Charles Fletcher- Sports Writer

College Place, Wash- The Wolves played with high intensity on their way to achieving their first win of the season on Saturday night against the Northwest Indian Eagles at Windemuth Court.

The Eagles established a slim lead early when Raven Chatin buried a three to make the 7-5. The Wolves answered back quickly, however, when Alyssa Blankenship stripped the ball away and quickly whipped it up to Lexi Ehlers for an easy transition bucket to tie the score at 7. Later in the first quarter, Emily Downs hit her second three-pointer of the game to give the wolves a 12-7 advantage and force Eagles head coach Jaci McCormack to take a timeout. The Wolves' full-court pressure on defense proceeded to give the Eagles a hard time for the remainder of the first quarter as Walla Walla held a 20-10 advantage when the buzzer sounded.
 

The Wolves continued to put pressure on the on the Eagles and maintain their lead through the early stages of the second quarter, as Sierra Briggs converted an and-one to lift their lead back up to ten at 27-17. Sierra Briggs continued to show off her offensive prowess late in the second quarter, hitting a three to give the Wolves their largest lead of the game at 31-17. Right as the Eagles began to gain some momentum, the Wolves' Emillie Hathaway stifled it with two straight put-back baskets. Kaitlyn Friesen then capped off a great first half for Walla Walla with a buzzer-beating three to give her team a 41-28 lead at the break. 

The Wolves continued to add on to their lead throughout the third quarter as the Eagles struggled to solve their full court pressure. Lexi Ehlers gave Walla Walla their new largest lead of the night when she made a strong drive to the basket and converted an and-one to stretch their lead to 58-34 with two and a half minutes remaining in the quarter.

Walla Walla continued to pile on to their lead in the fourth quarter as Alyssa Blankenship muscled her way to the basket and scored, giving the wolves a dominant 30 point advantage at 69-39.  The Eagles played the Wolves even for the rest of the way as Walla Walla pulled through to win it by a score of 78-51

Valencia Tapuro led the way for Northwest Indian, racking up a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds. 

The Wolves benefited from strong performances from Lexi Ehlers, who had 15 points, and Emily Hathaway, who tallied 13 points and 10 rebounds. 

The Lady Wolves are back in action on Sunday at 2:00p.m. as they take on Northwest Indian College for a second time at Windemuth Court.

For the box score CLICK HERE

For the Women's Basketball Schedule CLICK HERE

Follow @theUwolves Wolves on Twitter

Follow theuwolves on Instagram

Like Walla Walla University Wolves on Facebook