By: Jamal Smith Sports Editor
The women’s basketball team stormed north of the border to Burnaby, B.C., to face Simon Frasier University (SFU), on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016. After a highly contested battle, the Wolves fell short in the fourth quarter and were defeated 66-59.
Redshirt junior Kelsey Henry (F) led the Wolves in scoring coming off the bench with 8 points. Senior Emily Howey (C), freshman Kaylie Boschma (G) and freshman Ali Nelke (G/F) each tallied 7 points.
SFU jumped out to an early lead but a Howey layup gave the Wolves their first lead of the game at 6-5. The first quarter went back-and-forth with four lead changes and the Wolves found themselves up 18-17 at the end of the first quarter.
At the 7:24 mark of the second quarter, the Wolves got their largest lead of the night on a layup by sophomore guard Sydney Azorr; however, the Clan went on an 11 point unanswered run to take a 30-26 lead with just over four minutes remaining in the half.
The Wolves buckled down on defense and Nelke was unstoppable, hitting three consecutive buckets to give the Western a 32-30 lead going into half time.
The Clan pulled away from the Wolves late in the third quarter by shooting the deep ball, getting to the free throw line, and converting their free throws. Western came within three points of the lead halfway through the fourth quarter but that was the closest they would get.
WOU finished the game shooting 0.391 percent from the floor (18-of-46) and went 2-of-14 from long range. The Wolves out rebounded the Clan 37-25.
The loss brings the Wolves’ overall record to 3-17 and 2-10 in GNAC conference play.
Next up, Western will host the University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves on Saturday, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. in the New P.E. Building. After the matchup with the Seawolves, the Wolves hit the road for their next four matchups before returning home for the final two games on their schedule.
