in double figures to help UVU lock up the fourth seed. Jenna Johnson led the way as she put-up a game-high 20 points. Sammie Jensen, Kim Bell and Kaycee Mansfield too reached double digits as Jensen scored 18, Bell 12 and Mansfield 11. Jensen and Bell also each recorded eight rebounds apiece.

The previous week the Wolverines defeated Houston Baptist by a score of 82-58 in their final regular-season home game of the year. That night UVU too had four players notch double digits as Bell and Johnson led the way with 21 points apiece.

On the season Jensen leads UVU with a double-double average of 13.7 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. Jensen has also picked up 13 double-doubles for the year. Johnson is right behind Jensen in scoring with an average of 13.4 points per night, while Beutler averages 9.0 points and a team-high 5.0 assists.

About UTPA

The Broncs finished the year with a 12-18 overall record and a 4-8 clip in the GWC. Texas-Pan American is the fifth seed in this year's tournament after the Broncs earned it with a 69-62 home win over North Dakota in their last game.

UTPA has also been playing well down the stretch as the Broncs went 3-2 in their final five games. Besides UND, Texas-Pan American defeated both HBU and NJIT during the stretch. All three wins were at home in Edinburg where UTPA finished 9-3. On the road the Broncs went just 3-13.

UVU and UTPA have already played twice on the year and the Wolverines will be looking for the season sweep Wednesday as they hold the 2-0 advantage. UVU also leads the all-time series advantage 8-5. The Wolverines have won the last three meetings, as UVU also defeated the Broncs 72-56 in the semifinals of last year's tourney.

Bianca Torre leads UTPA in scoring with 16.9 points per night. CeMonay Newell is also in double figures for the Broncs as she averages 14.4 points per contest.

The winner of Wednesday's game will advance to the semis of the Pepsi GWC Championships and will play the one-seeded Chicago State Cougars Friday at 2:30 p.m. The women's championship game will then be played Saturday at 4:00 p.m. All games will be played at UVU's UCCU Center.

-Utah College Sports News staff and wire reports

Article written by

Utah College Sports Wire