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Show B 8 7":;;:;;;:v;;;: Monday • November 24, 2008 Struggles come early for lady Wolverines \HMM33Mtl Sports editor A team with an AilAmerican, several returning starters, and a home court advantage that resulted in an undefeated run in the McKay Center last season isn't suppose to start out the year with a loss. But that's exactly what happened to the lady Wolverines. After dropping their only exhibition game to Fort Lewis at home 8253 the Wolverines should have taken notice. A loss in the season opener, however, signified the opposite. Montana State invaded the McKay Center and handled Utah Valley 94-73, putting an end to the Wolverines unbeaten streak at home. Luckily, UVU exacted revenge on the helpless Mesa State Mavericks 83-39. How are the Wolverines going to recover from this early season debacle? Play to their strengths. As long as Robyn Fairbanks is on the floor Utah Valley will have a punchers chance against every team they play. Fairbanks scores, rebounds and fills up the paint defensively as well as any player in the country. However, Fairbanks can't help the Wolverines from the bench. Keeping her out of foul trouble and on the court will make or break Utah Valley's season. While Fairbanks is a stronghold in the Wolverine lineup, she can't do it all herself. Fellow senior Sandy Marvin-Wall is expected and needed to step up in supporting the offensive load. Along with Marvin-Wall, Julie McMurray is needed to knock down the open jump shot just as she did so consistently last season. The Wolverines will be fine, and they will rebound from the setback. A 20-win season is still very much attainable, especially with tournament play taking place on campus. Utah Valley will find the intensity and tenacity to right the ship and sail to another successful season. Toolson nets 41 in decisive win KYLEJELLINGS Asst. Sports editor Newton's first law of motion states, "Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it." In the first two games of the Wolverines' season Ryan Toolson has been an object in motion, and defenses have not been able to apply the force necessary to stop him. Tuesday night versus Montana Western, Toolson scored a school record 41 points to lead the Wolverines to victory. He broke his personal record of 38 points, which he shared with former Wolverine and current Utah Jazz guard Ronnie Price. Utah Valley went into halftime with the lead 42-38 and started the second half on a 16-6 run; Toolson scored 11 of those points. Senior Brett Ravenberg also made his presence felt with a career-high 10 rebounds, seven of them on the offensive glass. "Obviously, Ryan Toolson gave a Herculean effort, and Brett Ravenberg gave a Herculean effort on the offensive boards," coach Dick Hunsaker said after the game, "That team was scrappy, competitive, confident, and real. I give our kids all the credit in the world for battling, competing, and fighting." In the season opener against Northern Arizona it came down to the wire, but the Wolverines held on to win 68-62 on the back of Toolson who scored the last 14 points for UVU. Toolson finished the season opener with 23 points and a perfect 10-for-10 from the charity 1. (41) Ryan Toolson, vs. Montana Western 2008 2. (38) Ronnie Price, at Northern Colorado 2004. (38) Ryan Toolson, vs. Chicago State 2008 3. (37) Ronnie Price, at Montana Western 2004 4. (36) Ronnie Price, vs. Northern Colorado 2005 5. (35) Ronnie Price, at UMKC 2005. (35) Ryan Toolson, at Southern Utah 2007 Editor- in- chief Ronnie Price Wolverines suffer setback Sports writer The Wolverines began their season with two-games back-to-back on Nov. 14-15, and ended with a split result of one loss and one win. Montana State took the first season game from the Wolverines winning 94-71. "It is unacceptable for us to give up 94 points a game, it's just unacceptable," said coach Cathy Nixon. "Not here at home, not on the road. Obviously I've got to dig down in those kids and get them to work harder and work smarter because I think we're a better basketball team than that." Despite the loss, Robyn Fairbanks and Julie McMurray had great games. McMurray came out strong right off the bat, was very persistent with her shots, and dominated the first half for the Wolverines. Fairbanks also showed strength with her shots and rebounds throughout the entire game. "Robyn did her job. She scored 31 points, got 13 rebounds, and that's a fan- tastic night," Nixon said. "I think basically we have got to have some other kids step up and score." After the loss, UVU came right back out to take on Mesa State the next day. The Wolverines showed Mesa State what they had by winning 83 - 39. By halftime the Wolverines were up by 23 points. The Wolverines showed their talent both offensively and defensively throughout the entire game as they displayed excellent teamwork. During the second half Mesa stripe. "Ryan's a wonderful freethrow shooter, the best in the history of the game," said Hunsaker following the victory over NAU. "I thought the team played with intelligence in the closing seconds of the game, getting the ball in the right guy's hands. That's always a key to closing out games." The Wolverines try to keep their winning streak alive when they face University of Montana at home Nov. 25 and then they head to New York to face Binghamton University Nov. 29. Toolson misses two free throws Scoring (single game] Ryan Toolson Dave Iba/ UVU Review On his way to a school-record 41 points Ryan Toolson splits two defenders on his way to the basket. State just couldn't keep up. Once again McMurray and Fairbanks contributed offensively as well as pulling down plenty of rebounds for the Wolverines. Lauren Smith and Kayla Burningham also stepped up offensively and had a great game, Smith shooting 5-for-5 and Burningham shooting 4-for-6. The Wolverines are on the road for their next six games and will return home to the McKay Center December 13 to take on Idaho State. Greg Maddux won a Gold Glove. The Republican Party won in our consistently red state. The Simpsons entertain on a weekly basis. These are things we expect. Tuesday night, the unexpected happened. It involved Ryan Toolson, UVU's star of the hardwood. No, it wasn't his jaw-dropping offensive output of 41 points, but it was a charity stripe that proved not so charitable. Ryan Toolson missed two free throws. Let me repeat - Ryan Toolson missed two free throws. This is big. This is completely unexpected, much like the surprise of Guns N' Roses finally releasing the album Chinese Democracy. In Toolson's previous three seasons, he only missed 17 free throws out of his 321 attempts, a staggering percentage of .947. That number is good enough for the best all-time percentage in the NCAA for players making at least 300 free throws who also averaged the minimum of 2.5 free throws per game. True to form, Toolson amassed his career high point total in excellent fashion, a sterling combination of his precision shooting(13-17), nearly flawless accuracy from the Iine( 11-13) and impressive long range shooting(4-5). All of this came amid double- and even triple-team defenses against the shooting guard. Out of the 30 shots that left his hand last Tuesday, he missed a mere six, a notable eighty percent overall. But two of those missed shots were completely unexpected. Indeed, the first missed free throw would have tied his previous career high of 38 points. In sum, we may yet again see another 41-point performance from Ryan Toolson. What me may never see again is Toolson missing two free throws in one game. |