MONMOUTH, Ore. – The Western Oregon Wolves handily won their first home game of the season, topping Northwest Christian 79-62 on Monday at NPE Gym.

Western Oregon (3-4) set a new season-high in scoring in the 79-point performance and never trailed in the game.

3-point shooting was cold for both sides to open, but just 15 combined shots were taken from behind the arc in the first half forcing play into the paint.

Northwest Christian (5-7) relied heavily on the scoring of Morgan McKinney and Shanay Dotson, getting more than four points from just three players Monday night.

Natalie DeLonge opened with a strong first half for the Wolves, scoring 12 points to lead all scorers into the locker room. The junior forward finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and an assist.

"It was nice to finally play at home and even better to get the win," said Western Oregon head coach Holli Howard-Carpenter. "We did a good job finding Nat inside and we crashed the glass hard to get ourselves some extra opportunities in the first half, but I thought we could have pushed the ball better in transition.  We talked about that at half and we were able to get easier, higher percentage shots in the third quarter which is something we need to continue to work on." 

Western Oregon created several second-chance opportunities thanks to a strong night on the offensive boards. The Wolves pulled down 19 offensive rebounds to the nine of the Beacons to capitalize for 23 second-chance points.

An area that has plagued the Wolves early this year turned into one of their biggest strengths on Monday when they dominated the turnover battle. WOU took excellent care of the basketball, committing just two first-half turnovers while forcing seven. With a -4.33 turnover margin coming into the game, the Wolves turned that statistic around in a big way for the 13-7 advantage in the category.

The Wolves posted their biggest quarter with 30 points in the third. They added on some solid defense to boot, posting four of their six total blocks in the quarter. The Beacons were held to 14 or fewer points in each of the first three quarters.

Morgan McKinney made a late push for the Beacons, scoring eight straight points, including consecutive 3-pointers, in the fourth to help out-score the Wolves by 10. McKinney finished with a game-high 21 points and six rebounds in 31 minutes.

Ali Nelke posted her second straight double-double with 10 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. She has also recorded seven blocks in her last two games and shot a combined 69.2% from the field in that time.

"There were some great defensive moments tonight but overall I thought we were inconsistent and have to have better focus to execute," added Howard-Carpenter. ""I like our chances when we have a balanced scoring attack. To have four in double figures and key contributions from the bench is something I'd like to see more often."

Western Oregon has now won three of their last four games.

Next up for the Wolves is a non-conference meeting at home with Notre Dame de Namur. Tipoff Dec. 19 at NPE Gym is set for 1 p.m.