LACEY, Wash. – An early 24-3 run for the Wolves proved to be too much for the Saints to overcome as Western Oregon toppled Saint Martin's University 73-61 inside the Marcus Pavilion.

Behind a 24-49 (.490) shooting performance and a 24-3 run in the first quarter, the Wolves (8-18, 4-15 GNAC) fought off the Saints' (5-22, 1-18) comeback attempts to secure the victory.

Layups by Shelbie Drey and Elin Johansson gave SMU an early 4-0 lead; however, once WOU regained the lead on a layup, Western Oregon never trailed for the rest of the game. Riding the seven minute, 24-3 run, Western Oregon took a 28-11 lead after the first quarter.

The Wolves opened the second quarter with a basket in the paint, followed by a 3-pointer to extend their lead to 20, the largest of the game. SMU responded with a 7-0 run, highlighted by baskets from Makenna Schultz and Rebekah Baugh, cutting the score to 33-20 with 2:45 left in the half. The Saints and Wolves traded buckets for the remainder of the half, as WOU entered halftime with a 36-24 lead.

Schultz knocked down a field goal before Baylee Olsen connected from deep to bring the Saints within 10 points in the opening minutes of the second half. WOU answered back with a quick six points and managed to keep the lead at 59-41 after the third quarter.

Entering the final quarter, the Saints mounted one final comeback attempt, cutting the score to 63-53 after six straight free throws with 4:51 remaining. Western Oregon held off the Saints with a 10-2 to secure the 73-61 victory.

"The game tonight was lost in the first four minutes.  We simply came out flat, played with very little intensity and got ourselves into a huge hole" said head coach Tim Healy.  "Even though some of the bench players came in and played hard, we had a hard time scoring again and consequently couldn't get ourselves back in the game."

Johansson led all Saints with 12 points on 5-12 shooting to go along with four rebounds. Mercedes Victor was the other SMU player to score in the double-digits with 11 points, and grabbed eight rebounds with four assists. Drey came close to a double-double with a seven point, eight rebound performance. Hannah Reynolds and Olsen added seven points each along with six points off the bench for Schultz.

As a whole, SMU shot 21-65 (.323) from the floor, 2-14 (.143) beyond the arc and 17-24 (.708) at the free throw line. The Saints collected 35 rebounds, 16 on the offensive glass, with six assists and seven steals.

Up Next: Saint Martin's will conclude the 2016-17 campaign at home against Concordia University on Saturday at 7 p.m. Live stats and video will be available as always at smusaints.com