Box Score

MONMOUTH, Ore. (Feb. 6) -- Central Washington University senior Shaina Afoa (Anchorage, Alaska/A.J. Dimond HS) made 7 of 10 field-goal attempts and scored a season-high 16 points, but the Wildcat women's basketball team suffered its second straight loss, 69-58, to Western Oregon University on Saturday afternoon.

The Wildcats fell to 6-13 overall and 3-6 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play with the loss. Western Oregon, which completed its second series sweep of CWU in the past three seasons, improved to 9-14 overall and 4-5 in the GNAC.

Afoa, who had been held scoreless on Thursday for the first time in nearly two years, came back with her best offensive performance of the season against the Wolves on Saturday. She scored eight points in each half and made all four of her first-half shots but, despite eight from Afoa and 11 from sophomore Sophie Russell (Olympia/River Ridge HS), Central trailed 30-24 at halftime.

The Wildcats led for most of the first 8 1/2 minutes of the game before a 6-0 Western Oregon run gave the Wolves the lead for good. Katie Torland, who finished as the game's top scorer, capped off the opening half with a lay-up with two seconds left to make it a six-point margin at the intermission.

Central was within four points with 17:14 to go in the game, and later closed to within five with just over 10 minutes left, but a 13-6 run put the margin back in double figures for Western Oregon. The Wolves led by 10 or more for all but two seconds the rest of the way in capping the season sweep.

The Wildcats lost despite narrowly outshooting the Wolves (36.8 percent to 36.4 percent) and outrebounding their hosts by a 40-38 count. However, Central committed 20 turnovers and was outscored 21-3 from three-point range, where the Wildcats made just one of eight attempts.

Russell finished as the top scorer for CWU with 17 points, followed by Afoa's 16 and 10 from senior Sara Bergner (Bellingham).

Western Oregon's duo of Torland and Sara Zahler combined for 45 points, with Torland scoring a season-high 29 and Zahler adding 16. Zahler also led all players with nine rebounds.

Central Washington will stay on the road next week, making its annual trek to Alaska for games in Fairbanks (Feb. 11) and Anchorage (Feb. 13). Both games, set for 6:15 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (5:15 p.m. Alaskan Standard Time) starts and preceding CWU men's games versus the same opponents, can be heard on KXLE-AM 1240 in Ellensburg.