MONMOUTH, Ore.—Despite a career outburst by junior Natalie DeLonge, Western Oregon University fell to Montana State Billings, 80-70, inside NPE Gymnasium on Thursday night.
 
DeLonge notched career highs in points (27), rebounds (15) and assists (5) to help Western Oregon (7-17, 4-14 GNAC) to a double-digit lead in the first half. 

DeLonge scored the team's first six points of the game while Ronnie Harris and Keyonna Jones got into the attack to give the Wolves a 21-12 advantage after the first quarter. 
 
Jones and Delonge went on to open the second quarter with back-to-back buckets as WOU's lead swelled to 13 points. 
 
Fighting for a spot in the GNAC Tournament, Montana State Billings (11-12, 7-10 GNAC) outscored the Wolves 18-10 during the remaining minutes of the half, including a last-second half-court make by Hannah Collins to cut the deficit to 35-30 at the break.
 
Carrying the momentum into the second half, MSUB outscored the home side in the final two quarters. The Yellowjackets grabbed its first lead via a Taylor Edwards 3-pointer at the 2:39 mark in the third and did not relinquish the lead over the final 13 minutes. 

"We played with more sense of urgency and were more consistent tonight than we have been in the past few games and I'm proud of them for staying focused.  Billings is a tough matchup because they can spread you out and have so many people that can score and they just don't make many mistakes," WOU head coach Holli Howard-Carpenter said. "They made plays and hit shots in the fourth and we didn't answer as well as we could have."
 
In her fifth 20-point game of the season, DeLonge was the game's leading scorer with 27 points—three more than her previous high set at home against Alaska on Jan. 19.
 
Jones ended the night with 18 points and six assists while shooting 8-of-16 from the floor.

"Keyonna really came on for us in the second half. When she is aggressive and in attack mode, she is hard to handle because she can score or distribute. Nat absolutely played her heart out tonight. She wants to win so bad and is battling each and every night for her teammates.  Her game has evolved so much this year and it's nice to see the countless hours of hard work paying off for her," Howard-Carpenter said.
 
All five starters for MSUB reached double figures with Collins leading the way with 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting. 
 
The Wolves outrebounded MSUB, 45-to-36, but committed twice as many turnovers with 14 miscues.  
 
Western Oregon will close out the regular season at home next week with a Feb. 28 match against Seattle Pacific and Senior Day set for March  2 against Saint Martin's.

"We'll take the long weekend to rest and prepare for our final two games," Howard-Carpenter said. "We need to build on tonight's positives and get a few more players involved on the offensive end."