MONMOUTH, Ore. – Shelby Snook had 19 points and eight rebounds while Savannah Heugly came within earshot of her first double-double of the season, but big second quarters from the visiting Falcons of Seattle Pacific handed Western Oregon a 68-59 defeat in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener for both teams Thursday night at the New P.E. Building.
 
The Falcons (6-0, 1-0 GNAC) snapped the three-game home winning streak of the Wolves (3-3, 0-1 GNAC) and extended their current string in the head-to-head series to four consecutive victories.
 
Western Oregon came out firing and gave the No. 5-ranked team in the D2SIDA Division II National Poll (RV in WBCA poll) a big scare in the first quarter.  After trailing by as many as five early in the game, the Wolves went on a 12-3 run over the final 3:08 of the period to take a 23-14 lead. After two Natalie DeLonge free throws, Kennedy Corrigan hit her second triple while Snook scored the next five points with charity shots and a deep 3-pointer. Kaylie Boschma ended the spurt with a jumper for the nine-point cushion.
 
"We've struggled with our starts this season and that's something we've been focusing on correcting" Western Oregon head coach Holli Howard-Carpenter said. "I'm really happy with the focus and intensity we started with tonight.  Our defense was on point and that gave us confidence that carried over to the offensive end of the floor."
 
Snook's lay-in at the 9:17 mark of the second gave Western Oregon its biggest lead, 27-14, and forced the Falcons to ramp up their defensive intensity. As that happened, the Falcons began chipping away and eventually caught WOU with a jumper and layup in the final minutes of the half to send both teams into the locker room knotted at 34-34.
 
Seattle Pacific used a 10-0 run aided by extra possessions earned through turnovers and offensive rebounds midway through the third quarter to take their first 10-point lead.
 
The Falcons continued to pressure and pull down extra rebounds on the offensive side to take a 69-48 lead at the 5:22 mark.
 
"When SPU turned up their pressure and started pressing us, we went back to old habits and acted like we didn't want the ball in our hands," Howard-Carpenter added. "We have got to get better with pressure and that starts in practice.  Tonight's take away is just that, we've got to pressure more and crash the glass harder in practice."

Western Oregon would hold the Falcons without a field goal the rest of the way and closed the game with an 11-0 spurt before time ran out. Snook charity makes began the rally that continued on a strong post bucket from DeLonge. A deep 3-ball from Snook trimmed the lead to 13 and free throws down the stretch from Ali Nelke and Corrigan sliced the final margin to nine.
 
 
The Falcons earned 45 extra possessions with 23 offensive rebounds and forcing 22 turnovers. SPU turned the turnovers into 30 points, a resounding statistic in deciding the game.
 
Snook was 5 of 11 from the field, including three deep shots, while hitting all six foul shots from the night. Heugly's performance off the bench included four free throws without a miss, two assists and a block in 24 minutes. Corrigan scored eight on the night while DeLong added six playing 15 minutes.
 
Western Oregon shot 36.7 percent from the field (18-49), hit half of their 14 attempts from distance, and shined from the foul line at 16 of 18 (88.9 percent). The Wolves held the Falcons, who entered the night hitting 36 percent from deep, to just four 3-point makes (18.2 percent).
 
"Shelby was solid tonight, not only did she score for us, she got on the boards and knocked down her free throws," Howard-Carpenter said. "I'm extremely proud of Savannah and Kennedy tonight; they were absolutely huge off the bench for us.  Kennedy hit some threes early and then had her hands full with the press but was able to play with poise and confidence.  Sav (Heugly) just flat out gives us energy and she is improving every day.  Nat (DeLonge) gave us some solid minutes off the bench as well and we're going to need that moving forward."
 
UP NEXT
Seattle Pacific: At Concordia on Saturday afternoon.
Western Oregon: Hosting Saint Martin's on Saturday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. The Saints (4-3, 0-1 GNAC) fell to CU on Thursday, 79-61.