Box Score Box Score

BURNABY, B.C. (Jan. 27) -- Junior Alisha Love (Chelan) turned in her second 20-point scoring performance in the past three games, but the Central Washington University women's basketball team was outscored 18-5 at the free throw line in suffering a 74-63 loss to host Simon Fraser University on Thursday night at West Gym.

The Wildcats suffered their second consecutive loss to fall to 6-10 overall and 1-8 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play. The Clan, meanwhile, earned its first home win of the season (1-6) while improving to 5-9 overall and 2-7 in its inaugural season of GNAC action.

Love, who scored a career-high 27 points on Jan. 15 in Central Washington's 81-71 win over Montana State Billings, finished with an even 20 in Thursday night's loss to Simon Fraser. She accumulated that total on a season-high 18 field-goal attempts, making eight shots including 3 of 4 from three-point range, and started the game by making five of her first six field goal attempts.

CWU scored the game's first five points and led for nearly four minutes before the lead began to sway back and forth. Simon Fraser led for the next four minutes before the Wildcats regained the edge at the 11:04 mark, and the two teams had three ties and five lead changes in the first half before the Clan took the lead with one second left before halftime and did not trail again.

Kia Van Laare's last-second layup to end the first half started a 12-0 run for Simon Fraser, which propelled the Clan to an 11-point lead with 16:04 remaining in the game. Central clawed right back, however, scoring nine of the next 11 points to make it a four-point contest, but an ensuing 17-6 run over a five-minute span gave the hosts an insurmountable 15-point lead. The Wildcats were no closer than a seven-point deficit the rest of the way.

The Wildcats, who utilized just eight players on Thursday and were without the services of guards Luv Rattler (Riverside, Calif./Kentlake HS) and Nneka Payne (Auburn), also got double-figure scoring efforts from junior Sophie Russell (Olympia/River Ridge HS) and senior Aleyse Evans (Sacramento, Calif./Mesa Verde HS). Russell scored 16 points on 6 of 18 shooting, including 4 of 10 from three-point range, while Evans added 10 and was one of three CWU players with six rebounds each. Freshman point guard DAISY BURKE (Spokane/Lewis and Clark HS) had career-highs of six assists and four steals while logging a career-best 33 minutes.

Simon Fraser, which attempted three times as many free throws (24) as Central Washington (8), also had three players reach double figures. Van Laare tied for game-high honors with 20 in a reserve role, while Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe, the GNAC's top scorer, added 19 points and 15 rebounds to help the Clan hold a 43-40 rebounding advantage. Marie-Line Petit added 12 points and five assists for SFU.

Central Washington will remain on the road this weekend, traveling to eighth-ranked Western Washington on Saturday (Jan. 29) before consecutive home games next weekend at Nicholson Pavilion.