Tresai McCarver
Amanda Loman
70
Western Wash. WWU 7-4, 1-2 GNAC
73
Winner Western Ore. WOU 4-6, 1-2 GNAC
Western Wash. WWU
7-4, 1-2 GNAC
70
Final
73
Western Ore. WOU
4-6, 1-2 GNAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 OT 1 OT 2 F
Western Wash. WWU 17 15 9 14 8 7 70
Western Ore. WOU 12 13 14 16 8 10 73

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | Brian Kortz

Women’s Basketball Wins Thrilling Double-Overtime Game Over Vikings

MONMOUTH, Ore. – Facing a 12-point deficit in the second half didn't slow down the Western Oregon University women's basketball team from rallying back to force overtime. Not only did they work their way back to extend the game to the extra session, the game would go two overtimes before the Wolves claimed the thrilling 73-70 Great Northwest Athletic Conference victory over Western Washington Thursday night inside a rocking NPE Building Gym.

"Words can't express how proud I am of each and every one of our players.  We battled from start to finish and everyone played a part in this win.  Western Washington is a talented and tough team and they made us work for everything on both ends of the floor tonight," head coach Holli Howard-Carpenter said. 

Western Washington (7-4, 1-2 GNAC) looked to be in good shape holding a 39-27 lead with just over five minutes to play in the third quarter. Western Oregon (4-6, 1-2 GNAC) fought right back with a 6-0 run fueled by a Keyonna Jones four-point play and a pair of foul shots by Tresai McCarver. It was a big night for McCarver as she scored a career-high 22 points, connecting on eight field goals, 6-9 at the foul line, seven rebounds, six assists, two steals and a block all while playing 46 minutes.

"We realized that clock management was going to be important. We stayed poised and were able to battle with a gritty team," McCarver said.

Following a basket by the Vikings to break the run, WOU went on another 6-0 spurt to end the quarter with McCarver and Rachel Rogers hitting foul shots, before a pair of layups by Cali McClave and McCarver off steals left the deficit at just two, 41-39, entering the fourth.

Western Washington controlled the early parts of the fourth frame, moving the lead back out to eight at 52-44 with 4:29 to play. Still in front by six with 1:19 to play, the Wolves made a furious push down the stretch to even the score. McCarver helped ignite the rally with a strong drive to the lane, scoring the jumper while being fouled. She would hit the foul shot to trim the deficit to three.

After forcing a miss on the Vikings possession, McClave was able to take a strong drive to the paint and hit a layup with 27 seconds to play leaving Western Washington with just a one-point lead, 55-54. WOU was then forced to foul and the first two shots were missed by Dani Iwami leaving the door open for the Wolves. Out of a timeout, the Wolves turned to Jones, but her shot was blocked in the paint and WOU had to foul again with just 13 seconds showing. This time Emma Duff who recorded the block, stepped to the line, and missed two foul shots. McCarver grabbed the rebound and went coast-to-coast as she missed the shot, but was fouled. McCarver split a pair at the line to tie the game with seven seconds to play.

That left time for one last shot by the Vikings and out of a timeout they turned to Iwami but her tough runner along the baseline fell short to send the game to overtime.

"Our defense was solid and we did a really good job of talking and helping each other.  Tresai came out super aggressive and got us going in transition and at the rim.  Amber Winkler did a great job defending and really protected the rim for us.  Despite being short-handed late in the game, our bench stepped up and did their job.  Meadow played with a ton of toughness, grabbing boards, defending and knocking down some big free throws in OT.  Cali came in and had a couple nice drives as well as a big three," Howard-Carpenter added.

The start of the first overtime was all Western Washington tallying the first five points over the first minute-plus. WOU began to work their way back into it with McCarver hitting a big layup and then a clutch jumper in the paint by Aragon off an assist by McCarver kept the WWU lead at 63-61 with 45 seconds to play.

The WOU defense came up big with Amber Winkler sending back a shot and the Wolves ended up getting the defensive team rebound with 13 seconds to play. McCarver once again running the point made her move and attacked the paint. She was able to get just enough room to hit another running jumper in the paint to tie the game at 63 with five seconds to play.

Out of a Vikings timeout, Western Washington first went to Iwami, but her layup was blocked by Aragon. WWU maintained possession with two seconds left and a jumper by Anna Schwecke fell short to send the game to double overtime.

WOU was able to jump in front by four in the second overtime with Rogers hitting a layup and she was also fouled. Rogers completed the three-point-play leaving WOU with the 68-64 lead with 3:22 to play.

"I think this one started on Monday when we came back to practice and competed hard right out of the gate," Rogers said.

Following a basket by the Vikings, WOU came up with a key answer with just under a minute to play when Rogers collected an offensive rebound and putback to push the lead back to four. The teams then traded possessions before WWU hit two from the line leaving WOU with the 70-68 lead with just 24 seconds to play. Forced to foul, the Vikings made Aragon go to the line and she knocked both down to move the lead back to four.

The Vikings went quick out of a timeout and scored in just four seconds when Iwami hit a quick layup to trim the WOU lead to 72-70 with 18 seconds to play. Aragon was fouled again and this time she hit the first, but missed the second leaving it a three-point game. With no timeouts, the Vikings pushed the ball up the floor looking for a three-point attempt. Tight perimeter defense by the Wolves forced multiple passes before Lexie Bland tried a deep three that fell short. Aragon grabbed the rebound and ran out the clock to preserve the 73-70 victory.

"We never let them get to us. We out-toughed them tonight. Even when we were down, we didn't let it show. With two players getting fouled out, we had to mentally pull it together and I think we did that," Aragon said.

While McCarver certainly logged a lot of time on the floor, Winkler added 42 minutes and Rogers with 36. Rogers and Aragon gave the Wolves three in double-figures with Rogers going 4-7 from the field, 3-5 at the foul line for her 11 points, along with six rebounds and two blocks. Aragon tallied 10 points on 3-6 shooting, 4-6 at the foul line and nearly had a double-double with nine rebounds, two blocks and two steals.

Schwecke and Kelsey Rogers led three Vikings in double-figures with 15 points apiece. Schwecke made it a double-double with 11 rebounds. Iwami added 14 points.

WOU shot 40 percent (27-68) from the field, 29 percent (5-17) from three and 61 percent (14-23) at the foul line. WWU hit 33 percent (25-76) from the field, 25 percent (6-24) from three and 61 percent (14-23) at the foul line.

The Wolves' snapped a three-game winning streak for the Vikings in the series as WOU also bested Western Washington in Monmouth early in 2018 picking up the 54-50 victory.

WOU will remain at home when they host Simon Fraser this Saturday starting at 2 p.m. inside NPE Building Gym. Simon Fraser defeated Concordia, 56-45, earlier Thursday night.
 
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