Women's Basketball | 1/30/2010 10:33:12 PM

Box Score [Box score]

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - It was a tale of two halves tonight for the Western Oregon women's basketball team, as it fell 70-40 at No. 21 Western Washington, Saturday, Jan. 30.

With the loss the Wolves dropped to 8-13 on the season and 3-4 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, while the win maintained the Vikings' (17-2, 8-0 GNAC) eight-game conference winning streak.

WOU held WWU, which is ranked No. 2 in the NCAA West Region, to just 23 points in the first half on 31-percent shooting to trail by nine points at halftime (23-14). But in the second period the Vikings shot 68-percent from the field (17-of-25) and 83-percent from behind the arc (5-of-6) to put up 47 points in the second stanza for the home victory. WWU sealed the game with a 19-2 run to open the second half, as it held WOU without a field goal during the opening 5:39 of the period.

"We did everything in the first half to battle and not let them get on track offensively but we couldn't make a shot either," said Western Oregon head coach Greg Bruce. "Their defense has really improved since I arrived at Western Oregon: they take you out of everything you try to do."

For the game Western Washington shot 48-percent from the field and held WOU to 23-percent shooting (8-of-35) and 9.5-percent from three-point range (2-of-21). Willow Cabe led WWU with 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting, while Amanda Dunbar added 16 and Jessica Summers 11.

"If Western Washington comes to play there is nobody in this league that can beat them," continued Bruce. "They are smart, strong and talented, and those three players (Cabe, Summers and Dunbar) are as good as any three I have seen in the GNAC."

The Wolves were paced by Katie Torland's 16 points and eight rebounds. She went 5-of-14 from the field and 6-of-8 from the free throw line, and was the only Wolf in double-figures. Hannah Whitsett came off the bench to add six points.

Western Oregon did put up a strong effort on the glass, winning the battle on the boards 40-36 and grabbing eight more offensive rebounds than WWU (15-7).

The WOU women's basketball team will continue its GNAC schedule next Thursday (Feb. 4) at Saint Martin's.

"We need to put together some good practices before heading to SMU for our fifth straight road game," noted Bruce. "We have some good things in front of us in the second half of our GNAC schedule."