9-1 Wolverine women facing big Cougar test

OREM — The Utah Valley State women's basketball team faces a litmus test today when it plays host to BYU at 3:05 p.m. at the McKay Center.

With a road win over then-No. 4 Stanford and having themselves been ranked as high as 18th this year in the Associated Press poll, the Cougars (7-3) are a proven program and fresh off Thursday's 79-42 thrashing of Weber State.

By contrast, the Wolverines (9-1) are enjoying their best start in school history yet still somewhat of an unknown entity. After all, this is a UVSC squad that went 11-16 just a year ago and is currently in its fourth season of Division I competition.

BYU is led by the inside-outside tandem of senior center Dani Wright and junior guard Mallary Gillespie; each is averaging 11 points per game.

Sophomore center Robyn Fairbanks leads UVSC with 24.1 points per game, third-best in the nation. In the Cougars' 61-54 win over the Wolverines on Dec. 17 of last year, Fairbanks led all scorers with 19 points.

"(Fairbanks) is one of the best post players we've seen," BYU coach Jeff Judkins said. "No one girl is going to be able to stop her — we're going to have to do it by committee."

At this early juncture of the season, BYU and UVSC already have three opponents in common: Idaho State, New Mexico State and Weber State. The Cougars and Wolverines are both 3-0 against the common foes, but in each instance BYU's margin of victory was greater.

In addition to its 68-60 overtime win last Saturday over the Wildcats in Ogden, UVSC also has victories over in-state rivals Utah State (68-60 on Nov. 14) and Southern Utah (74-63 on Dec. 7). Utah Valley's lone loss of the season came at the hands of the University of Utah in a 70-68 double-overtime thriller Nov. 17.

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Contributing: Scott Taylor