BELLINGHAM, Wash. --- In a game that saw 30 lead changes or ties, it was
Danyell Booker's basket with 4.9 seconds left in OT that lifted the fifth-seeded Western Oregon women's basketball team to a 68-67 victory over No. 4 Northwest Nazarene on Thursday at WECU Court - giving the Wolves their first GNAC Championships victory in program history.
WOU (15-12) takes on top-seed Western Washington 2:15 p.m. Friday back in Bellingham.
As for Thursday's win, the Wolves trailed 67-66 with eight seconds left after a Nighthawk (17-10) bucket. Following a WOU timeout, the ball was inbound right to Booker near the 3-point line and she drove it in and scored with 4.9 seconds left to give the Wolves the lead.
NNU, which didn't have any timeouts, tried to advance the ball quickly but
Salma Youngblood stole the ball and the clock ran out with WOU snagging its first win in three tries at the GNAC Championships (WOU lost in the first round in 2022 and in 2011).Â
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Booker - who had a team-high 18 points off the bench to go along with seven rebounds (all offensive) - hit a key free throw with 2.9 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 63-63 to force overtime.
The Wolves were big on the offensive glass - grabbing 19 offensive boards and turning those into 17 points (NNU had seven offensive rebounds for seven second-chance points).
Youngblood finished in double figures with 10 points while
Natalie Brown had nine points, seven rebounds and three steals and
Kylani Rookstool had eight points, a game-high 12 rebounds and two steals.
