MONMOUTH, Ore. – In its final home game of 2014, Western Oregon University's women's basketball team could not overcome a hot-shooting second half by the visiting Lumberjacks of Humboldt State University falling 70-60 Saturday inside the New PE Building.

Sophomore Jordan Mottershaw led the Wolves' offense with 17 points on 6-of-16 shooting from the field, while senior Dana Goularte and junior Shyla Akins chipped in with 13 and 10 points, respectively. Goularte registered her first double-double of the season with a game-high 15 rebounds, while four Wolves – Goularte, freshman Syndey Azorr, Akins, and freshman Sami Osborne – each handed out two assists for WOU.

For Humboldt State, Megan Shields scored a game-high 24 points on 9-for-11 shooting from the field, while Jae Shin also scored in double figures with 13 points for the Lumberjacks. On the boards, Danielle Gaumer pulled down a team-high nine rebounds for HSU, while Shin and Jessica Johnson dished out a game-high tying four assists each.

"That's the best we've played all year against a quality team," said Head Coach Holli Howard-Carpenter. "They're well-coached. They work really hard. They played two of the top teams in our conference, and split with them. [Humboldt] played them both really tough. I was happy with the way that we responded after our Tuesday night game. We had a team effort. We had three people in double digits, and we had some key people coming off the bench and contributing. I'm really happy with the way we fought down the stretch. We really believed that we could win that game, and they played really hard down the stretch."

Neither team would score over the opening three minutes, as Western Oregon got on the board and took a 3-1 lead following a free throw by Osborne with just over 15 minutes on the clock. Over the next four minutes, Humboldt State used a 9-2 run en route to grabbing a five-point lead (10-5) after an old-fashion three-point play by Megan Shields with 11:03 left. The Wolves would fight back to tie the game at 10-10 on a free throw by Mottershaw before WOU used a 9-6 run that resulted in a 19-16 lead after back-to-back free throws by Goularte with just over four minutes remaining. Both teams would trade baskets over the next three minutes, as Humboldt State took a slim one-point lead (24-23) after another three-point play by Shields with 1:32 on the clock. The visiting Lumberjacks would close out the first half with a pair of free throws by Nikki Powell, as HSU took a 26-23 lead into the intermission.

The second half would begin with Humboldt State scoring the opening seven points en route to grabbing a 33-23 lead on a pair of free throws by Shields with 17:44 left. Western Oregon would cut its deficit to four points (33-29) via a 6-0 run that concluded on a three-pointer by junior Katie Goddard with 16:47 remaining. Humboldt State would quickly push its lead to 16 points (59-43) via a 26-14 run over a span of 11 minutes, as the Lumberjacks grabbed their largest lead of the game on a pair of free throws by Gaumer with 5:38 on the clock. Western Oregon would get within five points (63-58) on a lay-in by Goularte, but that would be as close as the Wolves would get as Humboldt State closed the game on a 7-2 run for the final difference of 10 points (70-60).

As a team, Western Oregon combined to shoot 19-for-59 (32.2%) from the field that included a 3-for-18 (16.7%) clip from beyond the three-point line to go along with a 19-for-26 (73.1%) performance at the free throw line. On the other hand, Humboldt State was a combined 24-for-59 (40.7%) from the field, 6-of-19 (31.6%) from long distance, and 16-of-26 (61.5%) at the charity stripe.

Western Oregon will return to action on Tuesday, November 25, when the Wolves take on Corban University beginning at 5:00 p.m. inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center in Salem.