Women's Basketball | 11/27/2010 10:48:18 AM

Box Score [Box score]

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - The Western Oregon women's basketball team concluded its Colorado road trip with a 73-65 loss to UT-Permian Basin Saturday, Nov. 27, in Brownson Arena.

WOU drops to 1-4 with the loss, while UT-PB improves to 6-2.

The Wolves were led by their two seniors; guard Sara Zahler (Newberg, Ore./Newberg) scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds while forward Danielle Bellando (Eugene, Ore./Willamette) tallied 11 points and seven rebounds. Junior forward Rylee Peterson (Newport, Ore./Newport) added nine points, nine rebounds, and six blocked shots.

Western came out strong, preventing UT-PB from scoring for the first 2:32 of the contest. The Falcons responded with a 17-7 run stretching 5:04, but Zahler scored five straight points for WOU to tie the game at 22. Permian Basin then went on a 22-9 run over the last 2:24 of the first half and first 6:11 of second half to take a 51-40 lead. Western answered with a 14-5 run to cut the lead to three, but scored just six points over the final 6:21 as the Falcons pulled away.

WOU shot 38.2-percent from the field (26-68), 25.0-percent from beyond the arc (4-16), and 69.2-percent from the charity stripe (9-13). The Wolves were outscored 21-9 from the free throw line as UT-PB attemped 34 free throws, connecting on 22. They aso held UT-PB to 29.5-percent shooting from the field, the best since Jan. 21, 2010 (28.6-percent). Western won the battle on the boards 55-51 and blocked eight shots.

"We just gave them too many extra opportunities," WOU head coach Greg Bruce said. "We had too many unforced errors and gave up too many offensive rebounds. If you hold a team to 29-percent shooting, you should win. We just shot ourselves in the foot, and you can't do that against a talented team like the one we played today."

UT-Permian Basin was led by a pair of double-doubles from sophomore forward Teisha King (18 pts, 13 reb) and senior forward Miesha Blackshear (11 pts, 10 reb).

The Wolves return home and will open conference play Wednesday, Dec. 1, as they play host to Northwest Nazarene. Tip-off time is set for 7:00 pm.