BY RACHEL SHELLEY SPORTS EDITOR
Women’s basketball started off their season with three exhibition games against Warner Pacific College on Oct. 28, University of Portland on Nov. 5, and Oregon State University on Nov. 9.
The Wolves started off their first exhibition game by scoring the first two baskets of the game by forward Dana Goularte and guard Shyla Akins. The Knights then went on a 12-3 run for a 12-7 lead.
Western took charge and tied the game up 16-16 for the last tie of the game from a lay-in by Goularte. The Wolves ended the half with a 31-19 lead with a buzzer-beater three-pointer by guard Jordan Mottershaw.
The second half started with the Wolves growing its lead to 20 points (39-19), the Knights would pull back within seven points before Western pushed the lead back to 20 (61-41). With 3:34 left, forward Kelsey Henry would score on a fast break lay-in before the Knights would finish the game with the final 14 points but couldn’t come back from the deficit. The Wolves finished the game 61-55.
Goularte led the Wolves with 20 points and Akins added 15. Mottershaw had a game-high seven rebounds and five points.
Guard Elise Miller dished out a game-high seven assists and a game-high six steals.
The Wolves shot 34.9 percent from the field, 60.9 percent at the free throw line and 23.1 percent behind the arch.
“The main things we are working towards for the season is to have a winning record,” said Goularte.
“We want to improve from last year’s record. Our game against Warner Pacific was a great starting point to kick the year off.”
In the Wolves’ second exhibition game against University of Portland in the Chiles Center, Western dropped the upset 60-70 where they shot 31.4 percent from the field.
The Wolves connected for 4-for-16 from behind the arch and shot 80 percent at the free throw line. Goularte was 7-for-13 and led the team with 25 pints, 11-for-13 from the free throw line. Guard Katie Goddard had 13 points with Mottershaw and guard Michelle Bromagem’s eight and five points, respectively.
Goularte had a team-high seven rebounds and Mottershaw added three assists.
Western trailed at halftime 39-25 after a back-to-back 20 minutes of play before the Pilots went on a 15-6 run.
The second half opened up with the Pilots scoring four points, increasing the lead to 18.
The Wolves would then go on an 11-4 run bringing the score within 11 after free throws by Henry.
Pilots pushed their lead to 17 before Western used 12 minutes to go on a 21-12 run, pulling within eight points (68-60) after a free throw by Goddard.
The Pilots would then shoot free throws for a final score of 70-60.
“We had a good start with Warner Pacific,” said head coach Holli Howard-Carpenter.
“It was a really good measuring stick to see where we are. Although we are way ahead of where we were last year at this time, the WPC game showed us the areas we still need to improve on. The team has worked really hard through the pre-season and are really focused on our team goals going into this weekend.”
In the final exhibition game of the season the Wolves traveled to Corvallis, Ore. to take on No.20 ranked division 1 Oregon State University where they fell 38-98.
The team shot 26.9 percent from the field and 26.7 percent behind the three-point line. The Wolves shot 66.7percent on 6-of-9 from the free throw line.
Goularte finished with 17 points and was 4-of-5 at the free throw line with five rebounds. Akins had six of her eight points in the first half.
“Having three exhibition games this preseason was very beneficial for our team because we were able to get more comfortable with one another on the court and build team chemistry,” said Mottershaw. “The exhibitions showed us what we are doing well and what we need to refine before our first games this weekend.”
The Wolves host the Hampton Inn and Suites D2 shootout and will play in the second game of the tournament on Nov. 14 at 4 p.m. and again on Nov. 15 at 3 p.m.
