Women's Basketball | 1/28/2012 4:30:00 PM

Box Score [Box score]

MONMOUTH, Ore.  - Rylee Peterson, Jade Haas and Lorrie Clifford combined to score 66 points to lead the Western Oregon women's basketball team to a 79-74 victory over Seattle Pacific on Saturday, Jan. 28.

Peterson scored a career-high 32 points as she hit 10-of-16 shots from the field and all 10 free throw attempts to lead all scorers. She also added six boards, six assists, four steals and no turnovers. Lorrie Clifford came through with a career-high 19 points, including six straight for the Wolves down the stretch. Haas registered 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting, and matched Peterson with a team-leading six rebounds.

The Wolves showed determination and grit throughout the contest but none more than in the final 3:23. Down four (67-63) WOU would go on a 16-4 run to earn their fourth win in GNAC play. First Peterson hit back-to-back shots to tie the game at 67. Clifford then made two free throws to give Western Oregon its first lead in the second half (71-69).

SPU (13-6, 7-4 GNAC) would follow with two free throws of their own but Clifford would answer by sinking two more at the charity stripe giving the Wolves a lead they would never relinquish.  Clifford would have one more big shot left in her as she followed those free throws with a contested layup to put the Wolves up four with 48 seconds left. SPU would sink one more jumper but the seniors Haas and Peterson sealed the game as Peterson hit Haas behind the defense on the press for a layup.

"We showed toughness and grit today," said Western Oregon head coach Greg Bruce. "We came out in the second half and kept grinding and all the good things happened that you need to have happen to beat a good team."

Western Oregon trailed 40-34 at the half after the Falcons' Betsy Kingma drilled a three-pointer at the buzzer. SPU would push its lead to 10 points at the 17 minute mark in the second half, but after that point the Wolves began to chip away at the lead. WOU would score 10 of the next 12 points and knot the game at 48-48. The Falcons would again push their lead to nine points at the 5:26 mark but a 13-2 run by WOU, which was capped off by two free throws from Clifford, would give Western Oregon the 71-69 lead.

"To come from 10 points down showed a lot of character," Bruce said. "This is the second time we have been in it against a really good team and we found a way to get it done.

"Watching our body language in the second half was very positive and I could tell some good times were going to happen," Bruce continued. "Our intensity was good and we knew what we had to do."

Western Oregon shot 55.8 percent from the field and 17-of-21 from the free throw line, including making its final seven shots from the charity stripe. The shooting percentage was the highest Seattle Pacific had yielded all season.

The win snaps Seattle Pacific's 28 game winning streak over the Wolves which dated back February of 1982. 

Western Oregon will face another challenge next week when it travels to Western Washington to face the Vikings on Thursday, Feb. 2 at 7:00 p.m.