Box Score

ELLENSBURG (Jan. 16) -- Senior Sara Bergner (Bellingham) scored a team-high 12 points to lead three Central Washington players in double figures, but the Wildcat women's basketball team was outscored 43-26 in the second half of its 71-49 loss to visiting Western Oregon on Saturday evening at Nicholson Pavilion.

The loss was the second straight for Central, which fell to 4-10 overall and 1-3 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Western Oregon evened its GNAC record at 2-2 and improved to 7-11 overall.

The game started as an offensive struggle for both teams, although Central started out with the upper hand taking its largest lead of the game -- four points -- with 14:42 to go. Western Oregon struggled mightily offensively to begin the game, missing its first 13 field-goal attempts, before registering back-to-back lay-ups within a 27-second span near the 12-minute mark to tie the game. The Wildcats forced two ties later in the period, but after the final deadlock at 14-14, they trailed the rest of the way. WOU led 28-23 at halftime as neither team led by more than five minutes before the break.

The margin reached double figures for the first time early in the second half as Western Oregon scored the first seven points of the period, and Central managed just eight points in the first eight minutes of the half. In the meantime, Western Oregon pushed its lead to 20 points with just over 10 minutes to go in the contest, eventually reaching 26 at one point.

Each team committed 18 turnovers in the game, and each was 20 of 58 from the field (34.5 percent). However, Central was outscored by 16 points at the free throw line (22-6) and gave up three times as many three-pointers (nine) as they made (three). The Wildcats also faced a significant disadvantage in rebounding, where the visiting Wolves had a 47-32 advantage.

Bergner had seven rebounds to go with her team-high 12 points, while freshman Stacy Albrecht (Federal Way/Thomas Jefferson HS) totaled a career-high 11 points in 28 minutes off the bench. Junior Brittany Duerr (Bellevue/Newport HS) added 10.

Western Oregon was led by the 16 points, including four three-pointers, of Sara Zahler. The Wolves' leading scorer, Katie Torland, finished with 14 points and six rebounds, with 12 of her tallies coming from the free throw line.

Central Washington will host rival Western Washington next Thursday (Jan. 21) in its only game of the week. The Wildcats and Vikings will square off at 7 p.m. at Nicholson Pavilion.