MONMOUTH, Ore.—Holding the Nanooks without a field goal for most of the first quarter, the Western Oregon University women's basketball team defeated the University of Alaska Fairbanks, 76-49, in GNAC action on Thursday night.
With the win Western Oregon improved to 9-12 on the season and 5-10 in conference play. The Wolves will host Alaska Anchorage on Saturday, Feb. 10 with the team honoring its five senior prior to the opening tip off.
The Wolves scored the first eight points of the game and never trailed en route to the 27-point win.
Sydney Azorr connected on the opening bucket of the game and added a 3-pointer moments later for the 8-0 spread before the Nanooks finally got on the board with a free throw at the 6:04 mark.
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Kaylie Boschma jumper made it a 10-point spread (12-2) with UAF still lacking a made field goal. The drought came to an end with Sabrina Ungaro sinking a jumper with 3:30 to play in the quarter. The home lead, however, stretched to as many as 15 points as another Boschma drive made it a 20-5 contest.
The Nanooks pulled to within six midway through the second following a Sanni Salonen layup, but the WOU defense once again clamped down to limit the opposition without a made bucket for the remaining 6:40 of the half to claim a 37-21 lead at the break.
Creating a 24-to-4 edge in points off of turnovers, WOU's lead swelled to as many as 34 points in the second half.
"Our number one goal tonight was to be locked in and focused for forty minutes and I think we did a great job with that," WOU head coach
Holli Howard-Carpenter said. "The past few games we've struggled in the second half but tonight our energy was there and we had good communication on the court."
Boschma led WOU with 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting while Taisha Thomas and
Jasmine Miller added 11 points each. With the help of the scoring trio, WOU's bench outscored UAF's 46-to-20.
"Our bench energy was great tonight and several people came in and made a positive impact on the game. Kaylie ran the floor hard and got to the rim, Tai hit some shots and rebounded while Jas knocked down some big 3-pointers," Howard-Carpenter said.
