MONMOUTH, Ore. – After opening the game with a 16-2 run, the Western Oregon University women's basketball team never looked back cruising to the 77-39 win over Corban on Saturday afternoon inside New PE Gym.
"It felt good to be back on the court and get the win tonight. We came off a rough road trip and then had finals, but I'm really proud of how we responded. We had good energy all week despite being short-handed. I'm looking forward to this next week when we get everyone back," head coach Holli Howard-Carpenter said.
Several players put together big games with Madisyn Clark and Meadow Aragon each going for double-doubles. Clark tallied 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Aragon came away with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Caitlin Wheeler came off the bench to add 14 points in 19 minutes. Clark went 6-10 from the field and 3-6 from three, along with four assists. Aragon went 8-14 from the field and had two assists. Tresai McCarver was close to a double-double with eight points and nine rebounds. WOU (4-3) opened the first quarter going 12-18 (66.67) from the field and finished making 31-75 (41.3), 10-28 (35.7) from three and 5-9 (55.6) at the foul line. The Wolves dominated in points off turnovers (24-7), second chance points (20-10), bench points (22-5), points in the paint (39-20) and fastbreak points (23-2).
"I thought we did a great job executing our game plan tonight. When we run the floor and get baskets in transition early that sets the tone for us. Meadow did a solid job rim running all night and Cali made some great reads & found her open teammates in transition. Madi knocked down some early threes and had a solid all-around game," Howard-Carpenter said.
Corban (1-9) opened the scoring 14 seconds in and then it was all Wolves after that. Aragon answered with a layup to start what would be a 16-2 run to begin the game. Clark began to heat up hitting back-to-back three-pointers. Following baskets from Aragon, McCarver and Cali McClave, Makenna Gambee closed the run with a layup at the 5:58 mark for the 16-2 lead.
After Corban pulled back to within 12 at 21-9, WOU closed out the final few minutes of the first quarter on a 10-2 run. During the run for the Wolves, McCarver hit a layup and then the McClave's hit back-to-back shots with Cali McClave sinking a three-pointer and then Ana McClave with a transition layup. A pair of Clark free throws closed out the opening quarter to leave WOU with the 31-11 lead.
The lead stretched to 25 midway through the second quarter on a three-pointer by Amber Winkler. WOU ended up outscoring the Warriors 15-12 in the second frame to take a 46-23 lead into halftime.
A 10-0 run for WOU started the second half with McCarver hitting a three-pointer 48 seconds into the third quarter. Clark added a three-pointer before Aragon closed the stretch with back-to-back layups to push the lead out to 56-23.
After three points by Corban, the Wolves finished the third quarter on a 6-0 run to move the lead out to 62-26. Wheeler, Clark, and Aragon all hit baskets down the stretch to close the quarter.
WOU had the lead out to 42 at one point in the fourth quarter on a jumper by Wheeler. WOU held a 15-13 edge in the fourth quarter, as the Wolves outscored the Warriors in all four quarters. Both the first and third quarters were big with WOU outscoring Corban 31-11 in the first quarter and 16-3 in the third quarter. WOU held a 60-34 advantage in rebounds on the night.
"It was a total team effort on the boards and I'm really proud of how we got on the offensive glass, especially in the second half," Howard-Carpenter said, as the Wolves collected 24 offensive rebounds.
Holly Golenor led Corban with 15 points and eight rebounds, while Gemma LaVergne added eight points. WOU held the Warriors to just 15-61 (24.6) shooting from the field, 3-15 (20) from three and 6-11 (54.5) from the foul line.
WOU will now face Division I Seattle next Monday, Dec. 20 on the road starting at 2 p.m. in an exhibition contest. The Wolves will return to GNAC play on Dec. 30 at Western Washington.
