MONMOUTH, Ore. – Playing in their final game of the season, the Western Oregon Wolves fell to the Saint Martin's Saints 82-58 at NPE Gym on Saturday.

Playing in their final collegiate basketball games, seniors Ali Nelke and Taisha Thomas both got the start for the Wolves.

Western Oregon (8-18, 5-15 GNAC) jumped out to an early lead, going on a 12-4 run over the first four minutes of the game.

Saint Martin's (7-20, 5-15 GNAC) responded with an 11-2 run of their own with the help of big starts from Bria Thames and Claire Dingus. Thames led all scorers with 10 points in the first quarter, playing all 10 minutes of the period.

"Saint Martin's is a solid, athletic team and they are a lot better than their record says," said Western Oregon head coach Holli Howard-Carpenter. "They caused a lot of matchup problems for us, especially when we got into foul trouble. We had trouble staying in front of the ball tonight and it seemed like they converted on nearly every offensive rebound and that really hurt us."  

The Wolves held a 20-19 lead heading to the second, but the Saints out-scored them 19-11 in the quarter to hold the advantage at the half. After shooting 53.3 percent over their first 15 shots from the field, WOU cooled off offensively, hitting 30.8 percent of shots in the second quarter.

Natalie DeLonge finished with a team-high 18 points and six rebounds, adding on one assist in 29 minutes of work.

After their deficit expanded to 12 in the second half, Western Oregon made a push to pull within two possessions. Trailing 43-37 with 6:58 remaining in the third quarter, that is as close as the Wolves would be the remainder of the game.

SMU had their biggest quarter in the fourth, rattling out 26 points for a +16 scoring margin in the period to stretch out their lead.

Both WOU seniors experienced foul trouble in the game, reaching four fouls early on in the fourth quarter.

Playing on shortened minutes as a result, Thomas finished with four points and an assist on 2-of-3 shooting while Nelke added two points and four rebounds.

"I'm extremely bummed we weren't able to send our seniors out on a win," added Howard-Carpenter. "They worked extremely hard all year.  Ali and Tai both have given so much to this team and have definitely left the program better than they found it.  They've set great examples for our young group this year and I'm thankful to have coached them."

Saturday's contest concludes the 2018-19 season for Western Oregon.