MONMOUTH, Ore. – It will certainly be a Senior Day to remember for Shariah Green and the Western Oregon University women's basketball. The Wolves came out strong and after using a big second quarter, never looked back in rolling to the 89-52 Great Northwest Athletic Conference victory Saturday inside the NPE Building Gym.
"Today was a total team effort and I couldn't be happier that we were able to send Shay out on a win. We really played as a unit tonight and shared the ball well. Our guards were really looking to feed Shay the ball but also did a good job of getting to the rim and free throw line," head coach Holli Howard-Carpenter said. "Although this isn't the season we had hoped for, we never gave up on each other and we competed through the tough losses. This season has given our young group a lot of valuable experience and I look forward to turning the close ones into more wins next year."
The 37-point win is the biggest for WOU since defeating the Nanooks by a 41-point margin (102-61) back on Feb. 20, 2010. The Wolves (6-21, 3-17 GNAC) utilized three, 24-point quarters from the second through the fourth quarters to take the game over.
Green had a strong senior day to complete her career at WOU as the Hillsboro, Ore., native led the team with 17 points on 8-12 shooting. She also grabbed five rebounds, dished out two assists and sent back a pair of blocks in 22 minutes.
"This win was incredible. We've been due for a win and we had a tough past couple of games, so to get one final win to end the season was just great," Green said. "Going into the game today, we knew we should've had them the first time as that was a tough game. We just put everything on the line today, as there was nothing to save for and we went in with the mentality of just putting it all out there."
Tresai McCarver and Keyonna Jones each found their way into double-digit scoring with McCarver collecting 16 points and Jones with 15. Jones also added eight assists.
WOU set season highs in points, field goals, rebounds and assists, while tying for their top mark in steals with 11. The Wolves went 32-63 (50.8) from the field, 6-12 (50) from three and 19-28 (67.9) at the foul line.
Rachel Rogers and McCarver opened the scoring with each hitting baskets just over a minute in for the 4-0 lead. After stretching the lead out to seven at 9-2, Alaska (7-22, 2-18 GNAC) made a push going in a 12-4 run to take the lead for the first time at 14-13. WOU responded to end the quarter with Olivia Denton hitting a free throw and then adding a three-pointer to put WOU back in front for good at 17-14 after one quarter.
The second quarter was all WOU, as the Wolves outscored the Nanooks 24-7 to move to a sizeable lead at the break. After Alaska pulled back to within one nearly a minute in, WOU went on a 9-0 run with McCarver starting the rally with a trey. McCarver then added a transition layup and after McCarver continued her own 7-0 run with another layup, Jones closed the run with a jumper for a 28-18 lead with 4:53 to play in the half.
Alaska stopped the run with a jumper, just to watch the Wolves cap the half on a 13-1 run. Green ignited the run with a layup and after Rogers hit a three-pointer, Jones would add four from the line, Amber Winkler hit a jumper and Alexis Wright put in the final points of the half with a jumper to move WOU to a 41-21 lead at halftime.
Over the first 20 minutes, WOU went 15-28 (53.6) from the field, while holding Alaska to just a 26.7 effort (8-30) and forced 10 turnovers.
WOU had the lead out to 23, 46-23, two minutes into the second half on a three by Green. After the Nanooks fought back to get to within 15, WOU was able to outscore Alaska by five over the remainder of the third quarter to take a 65-45 lead into the fourth.
Holding a 21-point lead, WOU really put the game out of reach with a 22-6 run over the final eight minutes of the fourth quarter. Following a big stretch of points by Cali McClave, Green helped cap her senior night in style by putting together her own 8-0 run. Green ended up scoring 10 of the final 13 points for the Wolves to close out the dominating victory.
"We played really well as we got out to a strong start. We hit some big shots early and when we went into the half, we were all just hyped from the way we were playing," Green said. "I got some really good passes into the post with Tresai and Keyonna finding me and the game was just flowing well for us with how we moved the ball and found each other."
WOU dominated on points in the paint (50-16), bench points (32-16) and points off turnovers (20-6).
Sam Tolliver led Alaska with 17 points, while Jocelyn Gandara collected a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. The Nanooks shot just 15-63 (23.8), 3-18 (16.7) from three and 19-26 (73.1).
