MONMOUTH, Ore. – Western Oregon University's women's basketball team hung with No. 7-ranked University of Alaska Anchorage over the opening 31-plus minutes before the visiting Seawolves used a 10-0 run over a span of 109 seconds en route to securing a 79-61 Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) victory Thursday inside the New PE Building.

"Tonight was a 40-minute team effort," said Head Coach Holli Howard-Carpenter. "That was the No. 7 team in the nation. We came in, and we played a really tough 20 minutes and probably about 10 minutes in the second half. We had a couple breakdowns in our zone, but for the most part, everybody stepped up in Dana (Goularte's) absence. That's key because we need to do that even when she comes back, so I think that should give us some confidence. For the No. 1 rebounding team in the conference, we outrebounded them 36-34, and they only got two more offensive rebounds than us, so I'm really proud of that effort on the rebounding end. We shot the ball really well from the three-point line. Katie (Goddard) and Jordan (Mottershaw) did a really good job getting us up early. We held them to two players in double figures, and they average five in double figures, so to only have two in double figures means we defended."

Junior Jordan Mottershaw led Western Oregon (4-8, 1-3 GNAC) with 17 points, while juniors Katie Goddard and Emily Howey also scored in double figures with 16 and 10 points, respectively. Freshman Sami Osborne chipped in with nine points, while the junior duo of Shyla Akins and Elise Miller scored six and three points, respectively, to round out the point scorers for the Wolves. On the boards, junior Angie Titus led all players with eight rebounds to go along with a four-assists night by Miller.

Alaska Anchorage (14-1, 4-1 GNAC) got a game-high 19 points from Megan Mullings off the Seawolves' bench, while Jenna Buchanan also scored in double figures with 15 points as a reserve for UAA. Alli Madison and Kiki Robertson chipped in with nine points each, while Sierra Afoa and Jessica Madison led the Seawolves with six rebounds each. Adriana Dent handed out a game-high five assists to go along with a game-high six steals, while KeKe Wright added eight points on a perfect 3-for-3 shooting from the field for Alaska Anchorage.

The game would begin with Western Oregon jumping out to a 16-10 lead after the opening five-plus minutes before Alaska Anchorage scored 15 unanswered points over a nine-minute stretch en route to earning a 25-20 lead following a pair of free throws by Robertson with 5:52 on the clock. Following UAA's run, Western Oregon answered back with six straight points over a 52-second stretch that resulted in a 26-25 advantage on a three-pointer by Mottershaw with exactly five minutes left in the first half. The visiting Seawolves would push their lead back to six points (35-29) on a jumper in the paint by Mullings with 1:40 remaining before Western Oregon scored the final five points of the first half capped by a three-pointer by Goddard that pulled the Wolves within a single point (35-34) at halftime.

Over the opening two minutes of the second half, both teams traded baskets with Western Oregon pulling within one point (39-38) on a lay-in by Howey with just under 18 minutes left. Alaska Anchorage would use a 9-2 run over the next five minutes en route to earning a 48-40 lead before Western Oregon pulled within five points (49-44) a little over one minute later on Howey's second of back-to-back lay-ins with 11:47 remaining. Howey's third lay-in within a five-minute stretch would pull the Wolves within eight points (56-48) with 8:45 on the clock before UAA used its aforementioned 10-0 run over a span of one minute and 39 seconds to extend the lead to 15 points (66-48) on a three-pointer by Buchanan with 7:06 left. The visiting Seawolves would push their lead to a game-high 20 points (77-57) on a three-pointer by Alli Madison with 3:03 remaining, as Western Oregon closed the game on a 4-2 run for the final margin of 18 points (79-61).

As a team, Western Oregon combined to shoot 22-for-50 (44.0%) from the field that included a 12-for-23 (52.2%) showing over the opening twenty minutes of play. The Wolves were also a combined 10-for-20 (50.0%) from beyond the three-point line and 7-for-14 (50.0%) at the free throw line. On the other hand, Alaska Anchorage was a combined 28-for-57 (49.1%) from the field that included a 15-for-27 (55.6%) mark in the second half. The Seawolves were also 6-of-16 (37.5%) from long distance and 17-of-30 (56.7%) at the charity stripe.

The top two offensive rebounding teams in the GNAC combined to pull down 28 offensive boards, as Alaska Anchorage grabbed 15 compared to Western Oregon's 13. Overall, the Wolves won the battle of the boards (36-to-34) but were forced into 26 turnovers resulting in 15 steals for the GNAC leading Seawolves.

Western Oregon returns to action on Saturday, January 10, against the University of Alaska beginning at 5:15 p.m. inside the New PE Building in Monmouth. Saturday's GNAC battle between the Wolves and Nanooks can be seen on KWVT with Justin Herr and Iain Dexter bringing all the action live.

When asked about her team's improvements for Saturday, Howard-Carpenter said, "We can't have those breakdowns in the zone and let them get two or three open shots in a row. It's once and then we fix it, and then they don't continue to go on their run. We shared the basketball tonight. We had 16 assists, which is well above our average. We need to cut our turnovers. We can't have that on Saturday."