Western Oregon Journal

The Western women’s basketball team was handed its second conference loss of the season when it dropped a game to the Central Washington Wildcats 74-58 in front of a crowd of 125 at the New PE building on Thursday, Jan. 6.

This news of the defeat was secondary­—the real story being that the Wolves were competitive in the contest, despite having to play without three of the 13 players on the roster, who quit the team for undisclosed reasons.

“We had a good run tonight, and I am happy with the performance of the team,” said Head Coach Paula Pietrok, who is in her third year at the helm for Western.  “We were obviously short-handed and that hurt us, but we never gave up. The difference in the game was they started making their shots in the second half.”

Did Central Washington ever.  In the first half, the Wildcats shot a dismal 24 percent from the field, enabling the scrappy Wolves team to hang around and lead the game with less than nine minutes remaining in the first half.  The Wildcats went on an 8-2 run to close the half, aided by four points from Ashley Blake to concludethe first stanza.

The relentless Wolves, sparked by the stellar play of senior forward Shannon Talbott, would not go away.  Tallbott led the Wolves with 20 points and 11 rebounds.  Midway through the second half the Wolves used a 9-2 run to lead 42-39.  The

Wildcats shot 38 percent in the second half, which helped them keep their conference record unblemished.

After a jump shot by Mariah Hoover, the Wildcats took the lead for good.  Kaci Pipkin, a junior point guard, led the way for Central Washington, scoring 15 points, all coming in the second half.  At one point, Pipkin scored eight points in a row to ensure a Wildcat victory.

“We played them tough tonight, but in the end it wasn’t enough,” lamented Talbott.  “It came down to turnovers and missed shots; they took care of the ball and made shots, and we struggled in those categories.”

Central Washington committed a school record-low six turnovers while forcing 17 by Western.

The game may be a sign of things to come for the Wolves, seeing as they will be missing players in the upcoming contests.

“I don’t think that [not having all of our players] was a problem tonight,” said Pietrok. “Hopefully it continues to stay that way.”

Article Tools