Women's Basketball | 1/4/2014 7:19:00 PM

Box Score

LACEY, Wash. – The Saint Martin's University women's basketball team continued its strong to the season with a 77-46 victory over Western Oregon University Saturday.

The Saints (9-3, 3-0 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) remain unbeaten in conference play after beating their travel partners from the south. SMU held the Wolves to just 16 made baskets and 29 percent shooting from the field. The Saint Martin's defense also forced WOU into 27 turnovers. The Saints outrebounded Western Oregon, 46-36. SMU grabbed 22 offensive rebounds in the win.

Saint Martin's entered the game 11th in NCAA Div. II, holding opponents to a .325 percentage shooting from the field. SMU also leads the GNAC in scoring defense at 54.9 points per outing.

Liz Mills and Brooke Paulson both came off of the bench to lead SMU with 18 points. Mills was 7-of-13 from the field, while Paulson made four of her five three-point attempts. Chelsea Haskey added 15 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Krista Stabler and Mills both dished out three assists. Jori Skorpik had three of the Saints' 15 steals.

As a team SMU made 44 percent of its shots from the field, including 9-of-17 from behind-the-arc. The Saints were also 14-for-24 from the free throw line. The Wolves finished 5-of-17 from three-point range and 9-of-17 on free throws.

After trailing 2-0, the Saints scored the next eight points over the first two minutes of the game, and never trailed again. SMU built its lead to 19-4 with 13:57 left in the first half, and 27-8 soon after. A Jordyn Richardson three-pointer midway through the opening period gave Saint Martin's a 20-point advantage. The largest margin of the half was 29 points, twice, including 49-20 at halftime.

The Saints stretched the margin to 61-30, at the 12:11 mark of the second half. The closest WOU came in the second stanza was 22 points. Saint Martin's largest advantage of the game, 77-41, came with 1:36 remaining in regulation.

"We didn't come out ready to play and it showed in the half time score," Western Oregon Head Coach Holli Howard-Carpenter said. "I give credit to St. Martin's, they played great defense and had several people step up and score for them. We played better in the second half but it's tough to overcome that big of a deficit."

Saint Martin's turned the WOU turnovers into a 32-14 advantage in points off of turnovers. The Saints bench outscored their visiting counterparts, 49-13. SMU had a 24-18 edge in the paint and 18-12 lead in second chance points.

Dana Goularte recorded her 10th career double-double and fifth of the season. The junior led Western Oregon (4-7, 1-2 GNAC) with 23 points and 15 rebounds. She made seven of her 15 attempts from the field, and 8-of-11 from the free-throw line. She added three assists, three blocks, and three steals. Goularte remains in the top five in the conference in five major statistical categories.

"Again, Dana had a great night and gave us second opportunities by crashing the boards," Howard-Carpenter said. "Angie (Titus) had great energy off the bench for us."

The Saints won their third straight meeting with the WOU. In a series that dates to 1983, SMU has now won 29 of the 43 matchups.

Western Oregon travels to Alaska for a pair games. The Wolves are at Alaska-Anchorage (10-2, 3-1) Thursday. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Alaskan Time. Live video and stats will be available on WOUWolves.com.

Western Oregon vs Saint Martin's
01/04/14 7:00 pm at Marcus Pavilion - Lacey, WA
At Marcus Pavilion - Lacey, WA
SAINT MARTIN'S 77, WESTERN OREGON 46
WESTERN OREGON (4-7, 1-2 GNAC)
Goularte,Dana 7-15 8-11 23; Akins,Shyla 2-7 0-2 6; Divilbiss,Chantel 2-8 0-0
5; Henry,Kelsey 2-4 0-0 4; Titus,Angie 1-1 1-2 3; Miller,Elise 1-6 0-0 3;
Goddard,Katie 1-4 0-2 2; Rodriguez,Whitney 0-3 0-0 0; Fowler,Melissa 0-2 0-0
0; Steiger,Jackie 0-4 0-0 0; Mottershaw,Jordan 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-55 9-17
46.
SAINT MARTIN'S (9-3, 3-0 GNAC)
Paulson,Brooke 7-10 0-0 18; Mills,Liz 7-13 4-5 18; Haskey,Chelsea 3-10 7-9
15; Richardson,Jordyn 3-4 0-1 8; Skorpik,Jori 2-2 1-2 6; Gelhar,Angela 2-9
1-4 5; Pedroni,Ciara 2-2 0-0 4; Wiedeman,Megan 1-4 1-2 3; Taylor,MacKenzie
0-5 0-0 0; Robinson,Sami Jo 0-1 0-0 0; Stabler,Krista 0-1 0-1 0. Totals
27-61 14-24 77.
Western Oregon................   20   26  -   46
Saint Martin's................   49   28  -   77
3-point goals--Western Oregon 5-17 (Akins,Shyla 2-3; Goularte,Dana 1-1;
Miller,Elise 1-4; Divilbiss,Chantel 1-4; Steiger,Jackie 0-3; Goddard,Katie
0-2), Saint Martin's 9-17 (Paulson,Brooke 4-5; Richardson,Jordyn 2-2;
Haskey,Chelsea 2-4; Skorpik,Jori 1-1; Robinson,Sami Jo 0-1; Gelhar,Angela
0-3; Mills,Liz 0-1). Fouled out--Western Oregon-None, Saint Martin's-None.
Rebounds--Western Oregon 36 (Goularte,Dana 15), Saint Martin's 46
(Haskey,Chelsea 9). Assists--Western Oregon 11 (Goularte,Dana 3;
Miller,Elise 3), Saint Martin's 17 (Stabler,Krista 3; Mills,Liz 3). Total
fouls--Western Oregon 21, Saint Martin's 14. Technical fouls--Western
Oregon-None, Saint Martin's-None. A-385