PORTLAND, Ore. — Jaylo Bello lit up the scoreboard with a 31-point performance, but the Walla Walla Women's Basketball team lost to Warner Pacific 68-56 in a Cascade Conference contest on Thursday.

Bello shot 11-of-22 from the field and made five 3-pointers in her second 30-point game of the season. Allison Haslam had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds with three steals.

The Wolves dropped to 2-7 overall and 0-4 in CCC play. The Knights improved to 6-4 on the season and 2-1 in conference action.

Skylar Groesbeck led Warner Pacific with 20 points. KJ Custer added 16 points and Riley Layton brought down 15 rebounds.

Walla Walla forced 17 turnovers and had eight steals in the game. The turnovers helped create 12 points. The Wolves had 14 points inside and 12 second chance points off 12 offensive rebounds. One game after being unable to make a single 3, WWU was able to put down seven on Thursday. Along with the five from Bello, Haslam and Brooklyn Coe added one each.

The Knights outrebounded the Wolves 48-32 and shot 47.1% from the field, aided by 28 points inside.

The first half was a great back-and-forth battle. A 3-pointer by Coe gave WWU its largest lead (11-7) of the game and the largest lead by either team in the first quarter. The two teams were tied after the first 10 minutes, 14-14.

The Wolves started strong in the second quarter with two free throws by Bello and a made jumper by Delaney Gunther. After a basket by Warner Pacific, Bello answered on the following possession with a made shot and kept the margin at four. 

In three straight possessions over a one minute span, the Knights had three different players (Bryten Gumke, Matty Woolf and Custer) nail a 3 and jumped out to a five point lead. Walla Walla battled back to tie the game and held WPU off the score board for over four minutes, but a late free throw by Alex Saunders allowed the home team to go to the locker room with a one point advantage.

The third quarter was all Warner Pacific and the Knights built a 10-point lead halfway through the frame. The Wolves battled back midway through the fourth quarter to cut the gap to seven, but were unable to get within two possessions the rest of the game.

UP NEXT

Walla Walla will wrap up the 2025 calendar year with a non-conference game at Central Washington at 6 p.m. on Saturday.

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