KLAMATH FALLS, Ore.—Using a 10-0 run in the first quarter, Oregon Tech defended its home court with a 59-53 win in non-conference women's basketball action on Monday night.

Oregon Tech (7-5) broke an early tie with 10 unanswered points over a four-minute span to stake a 16-6 lead through the first 10 minutes of play. The momentum continued into the second quarter where the Hustlin' Owls extended its advantage to 14 (20-6).

Despite shooting less than 25 percent in the first half, Western Oregon (5-2) battled back to pull within five points (22-17) with Shelby Snook starting the spree with a 3-pointer. Moments later, a Savannah Heugly layup cut the deficit to four with a minute to play before the break.

Like the first, the Owls came out firing out of the half by hitting three of their first four attempts to push the lead back to 10 at 34-24. The Wolves' next five points came from the free throw line while Snook and Natalie DeLonge added jumpers in WOU's longest surge of the game. Snook's jumper at the 3:02 mark put the visiting team within a point at 37-36.

The Wolves were again unable to completely erase the discrepancy as the Owls used the opening minutes of the fourth quarter to go back by eight (50-42) on Abby Kreiser free throws.

WOU's Taisha Thomas provided a final push with layup and a pair of free throws of her own. Down three with 1:21 to play, the Wolves created an opportunity to square the game but a Sydney Azorr shot from distance came up short.

OIT missed three free throws down the stretch, but picked up its defense by forcing five straight misses from the floor to preserve the win.

"OIT came out ready to go and played solid and confident the whole way," WOU head coach Holli Howard-Carpenter said. "We will struggle to win games if we can't find a way to assert ourselves earlier in the ball game. We missed a ton of easy shots early and then did not have a sense of urgency to defend or box out."

Snook scored a team high 12 points while Thomas added 10 points off the bench. Megan Morris, a reserve for OIT, scored a game-high 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting.

The Wolves will return to the court on Tuesday with a 7 p.m. match up against Southern Oregon University. The Raiders are ranked No. 12 in the latest NAIA DII poll.