Women's Basketball Loses to Western Washington 58-37

Boxscore

BELLINGHAM, Wash. --- Center Claire Pallansch (Sr., Redmond) scored a game-high 13 points and guard Amanda Dunbar (So., Marysville/Marysville-Pilchuck) added 12 as Western Washington University defeated Merrimack College, 58-37, in a non-conference women’s basketball game Wednesday on Haggen Court at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

Merrimack visits Seattle Pacific on January 2nd at 5 p.m. eastern time.

Merrimack, from North Andover, Mass., slipped to 2-7 with the loss. Guard Tiffany Colon led the Warriors with 12 points.

Western took control of the game quickly, jumping to a 16-4 lead as Merrimack missed 17 of its first 18 shots, including nine missed layins. The Vikings held a 25-15 lead at halftime.

Western led by 13, 32-19, with 15 minutes left, but the Warriors ran off seven straight points, narrowing the margin to six, 32-26, on two Hannah DeGraffinreed free throws with 11:34 left.

The Vikings, however, quickly reasserted control with 11 straight points of their own, seven of them by reserve center Tara Holgate (Jr., Everett/Snohomish County Christian), to grab a 43-26 lead with 8:17 left. The margin was never less than 13 points after that.

The 37 points scored by Merrimack were the fewest allowed by Western this season. The Warriors shot just 23.7 percent (14-of-59) from the field, and their leading scorer on the season, Amanda Shannon, who entered averaging 19.6 points a game, had just two points on 1-of-13 field-goal shooting, although she did have a team-high four assists.

Holgate finished with nine points and tied for game-high honors in rebounds with forward Lauren Hefflin (So., Ridgefield), each having eight. Guard India Soo (Sr., Kamuela, HI) had a game-high six assists for the Vikings.