By: Burke De Boer Sports Editor
It was a tough week on the road for the Wolves, who suffered losses visiting Concordia and Montana State Billings.
A 30-point performance from Shelby Snook in Billings wasn’t enough for the Wolves to return to Monmouth with a win. Neither were her nine rebounds and eight assists.
Sydney Azorr put up consistent numbers in both games, scoring nine against Concordia and 11 against MSU Billings. Most of the rest of the roster were hot one night and cool the other.
The 46-55 loss to Concordia in Portland on Jan. 10 kept both near the bottom of the conference, now totalling two conference wins a piece.
The Wolves were more accurate and scored more in the paint when they got the chance. Kaylie Boschma scored 12 points, three of which came from a jump shot and a free throw in the final three minutes as the Wolves attempted to rally. This last ditch effort cut the Concordia lead from 12 to five before ultimately faltering.
Concordia had more turnovers and scored more off them, racking up 17 points just from turnover chances. The Concordia bench also put up 20 points when it got involved while Concordia’s defensive game kept the Wolves bench to only nine.
These problems persisted in the trip to Billings. Snook’s 30 points and the 16 put up by Jasmine Miller couldn’t lead the Wolves to victory.
MSU Billings scored 25 points off turnovers while Western Oregon only got two. And they were able to play slightly deeper into the roster, as the Billings bench put up 11 points while the Wolves were held to six.
Head coach Holli Howard-Carpenter spoke to wouwolves.com after the match. “This was a tough loss to swallow. We played them even for much of the game but just could not close the gap enough at the end,” Howard-Carpenter said. “We have to value the basketball more, we just can’t give up 25 points off turnovers, period.”
The road trip continues for the Wolves this week, when they will visit Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene.
Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu
