MONMOUTH, Ore. – The Western Oregon women's basketball team captured their second Great Northwest Athletic Conference win of the season on Saturday, sliding past the Montana State Billings Yellowjackets for a 64-56 win at NPE Gym.
 
Western Oregon (5-8, 2-4 GNAC) was able to capture their first home win over MSUB (8-7, 3-3 GNAC) since 2013 on the back of 43.6 percent field goal shooting, including hitting 70 percent of their shots in a crucial third quarter.
 
After scoring the first bucket of the game to take a brief lead, the Wolves went cold early on, suffering a six-minute drought in the opening quarter. The Yellowjackets utilized the lack of offense from Western to go on a 10-0 run and jump out to a 10-2 advantage.
 
WOU wasted little time recovering from the eight-point deficit, running off an 18-3 rally while MSUB went cold themselves, going over six minutes without a field goal of their own.
 
The Wolves got a career-high 21 points off the bench from Shariah Green who added on seven rebounds and an assist on 8-for-12 shooting. Green has now finished in double figures in scoring in four of her last five games including totaling 48 points over her last three.
 
"We did a really good job defensively," said Green after her collegiate-best in scoring. "Adjusting to the 3s they hit early on was big to make sure they couldn't continue their outside game. We were able to get more open shots on the outside after establishing our game in the paint— driving and drawing fouls helped that along. After our game earlier this week, it was important for us to be able to put together a complete game and compete in all four quarters."
 
The Yellowjackets were led by the 17 points of senior Jeanann Lemelin who hit three 3-pointers on the way to being the only MSUB player to finish with more than nine in the game. Taryn Shelley nearly recorded a double-double, picking up eight points and 10 rebounds in 25 minutes of work.
 
After trailing by 2 at the end of the first quarter, Western Oregon out-scored the 'Jackets in each of the next three periods and did not trail again in the game. MSUB was held to 29.5 percent field goal shooting, going 8-for-32 in the second half for a 25 percent mark after the break.
 
"We were able to scramble really well today," said sophomore Amber Winkler. "The adjustments we made were big in this one. We trust our posts so much that when we get it inside, we know they're going to do some work."  
 
Keyonna Jones added in 15 points for Western, shooting 5-for-9 from the field with four assists and three rebounds as a reserve. The Wolves got 42 total points from their bench, offering up a chance for two players to get their first collegiate starts. Meadow Aragon and Alexis Wright combined for 11 points, nine rebounds and an assist as the pair of freshmen started for the first time this year.
 
"We really needed this win tonight and several players stepped up to make it happen," said Western Oregon head coach Holli Howard-Carpenter. "We moved and shared the ball better today which made a big difference. Shariah, Keyonna and Amber were extremely efficient tonight on the offensive end. We need to find some consistency moving forward. There are no easy games in this conference and we can't afford to take days off when it comes to energy, effort and focus."
 
Next up, the Wolves head back on the road for a pair of Great Northwest Athletic Conference games in Washington. WOU takes on Saint Martin's Thursday, Jan. 16, in Lacey at 5:15 p.m. followed by a 4:15 p.m. PST tip at Seattle Pacific on Saturday, Jan. 18.