Utah Valley University’s women’s basketball team will play its final regular-season road game on Saturday against Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas. The game is scheduled to begin at noon Mountain Time (1 p.m. Central) at Moody Coliseum.
The matchup will be broadcast on ESPN+, and fans can follow live statistics on GoUVU.com/stats.
In their previous outing, Utah Valley defeated Tarleton State 65-51 in Stephenville. Kaylee Headrick achieved her third double-double of the season with 19 points and 10 rebounds, matching her career high with two blocked shots. Cambree Blackham contributed a season-high 19 points, making six of ten shots and three out of five from beyond the arc. Halle Nelson added eight rebounds and eight points, while the Wolverines’ defense forced over 20 turnovers by Tarleton State.
Abilene Christian enters the contest with a 20-8 record overall and an 11-4 mark in Western Athletic Conference play. The Wildcats are tied for second place in the conference standings alongside Southern Utah as both teams aim for higher seeding in the upcoming WAC tournament. On Thursday night, ACU secured a 76-66 win over Utah Tech, led by Erin Woodson’s performance of 23 points and 16 rebounds. Payton Hull, who was named preseason WAC Player of the Year, recorded 16 points, seven rebounds, and six assists.
Abilene Christian has been strong at home this season with a record of 13 wins and one loss at Moody Coliseum; their only defeat came against California Baptist earlier this month. Hull has averaged nearly 25 points per game against Utah Valley this year.
Earlier this season during New Year’s week in Orem, Utah Valley narrowly defeated Abilene Christian by a score of 69-67. Mabry scored a career-high 23 points as she and Barcello combined for all eleven three-pointers made by UVU that game; together they accounted for two-thirds of the team’s total points.
However, when these teams met again earlier this month in Abilene, Hull and Woodson each surpassed twenty points to lead ACU to victory at home. The Wildcats collected twelve offensive rebounds that resulted in crucial second-chance opportunities.
Several individual milestones are within reach for Utah Valley players: The team needs seven more steals to break its single-season record; Blackham is eight steals away from surpassing Taylor Christensen’s single-season mark; Mabry needs seventeen more steals to move past Asumi Nakayama’s career record of 223 steals; Barcello requires fourteen additional made three-pointers to set a new single-season program record.
After facing Abilene Christian, Utah Valley will finish its regular season schedule with home games against Southern Utah on March 5 and Utah Tech on March 7 at the UCCU Center.
