Dec. 16, 2011
Box Score
LAS VEGAS, Nevada - Tournament MVP Kristin Schramm (Sr., Chelan) scored a career-high 24 points as Western Washington University defeated Drury University MO, 76-57, in final-day women's basketball action Friday at the sixth annual Great Western Shootout held at The Arena at South Point.
The Vikings, who won the tournament championship, improved to 7-3 with their third consecutive victory. Forward Sydney Donaldson (Fr., Edmonds/Edmonds-Woodway) had 14 points and a game-high 10 rebounds for WWU, which defeated Central Oklahoma, 69-53, on Thursday.
Drury, which claimed a 70-67 victory over Central Washington on Thursday, fell to 6-4. Center Erica Groose led the Panthers with 20 points on 7-of-10 field-goal shooting.
Drury held a 12-10 lead eight minutes into the contest, but the Vikings held the Panthers without a field goal for more than six minutes, opening up a 19-13 lead. Drury pulled to within two, 26-24, but WWU closed the half with a 9-2 run for a 35-26 halftime lead.
The Panthers pulled to within six, 35-29, on a Casey Carroll three-pointer in the opening minute of the second half, but never got that close again, and the margin remained in double digits throughout the last 15 minutes.
Carroll finished with 14 points and was 6-of-8 from the floor, but outside of Carroll and Groose, the rest of the Panthers were just 7-of-37 as Drury shot 34.5 percent (20-of-58) overall from the field.
WWU shot 53.7 percent (29-of-54) from the floor and had a 44-25 rebound advantage. Schramm was 8-of-13 from the field, 5-of-8 from three-point range.
Joining Schramm on the all-tournament team were Donaldson and Trishi Williams (Jr., Mabton) of WWU, Courtney Harper of Central Oklahoma, Jessica VanDyke of Central Washington, and Bethanie Funderburk of Drury.
It is WWU's second straight GWS championship and fifth consecutive victory at the tournament after not winning a title in the first four years of the event.
The Vikings take a break for the Christmas holidays before returning to Great Northwest Athletic Conference play on Saturday, Dec. 31 (3 p.m.), entertaining Simon Fraser University at Sam Carver Gymnasium.
