ARCATA – For the second game in a row, Humboldt State took control of the game in the second half to finish with a double-digit cushion over its opponent. The Jacks beat Western Oregon 77-63 in a non-conference match up Saturday afternoon in Lumberjack Arena.

With the win, Humboldt State improves to 6-1 on the season, while the Wolves drop to 2-7—losing all seven games in non-conference competitions.

"I thought we did a great job of executing down the stretch when we needed to," said head coach Joddie Gleason. "Western Oregon had a great run and cut the lead down to 5 or 6 points and after the last media time out, we had some great looks every possession."

Kayla Williams led the scoring for the Jacks, picking up 15 points, nine assists, two rebounds and a steal. Whitney Howard posted double figures for the sixth time this season, scoring 14 points with six rebounds. Lisa Petty and Caitie Richards each scored 11 points to round out the double figures for HSU.

"Kayla really responded to the challenge of coming in off the bench and led us to get this win," said Gleason. "She executed for us, organized the troops and got us good looks down the stretch, which we didn't do at Cal State Monterey Bay."

Gleason was proud of the way her team shut down the Wolves' leading scorer, limiting Rylee Peterson to just 10 points. With the Jacks focusing on Peterson, however, Melissa Fowler was able to step up and grab a game-high 17 points to lead her team. 

HSU went on a seven-point run in the first half to put the Jacks up 19-12, but the Wolves hung in there and kept trying to close the lead. Three-point shots from Patrice Saindon and Williams, along with another basket from Howard, gave the Jacks an 11-point lead heading into halftime.

After shooting 42-percent in the first half, the Jacks came out on fire and went 19-for-27 shooting in the second half. HSU patiently moved the ball around looking for the open player, something Gleason has been wanting her team to improve on.

"We were patient enough to get past the first option in the set and find the second, third or fourth option within that play," said Gleason. "When you can move the ball like that and be unselfish, great shots open up and typically they're high-percentage shots. I thought that was something we did really well today."

The Jacks never let go of their lead, often getting offensive opportunities off smart defensive plays. HSU scored 22 of its points from capitalizing off of Western Oregon's turnovers. 

"We created uneven situations with our defense when we applied pressure and forced some turnovers," said Gleason. "We forced them to 18 turnovers and those kind of opportunities are high-percentage shots where you get three-on-two or two-on-one situations."

Elle Anderson made a brief appearance into the game for Humboldt State for the first time since coming back from a knee injury. 

"It was huge to try to get Elle back," said Gleason. "It was just a couple minutes but we need her. She's only practiced one week so she's not that comfortable with the system yet. Her knee feels ok, but she needs to get more reps and learn the offense and not have any hesitations, which we saw a little today. It was good for her to get the jitters out before playing in conference games next week."

Humboldt State returns to California Collegiate Athletic Association action next week when they host Gleason's alma mater Chico State on Saturday, Dec. 17 at 5:30 p.m., before facing Cal State Stanislaus on Monday, Dec. 19, also at 5:30 p.m.

"We have Chico State and Cal State Stanislaus coming here next week, two big conference games for us, so we just need to continue to get better," said Gleason. "We need to defend with intensity for 40 minutes. I felt tonight we did it pretty well, but there were times where we were either tired or lost focus so that's always something we want to continue to work on."