Big games off the bench helped Simon Fraser University pull off a key upset in Great Northwest conference women's basketball.
The Clan avenged an earlier loss to the first-place Western Washington Vikings, turning the tables on the No. 4-ranked NCAA Division II team 74-59 at home on Saturday.
Junior guard Marie-Line Petit and senior Carla Wyman had big nights off the bench, scoring 13 points apiece to hand Western Washington its first conference loss and help the varsity Clan move to within a game of the front-running Vikings.
Petit was a perfect five-for-five from the floor, including three from downtown in just 15 minutes of floor time.
Katie Lowen led the Clan with 17 points, including four long-range bombs and three-for-four from the charity stripe.
Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe and Erin Chambers also scored in double figures for the Clan, netting 11 points apiece.
Trailing by six points midway through the first half, Petit scored eight points in a five-minute span to give the home team a lead.
The junior guard closed out the first half with a trey and a layup to give Simon Fraser a 3532 lead at halftime.
SFU game out guns blazing to open the second half. Kristina Collins, Wyman and Chambers each sunk three-pointers on consecutive trips down the court to help build a 19-point advantage with eight minutes left to play.
But Western Washington rallied, getting the deficit down to just six points, before Lowen drained her fourth three of the night to re-establish a double-digit lead.
The win improved the Clan's conference record to 10-2, with five games left on the regular-season schedule.
"We need to be ready and not rest on any laurels here," said Clan head coach Bruce Langford in an SFU press release. "We also need Western to lose another game in order for us to finish first, and we would like that."
This week, the Clan women on the road for a pair of games against conference foes. The Clan starts out on Thursday against Seattle Pacific, before moving on to fourth-place Montana State on Saturday.
