BELMONT, Calif.— Pulling away in the second quarter, the Western Oregon University women's basketball team won its third straight game to start the season for the first time in nearly 20 years with an 81-62 victory at Notre Dame de Namur on Friday afternoon.
Up by one with the score 15-14 at the end of the first, Western Oregon (3-0) created a 10-point lead before heading to the locker room and never looked back en route to its first road win of the season.
The win kept the Wolves season perfect in three outings for the first time since the school transitioned to NCAA DII for the 1999-2000 season. The 1998-99 team was the last WOU squad to open a season with three wins.
The Wolves once again proved dangerous from the free throw line, converting 22-of-25 (88 percent) to keep the Argonauts from any serious comeback threat. WOU converted 24-of-26 from the line last Saturday while playing at home and now holds an 84.3 percent rate from the charity stripe this season.
"We got off to a bit of a slow start offensively but made up some ground in the second quarter and that was mostly due to our defensive effort," WOU head coach
Holli Howard-Carpenter said. "We defended the 3-ball well and were able to hold two talented scorers to just four combined field goals."
Maddy Pape led the team in scoring with 18 points while three other teammates reached double figures with
Shelby Snook contributing with 16 points and
Sydney Azorr and Keyonna Jones adding 11 points each. Snook went 3-for-9 from 3-poiint range to provide the Wolves with an outside threat.
The WOU defense, meanwhile, stifled the Argonaut deep threats into a 2-for-21 (9.5 percent) shooting performance.
"Again, a solid team effort on offense as well as on the glass. Shelby and Sydney got us going with some 3s and
Kaylie Boschma and Savannah Heugley controlled the boards for us," Howard-Carpenter said. "Maddy gave us a huge lift, especially late in the game with her aggressive takes and rebounding. Keyonna came in and played with great confidence and gave us some solid minutes."
The Wolves will return home to host Humboldt State on Tuesday, Nov. 21. Opening tip is set for 6 p.m.
