MONMOUTH, Ore.—Snapping an 18-game losing streak to the Vikings that began nearly a decade ago, Western Oregon University defeated Western Washington University, 54-50, in GNAC women's basketball action on Saturday night.
Western Oregon (6-6, 2-4 GNAC) used an 11-point run to end the first quarter with a 21-14 advantage and held on in the waning moments thanks to clutch free throw shooting to post the team's first win against WWU since the team recorded a 65-57 victory in Bellingham on Feb. 23, 2008.
Kennedy Corrigan jump-started the WOU attack in the first by connecting on a trio of early 3-pointers. The Wolves increased their lead to nine (23-14) in the second period by holding the Vikings scoreless for over eight minutes.
WWU finally broke through with a Nikki Corbett layup at the 4:25 mark in the second and promptly compiled a 7-0 run to pull within two (23-21) with 2:12 to play in the half. After entering the break down a single point, WWU snared a brief lead in the third quarter on another Corbett layup and later pushed the lead to three (34-31) with a Kelsey Rogers' jumper with 4:32 to play in the third.
WOU's
Sydney Azorr retaliated with a game-tying 3-pointer and later returned with a layup with 46 seconds to play in the quarter to give the home side a four-point edge (41-37).
The fourth quarter featured three ties with the scoreboard showing the final occurrence at 50-50 thanks to a pair of free throw makes by WOU's
Savannah Heugly.
The Wolves forced a turnover for the ball and another trip to the line, this time with
Shelby Snook calmly draining the pair. Up two and collecting the rebound on a missed WWU jumper, the Wolves sealed the win with Corrigan making two successful trips to the line.
WOU hit its last eight free throw attempts in the game, including seven in the fourth corner alone. Overall, the team went 16-of-17 (94.1 percent) from the stripe.
"Our energy and focus was solid for four quarters and I'm really proud of the mental toughness we showed tonight," WOU head coach
Holli Howard-Carpenter said. "We got out, ran the floor and picked up our pressure on defense and that really helped us get off to a solid start. Tonight really was a team effort and that's something we've been talking a lot about, it takes all of us on every single night to get it done in the GNAC."
Corrigan led all scorers with 18 points on 5-of-11 shooting and 3-of-6 from distance. Azorr added 13 points and Heugley 11 for three Wolves in double figures.
"Kennedy played a great game tonight and really got us going. When we can see baskets go in early, it's contagious and it gave us confidence," Howard-Carpenter said.
Dani Iwami led WWU with 10 points while Anna Schwecke scored nine and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.
Entering the game with 999 all-time victories in program history, the loss also postponed WWU's chance to become the 15th women's college program to reach the 1,000-win milestone.
"WWU is a great shooting team and to hold them to only 32 percent from the field and only allow three three's is a testament to how hard we worked tonight. We definitely played with a sense of urgency tonight and now we need to be consistent with that," Howard-Carpenter said.
WOU will hit the road next week with games at Alaska Anchorage on Jan. 11 and at Alaska Fairbanks on Jan. 13.
