Written by Matt Rawlings, Sports Information Intern

MONMOUTH, Ore. – Sophomore Jordan Mottershaw led the way with a game-high tying 18 points on 7-for-15 shooting from the field, but Western Oregon University's women's basketball team dropped a heart break, 59-57, on a game-winning lay-in at the buzzer by Montana State University Billings Saturday afternoon in the ROOT Sports GNAC Game of the Week.

Western Oregon (5-12, 2-7 GNAC) would get 13 points from senior Dana Goularte on 4-for-10 shooting from the field, while freshman Sydney Azorr also scored in double figures with 10 points coming off the bench, shooting 2-for-3 from behind the three-point line. Freshman Sami Osborne added a game-high 10 rebounds in the loss with junior Elise Miller providing eight rebounds to go along with a team-high four assists.

Montana State Billings (11-8, 3-6 GNAC) would get a game-high tying 18 points from Kayleen Goggins, including the game-winning lay-in despite fighting off a WOU defender, while three other Yellowjackets – Alisha Breen, Quinn Peoples, and Annie DePuydt – also scored in double figures with 13, 10, and 10 points, respectively. Peoples and Monica Grimsrud grabbed a team-high six rebounds each for MSUB, while Rylee Kane handed out a game-high five assists for the 'Jackets.

"Credit to Billings, they played extremely hard to the very end," said Head Coach Holli Howard-Carpenter. "Goggins is a great player and competitor. We really showed some heart and fought back from a 10-point deficit mid-way through the second half, but it was really Billings' run late first half that hurt us. Although we out-rebounded them, we did not do a very good job boxing out tonight and we didn't get the 50/50 balls."

Mottershaw got things going early with seven quick points, including a deep three-point field goal, giving the Wolves an early four-point lead (11-7) with exactly 15 minutes on the clock. MSU Billings followed with a 6-0 run coming out of the first media timeout, but a mid-range jumper by Mottershaw and a driving lay-in by Goularte gave the Wolves the lead back (17-15) midway through the first half. After MSU Billings came back to tie the game at 17 with 8:22 remaining in the first half, the Wolves got out to a 10-2 run, sparked by back-to-back blocked shots by Goularte and by junior Angie Titus and two buckets in the paint from Azorr giving the Wolves a 27-19 with 5:14 left in the opening half. MSU Billings closed the gap late in the first half via a 12-2 run over the final five minutes, but the Wolves still took a two-point lead going into the half (29-27).

After a deep three-point bucket from Osborne (32-29) in the opening minute of the second half, MSU Billings proceeded to go on an 18-5 run giving them a double-digit lead (47-37) with 11:11 on the clock that forced Howard-Carpenter to call timeout. The Wolves went on a 6-0 run coming out of the timeout, cutting the deficit to four (47-43) on a jumper by Titus with just under eight minutes left in the game. The Wolves were able to cut the deficit to just two (50-48) on a three-point field goal from Miller three minutes later and then were able to tie the game at 55 on a long three-point bucket from Azorr with just 1:35 left in the second half. After MSU Billings retook the lead 57-55 with 1:11 left, Mottershaw got to the foul line and sank two clutch free throws to tie the game at 57 with 35 seconds left. The Wolves got a stop on defense, but couldn't corral the rebound giving the ball back to MSU Billings on the baseline with five seconds left in the game. MSU Billings' Goggins was able to seal off a Western Oregon defender on the inbounds play and received a pass from Alisha Breen before putting in the game-winning basket as time expired for the dramatic win for the Yellowjackets (59-57) in the regionally televised game.

"Jordan played great tonight, she was attacking and finishing at the rim and hit two big free throws at the end," added Howard-Carpenter. "Sydney played a big part late in the game as well, hitting some key shots for us."

As a team, Western Oregon shot 21-for-58 (36.2%) from the field, including 5-for-21 from behind the arc (23.8%) and 10-for-11 from the free throw line (90.9%). MSU Billings, on the other hand, shot 22-for-58 (37.9%) from the field, including 3-for-16 from behind the arc (18.8%) and 12-for-15 from the free throw line (80.0%).

Western Oregon will begin the second half of GNAC play on Saturday, January 31, against conference rival Saint Martin's University beginning at 5:15 p.m. inside Marcus Pavilion in Lacey, Washington.

"This is a hard loss to swallow, but we cannot hang our heads," said Howard-Carpenter. "We have to learn from it, fix our mistakes, and continue moving the program forward."