FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Western Oregon women's basketball team faced their first overtime test of the 2019-20 season on Thursday to open Great Northwest Athletic Conference play, falling 81-76 to the Alaska Nanooks at the Patty Center.

Western Oregon (2-5, 0-1 GNAC) controlled the first three quarters of the night, taking a commanding lead to the fourth before Alaska (6-4, 1-0 GNAC) made a late 14-point comeback to force overtime. The 76 points were a season-high as four Wolves reached double-figures in scoring.

The opening quarter played even at 17-17, starting with solid field goal shooting across the board. It would be the second-highest scoring period of the night for the Wolves and the Nanooks, but WOU turned a corner in the second to take a nine-point lead into the half.

Keyonna Jones was Western's leading scorer on the night, dropping 20 points along with nine rebounds and two assists to fall just shy of a double-double. Shariah Green pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds, but would foul out late in the game. Five separate WOU players logged at least 30 minutes on Thursday.

The halftime lead would only expand for the Wolves, taking a 56-45 advantage to the fourth quarter that would immediately grow to a 14-point lead when Tresai McCarver hit a 3-pointer to open the period. The Nanooks then blazed out a 13-point rally to come within one by the 5:22 mark of the quarter. The Nanooks out-scored WOU 27-16 in the fourth quarter. Cali McClave sunk a pair of late three-pointers to help push WOU ahead by a point each time as she once again reached double-figures with 14 points and six rebounds.

Trailing  by one in the closing seconds, Rachel Rogers hit a game-tying free throw for the Wolves to send the game to overtime— WOU's first trip past regulation this year. Rogers added 12 points, going 4-12 from the field and added a pair of steals.

 It was not to be, however, as Western shot just 1-for-7 from the field in OT, including missing both three-point attempts. UAF would not manage much better, going 2-for-7, but out-scoring the Wolves by five in the period.

"This is an extremely hard loss to swallow," said Western Oregon head coach Holli Howard-Carpenter. "Hats off to Fairbanks, they beat us to nearly every fifty-fifty ball down the stretch and were relentless on the glass."

Olivia Denton provided 13 points in her second start of the season, playing 30 minutes and shooting 5-for-7 from the field. She added on three rebounds and an assist.

Turnovers proved a problem, as the Wolves committed 24 turnovers to the 15 of the Nanooks.

"After losing the lead again in the fourth we put our heads down, but then showed some fight to force overtime," added Howard-Carpenter. "We gave up way too many 3's in the fourth and overtime.  We have to make in-game adjustments as people start hitting their shots and we did not do that tonight."

Next up, the Wolves head to Anchorage to take on the No. 13 Alaska Anchorage Seawolves on Saturday, Dec. 7. Tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m. PST at the Alaska Airlines Center.