PROVO — When is a win not a win?

The BYU women's basketball team defeated visiting Utah Valley State 61-54 Saturday. But the Cougars (8-0) left the game feeling dissatisfied with their performance.

"Hopefully we'll learn from this," BYU coach Jeff Judkins said. "You know, the thing is, we didn't get a loss out of this. That would have been way worse. I know I feel like it's a loss, and I'm sure my team feels the same way."

Conversely, the Wolverines (2-7) emerged from their first-ever regular-season game versus BYU claiming victory — albeit a moral victory.

"I was pleased with a lot of things," UVSC coach Cathy Nixon said. "Obviously, to come in here against a team like BYU and how they've been playing, and put ourselves in a position where I thought we were competing for a win, I was really proud."

After leading 35-23 at halftime, BYU guard Mallary Gillespie nailed two consecutive 3-pointers to fuel a 10-0 run that put the Cougars up 45-27.

To their credit, the Wolverines did not give up. With freshman center Robyn Fairbanks scoring 17 second-half points, UVSC stayed within striking distance.

A 3-pointer by Fairbanks with 13 minutes to go capped an 8-0 Wolverine run that cut BYU's lead to 47-37.

With seven minutes to go, the Cougars still led comfortably at 60-46. But then something unexpected happened — BYU simply stopped scoring. The Cougars made zero field goals and went 1-of-8 from the charity stripe through the final buzzer.

The Wolverines found themselves trailing 60-54 with 49 seconds left and Fairbanks headed to the line for a pair of free throws, but Fairbanks missed both shots and UVSC missed several desperation shots in the game's closing moments.

Melinda Johnsen's free throw with 10 seconds left was BYU's first point since Lauren Riley scored a layup with 6:54 to go.

In the first half, the game was tied at 10 when Cougar senior Ambrosia Anderson erupted for 10 consecutive points to put BYU ahead 20-10.

"I was just taking what they were giving me, just moving around and seeing that no one was guarding me," Anderson said. "Somehow the ball found me, and I just cast it away."

But according to Judkins, Anderson's outburst may have hurt the Cougars in the long run.

"That kind of hurt us more than it helped us when (Anderson) went on that spurt because then she stopped penetrating, she stopped being aggressive, she started being more cautious," Judkins said. "(Anderson) is a better player when she's more aggressively offensively."

Excluding the 10-point explosion that saw Anderson hit two 3-pointers and two layups, she shot 2-for-19 the rest of the game.

Gillespie finished with 17 points and eight rebounds, and Anderson earned her third double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Fairbanks led UVSC with 19 points. Miriam Palkki and Hollie Beaman added 13 points apiece for the Wolverines.

NOTES: By remaining undefeated, BYU extended its team record for most consecutive wins to start a season . . . Although Nixon is in her 11th season coaching UVSC, Saturday was the first time she has ever coached against her alma mater in a regular-season contest. With 1,771 points between 1985 and 1988, Nixon is BYU's fifth all-time leading scorer.

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