March 5, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

OREM, Utah - Utah Valley will finish out the 2007-08 season at the Division I Independent Championship beginning Thursday in Edinburg, Texas. The Wolverines (16-9) open with host Texas Pan-American on Thursday at 7:05pm MT. Each of the six participating teams will play three games, with audio of all Utah Valley games live on WolverineGreen.com.

The Wolverines enter the tournament as the top seed, while Florida Gulf Coast, Chicago State, CSU Bakersfield, NJIT and Texas-Pan American are the two through six seeds. With the exception of Florida Gulf Coast, UV has faced each team in the tournament, going 3-4 against those teams. Number two seed Florida Gulf Coast will face NJIT and Chicago State will match up with CSU Bakersfield in the opening round on Thursday.

On Friday the Wolverines will play either Chicago State or CSU Bakersfield, depending on how the wins and losses fall on the opening day.

Utah Valley is coming off of a 94-82 win over CSU Bakersfield last Saturday in its final home game of the year. The win gave the Wolverines a perfect 12-0 mark in the McKay Center this season. Robyn Fairbanks had 23 points and 10 rebounds in just 22 minutes of action while Julie McMurray and Sandy Marvin both finished with 17. Seniors Susie Cornejo (11 points) and Rebekah Peterson (eight points, nine rebounds) played in their final home games as Wolverines. The two are the first women's basketball players at Utah Valley to play four seasons at the NCAA level.

Robyn Fairbanks is currently leading all independents in points, rebounds, field goal percentage and blocks and is ranked 4th nationally in scoring (24.0 ppg), 16th in rebounds (10.0 rpg) and 13th in field goal percentage (57.9 percent).

Texas Pan-American (10-16) is led by senior guard LeKeisha Gray, who is averaging 14.7 points per game. The Lady Broncs won an exhibition game last weekend against Houston Baptist but prior to that had lost three straight including a 70-52 loss to Utah Valley at the McKay Center.

In that game, the Wolverines held Gray scoreless and improved to 5-1 all-time against UTPA.

Florida Gulf Coast (18-8) has won four straight and finished in second place in the Atlantic Sun, but due to their reclassification status cannot participate in the post-season tournament.

Delia De La Torre leads three players in double figures on the season with an average of 14.2 points. Chelsea Dermyer is averaging 11.2 points and just under five assists per game.

Chicago State (14-12) has won five straight, including an 86-60 blowout win over the Wolverines on February 23rd in Chicago to sweep the regular season series.

The Cougars are led by Jasmin Dixon's 17.8 points per game, which puts her second behind Fairbanks among independents. Dixon has also won independent player of the week four times, second to Fairbanks' five.

CSU Bakersfield (11-15) is led by Kelley Tarver's 17.3 points per contest. The Wolverines and Roadrunners split the season series, with each team winning on its home court.

NJIT (8-18) lost its regular season finale at Longwood last Sunday, 60-49. Freshman Jessica Gerald leads the Highlanders with a 12.3 points per game average.