LACEY, Wash. – Despite a 40 percent shooting night from the field and a fourth-quarter lead, the Western Oregon women's basketball team dropped the first game of their road trip, 71-64, to the Saint Martin's Saints on Thursday night at Marcus Pavilion.

Western Oregon (5-9, 2-5 GNAC) had a cold shooting start to the game, going 8-for-31 over the course of the first half including 0-for-4 from 3-point range. The offensive slump led to a 17-9 deficit at the end of the first quarter and a nine-point gap at the half.

"This is a really hard loss to swallow," said Western Oregon head coach Holli Howard-Carpenter. "We didn't have a great start, but we fought extremely hard and gave ourselves a chance to win."

Saint Martin's (7-7, 2-5 GNAC) pulled to even with the Wolves in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play with the win, utilizing double figures scoring from four players on Thursday night. Bria Thames and Claire Dingus each recorded double-doubles with Thames delivering 14 points and 19 rebounds in the win.

The second half played a much different story for Western Oregon's offense after the rough start, shooting over 56 percent in the third quarter and 47 percent in the final period.

After trailing by 12 late in the third quarter at 49-37, the Wolves went on an 11-0 run to pull within one with nine minutes left to play. They grabbed their first lead of the night at 53-52 on a Shariah Green free throw three minutes later. The WOU lead expanded to four points on multiple occasions and inside of three minutes left to play before the Saints made their final push. After trailing 62-58, SMU closed the game on a 13-2 run, not allowing a point to Western over the final 2:50 of play until Olivia Denton closed the scoring with a jumper with two seconds to play.

"We played with a lot more toughness in the second half, settled down and made some shots," added Howard-Carpenter. "We stayed poised, made the right plays and got the stops we needed. The foul trouble and free throw deficit was too much to overcome which is unfortunate because I thought we played well enough to get the win."

Sophomore Amber Winkler provided a historic night for the Wolves, posting eight blocks while playing all 40 minutes of the game. The eight blocks is a school NCAA-era record as well as the fifth-most recorded in a GNAC game by any conference team.

"It's an honor and rewarding to set this record," said Winkler, who also scored eight points and pulled down five rebounds. "While I definitely wanted to have this happen in a game that we won, it's a great achievement that I can use going forward for me and the team."

In additional to the individual record, the nine total blocks as a team also ties the school's NCAA record, matching the nine the 2001-02 team had on Feb. 2, 2002, in Anchorage against the Seawolves. Now averaging 2.35 blocks per game, Winkler is on pace to become just the third player in the last 20 years to eclipse 60 blocks in a season for the Wolves.

Tresai McCarver led WOU in scoring, dropping 16 points off the bench with seven rebounds on 7-for-14 shooting. Green contributed another 12 points with three rebounds and two assists. It was Green's fourth straight game scoring at least 10.

"Tresai came in and made a huge difference for us in the second half," said Howard-Carpenter. "We need that from her every night."

Next up, the Wolves head to Seattle to take on the Seattle Pacific Falcons on Saturday, Jan. 18. Tipoff is set for 4:15 p.m. PST.