LOS ANGELES, Calif. - For the first time in four games, the Western Oregon women's basketball team came out on the wrong side of the scoreboard, dropping their opening game of the 2010 GNAC/CCAA Challenge to Cal Poly Pomona 79-61 Friday, Dec. 17, on the campus of Cal State L.A.

The loss snaps WOU's three-game winning streak and puts them one game below .500 (4-5). The Broncos of CPP improved to 4-1 with the victory, their fourth straight over Western.

Junior forward Rylee Peterson (Newport, Ore./Newport) paced the Wolves with 13 points, eight of which came at the charity stripe. Junior guard Dijana Topalovic (Vancouver, Wash./Hudson's Bay) added ten points off of the bench, connecting on two three-pointers. Junior guard Jade Haas (Elma, Wash./Elma) grabbed a game-high eight rebounds and freshman forward Melissa Fowler (Canby, Ore./Canby) snatched six caroms.

Western found themselves ahead early and led by one with a little over ten minutes left to play in the first half. After CPP took the lead, a three-pointer by sophomore guard Jamie Richardson (Grants Pass, Ore./Hidden Valley) ended a near-six-minute field goal drought and knotted the game at 14 with 8:10 remaining. Pomona would use a  21-11 run over the remaining minutes to take a 32-25 lead into the lockerroom thanks to six points apiece from senior guards Reyana Colson and La'kenya Simon West.

The Wolves would strike first in the second stanza with a lay-up from senior guard Sara Zahler (Newberg, Ore./Newberg) that cut Pomona's lead to five, but another Broncos run (19-8) put them comfortably in the lead, ahead 51-35 with 9:51 left. Western would get no closer than 11 points the rest of the way.

For the game, WOU shot 44.2-percent (19-43) from the field, 42.9-percent (6-14) from three-point range, and 70.8-percent (17-24) from the free throw line. Western allowed Pomona to shoot 48.1-percent (26-54) from the field, but held them to just 16.7-percent (2-12) from beyond the arc. The Wolves lost the rebounding battle 33-27 and gave up 15 offensive boards.

"I thought we played hard for most of the game," WOU head coach Greg Bruce said. "We just didn't play very smart. We continue to have turnover issues, and we gave them way too many second-chance opportunities. Against a good team like Pomona, those two things have to be minimized."

The Broncos were led by senior guard Reyana Colson's 30-point, seven-rebound performance. Junior forward Megan Ford added 17 points and also snagged seven boards.

Western will look to rebound when it faces Cal State L.A. in the second game of the GNAC/CCAA Challenge tomorrow. Tip-off time is set for 2:30 pm.

NOTES
Western is now 2-3 in the GNAC/CCAA Challenge since it began during the 2008-09 season . . . CPP's 48.1-percent shooting percentage is the highest against WOU since Dixie State shot 52.2-percent on Nov. 19, 2010. Conversely, CPP's 16.7-percent three-point percentage marked the second time WOU has held an opponent under 20-percent from three-point range this season . . . Colson's 30 points were the most an individual player has scored against the Wolves since Western Washington's Amanda Dunbar dropped 32 on Jan. 14, 2010 . . . Zahler's nine points marked the first time in five games she was held to less than ten points . . . Today's game was the first contest in which all WOU players were whistled for at least one foul since Feb. 6, 2010, a game they won . . . Peterson has now scored in double-figures in seven of her first nine games as a Wolf . . . CPP is now 3-0 against WOU in games played in California. They have scored 79, 77, and 77 points in each victory, respectively.