OREM, Utah – The Sam Houston women's basketball team got big scoring days from both
Faith Cook and
Courtney Cleveland, needing every point they could get to hold off Utah Valley, 69-66, on Saturday afternoon at the Lockhart Arena.
The win was the fifth in a row for the Kats (10-12, 5-6 WAC) in the first-ever meeting between the teams and comes on the heels of a dramatic overtime win on Thursday night at Dixie State.
Sam Houston led by as much as 16 points in the second quarter, but Utah Valley (9-12, 4-6 WAC) came all the way back to take a 66-65 lead with 2:58 to play in the game; however, those would be the final Wolverine points of the game as the Kats got free throws from Cleveland and a score from
Madelyn Batista on the next two possessions to provide just enough scoring down the stretch for the win.
Cook did much of the heavy lifting in the opening half, scoring 17 of her game-high 23 points in the opening two quarters. Meanwhile, Cleveland took over in the second half, scoring 14 of her 20 points in the final two periods.
Batista added another double-double to her resume with 14 points and 11 rebounds, while
Damaya Telemaque followed up her big night on Thursday with nine points on 4-for-9 shooting.
Conversely, UVU got big games from Maria Carvalho (20 points) and Josie Williams (19 points, 16 rebounds).
The Kats were all square with UVU after a quarter, but then opened up the second period on a 13-2 run and outscored the Wolverines by 11 in the quarter to take that advantage into the break behind 17 points from Cook.
Sam Houston will look to run its win streak to six in a row next Saturday at home when it hosts Chicago State at Johnson Coliseum.
