Women's Basketball | 1/2/2010 3:27:56 PM

Box Score [Box score]

GOLDEN, Colo. - The Wolves shot 22.6-percent from the field and never led in the contest as they fell 60-49 to Colorado School of Mines Saturday, Jan. 2, in their last non-conference game of the season.

The Western Oregon women's basketball team finishes the non-conference portion of its schedule with a 5-9 record. Mines improved to 8-2 with the win.

The Orediggers were led by sophomore guard Angie Charchalis's 18 points and senior guard Emily Dalton's 16. Senior forward Katie Torland and junior guard Sara Zahler each scored seven points to lead the Wolves.

WOU found itself down early and did not score until the 14:36 mark of the first half. Mines took its largest lead of the first half at 20-9 with 6:59 left, but Western would close on a 9-6 run to trim the deficit to eight.

In the second stanza, the Orediggers extended their lead to 18 points with 16:29 remaining, but the Wolves used an 11-2 run to cut it to nine at the 10:41 mark. Mines then went on another run, before Western cut the deficit back to eight with 3:14 left.

WOU was 14-of-62 from the field in the contest, and 4-of-19 (21-percent) from long range. They lost the battle on the boards 55-23, despite grabbing 10 offensive rebounds.

“We missed way too many easy shots,” WOU head coach Greg Bruce explained. “This was a winnable game, but we failed to attack our opponent, and I thought our toughness was lacking.”

Western did win the turnover battle, committing 11 turnovers to CSM's 28, while recording 14 steals.

The Wolves will open Great Northwest Athletic Conference play with two home games next week. They will host Northwest Nazarene Thursday, Jan. 7, and Seattle Pacific Saturday, Jan. 9.