Box Score

BILLINGS, Mont. (Jan. 30) – Junior Brittany Duerr (Bellevue/Newport HS) scored a career-high 24 points on 9 of 13 field-goal shooting in helping lead the Central Washington University women's basketball team to a convincing 83-64 victory over host Montana State University Billings on Saturday evening at Alterowitz Gymnasium.

The win capped a weekend road sweep for the Wildcats, who improved to 6-11 overall and 3-4 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play. Central, which defeated Saint Martin's on Thursday to begin the weekend trip, also earned its first win in seven all-time visits to MSU Billings in a series that dates back to the 1996-97 season. The host Yellowjackets fell to 9-9 overall and 2-5 in the GNAC.

Duerr's offensive performance, which led four players in double figures and helped Central shoot 49.2 percent for the game, included 14 first-half points as the Wildcats built a 34-28 halftime advantage. Central never trailed in Saturday's victory, scoring the first five points of the contest on a basket by sophomore Sophie Russell (Olympia/River Ridge HS) and a three-pointer by Duerr, and shot 53.6 percent from the floor prior to halftime -- marking the third consecutive half in which Central made more than half of its field-goal tries.

The CWU lead was in double digits for all but 22 seconds of the final 8:28 in the game, and the Wildcats eventually pushed their margin to as many as 21 on two occasions in the final 64 seconds of play.

In addition to Duerr, Russell scored 19 points while senior Sara Bergner (Bellingham) and freshman Stacy Albrecht (Federal Way/Thomas Jefferson HS) also reached double digits with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Bergner also had six rebounds and a game-high six assists, while senior Shaina Afoa (Anchorage, Alaska/A.J. Dimond HS) had seven points and led all players with 12 rebounds as the Wildcats finished with a 43-30 advantage in rebounding.

Callie Kautzmann led Montana State Billings with 20 points, while Mandy Jacobs added 18 and Sarah McNamee finished with 11 for the Yellowjackets.

Central Washington will return home to Nicholson Pavilion for a Thursday evening (Feb. 4) match up with nationally-ranked Seattle Pacific beginning at 5:15 p.m. The Wildcats will then embark on a three-game road trip with visits to Western Oregon (Feb. 6), Alaska Fairbanks (Feb. 11), and Alaska Anchorage (Feb. 13).