#5 Western Washington takes down women's basketball, 77-48
February 1, 2013
Jamie Foland
907-474-6807
Bellingham, Wash. – Fifth-ranked Western Washington remained unbeaten in Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball play after downing ÐÓ°Épro 77-48 Thursday evening at Carver Gymnasium.
The Vikings (16-2, 10-0 GNAC) got a game-high 15 points from Trishi Williams while Jenni White and Britt Harris scored 13 and 10 points, respectively. Aleisha Hathaway led all players with a game-best 10 rebounds off the bench.
WWU shot 41 percent (26-63) for the game while holding ÐÓ°Épro to 24 percent (16-66) shooting on the night. The Vikings beat the Nanooks (2-16, 0-10 GNAC) on the boards by a 52-43 advantage but the 'Nooks had 18 offensive rebounds, to Western's 15. The Vikings also outscored the Nanooks 32-24 in the paint, 23-8 off turnovers and 8-2 in transition.
ÐÓ°Épro was paced by sophomore Benissa Bulaya (Sacramento, Calif./Business administration), who scored a team-high 13 points while dishing out five assists. Senior forward Jacqueline Lovato (Gunnison, Colo./Business administration) had 11 points and three thefts while senior guard Taylor Altenburg contributed 10 points.
The game remained tight for much of the first half but with ÐÓ°Épro leading 19-16, back-to-back three pointers by Katie Colard sparked a 22-5 run as the Nanooks were held to just five points in the final 10 minutes of the first. The Vikings led 38-24 at the break.
WWU extended the lead to 47-24 with a 9-0 run in the first 1:49 of the second half. Western led by as many 34 points down the stretch as ÐÓ°Épro never got any closer than a 21-point deficit.
ÐÓ°Épro heads to Burnaby, B.C., to take on No. 13 Simon Fraser on Saturday at 4:15 p.m. (AKST).