MONMOUTH, Ore. – Freshman center
Natalie DeLonge led Western Oregon women's basketball with 14 points and also added eight rebounds, but the Wolves ultimately dropped the non-conference game against nationally ranked California Baptist, 78-55, on Saturday afternoon.
While the Wolves fell to 1-8 overall and 0-2 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, the Lancers improved to 8-1 and 1-1 in the PacWest.
"Cal Baptist is a very talented team and a tough match-up for just about any team," head coach
Holli Howard-Carpenter said. "Their guards can shoot it well even with a hand in their face and threes add up quickly."
Junior guard
Jordan Mottershaw was close behind DeLonge in the statistics with 13 points. Senior center
Emily Howey also added eight points and eight assists, while sophomore forward
Jasmine Miller had nine rebounds, the most for the Wolves.
Western Oregon racked a season high of 18 offensive rebounds. Moreover, the Wolves were able to obtain 15 second chance points.
"Our posts really stepped up and did a great job on the glass," Howard-Carpenter said. "Natalie and Emily both had great stat lines and Jasmine played more aggressive on the offensive end."
The Lancers set the pace of the game early, scoring 23 points in the first quarter, whereas the Wolves scored eight. Western Oregon battled to close the gap throughout the next three quarters, but California Baptist maintained the lead and pulled further away with help from Cassidy Mihalko and Courtney Nelson who each posted 22 points for the night. Emma Meriggioli also had 16 points.
California Baptist's offensive attack was driven by 12 three-pointers. The Lancers also capitalized on Western Oregon's 18 turnovers by scoring 23 points off of the miscues, whereas the Wolves scored seven points off of the Lancers' 12 turnovers.
Despite the loss, Howard-Carpenter took some positives away from the game.
"Our guards did a great job feeding the post, and I thought they played more confident on the offensive end," Howard-Carpenter said. "
Jazmin Bembry and Jordan were aggressive in transition and put a little pressure on them."
The Wolves had 26 points off the bench and finished off the game with a .308 field goal percentage.
Next up, Western Oregon will make a trip to Arcata, California on Saturday, December 19, to face Humboldt State.
