Morgan Swaim | Sports Editor
The first game of the week on Thursday, Jan. 25, for the women’s team had a high amount of late tension, with the game needing five extra minutes to declare a winner. Northwest Nazarene pulled away from the Wolves in that game during the closing minutes to a final score of 72-67. The second game against the Central Washington Wildcats on Saturday, Jan. 27, concluded the Wolves’s four game homestand going down in the process, 79-67.
From the start of the battle with the Nazarene Nighthawks, three point shooting was hard to come by for the Wolves. The team shot 20.7 percent (6/29) from beyond the arc as they tried to maintain pace with the Nighthawks. The shooting from three-point was the main obstacle in capturing a win as the game came down to just a few shots going in the opposite direction of the Wolves. As the Wolves faced a 61-59 deficit with time winding down, junior Ali Nelke tied the game with just one second left to force overtime. The momentum did not carry over into the last five minutes as Nazarene edged out the Wolves in the final result. Offensively the team was led by forward Savannah Heugly with 18 points, and guard Shelby Snook with 14 points, both seniors on the team.
The Wolves came into the second game on Jan. 27 trying to halt Central Washington — extending their winning streak to four, and attempting to avoid a three-game losing skid.
The balanced attack from the Wildcats proved to be too much. Five of the Wildcats’s players scored in double figures, as the Wolves could not keep up the scoring pace. Early on the Wolves were facing a deficit — being outscored by seven points in each quarter of the first half, trailing 47-33.
After the Wolves cut the lead to nine at the end of the third quarter, the game continued to swing Central Washington’s way as it carried on late. The difference in bench points was a dominating factor in the game, with a 41-20 advantage in favor of the Wildcats.
With the streak of home games now being over, the Wolves sit at 8-10 overall on the season, with a 4-8 record against GNAC conference opponents. The team will resume action on Feb. 1, on the road against Western Washington. On Feb. 3, the Wolves take on Simon Fraser in Burnaby B.C.
Contact the author mswaim16@wou.edu
Photo by: wouwolves.com
