Box Score

BELLINGHAM (Jan. 29) -- Senior Aleyse Evans (Sacramento, Calif./Mesa Verde HS) had her second double-double of the season to lead four players in double figures, but despite a valiant effort, the Central Washington University women's basketball team was unable to overcome eighth-ranked Western Washington University in a 76-66 loss to the host Vikings on Saturday night.

The Wildcats are now 6-11 overall and 1-9 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play. Western, which was ranked fourth in the NCAA Division II West Region this past week in addition to its national ranking, is now 17-1 overall and 10-0 in the GNAC.

Evans, whose only previous double-double this season came against Western Washington on Jan. 3 in Ellensburg, finished with team-highs of 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Wildcats on Saturday. She made six of eight field goal attempts in the contest.

Central jumped out to a 10-3 lead in the first four minutes, but Western scored 15 of the next 17 points to take a six-point lead. The Vikings' advantage reached 16 at one juncture before halftime, aided by nine first-half three-pointers. Conversely, the Wildcats did not make their first trey of the game until their eighth attempt -- by junior Sophie Russell (Olympia/River Ridge HS) with 20 seconds to go in the first period -- and CWU trailed 42-29.

In the second half, the margin hovered in double figures for all but 30 seconds, but Central matched Western nearly point-for-point for most of the period. In fact, despite trailing by as many as 19 on two occasions, the Wildcats outpointed the Vikings by a 37-34 count after halftime. CWU also contained the three-point shooting by WWU in the second period, holding the Vikings to just 2 of 13 from long range.

Evans, whose 11 rebounds were a new career-high, helped the Wildcats finish with a 39-38 edge on the glass. Central also cut down drastically on turnovers, committing just 13 miscues -- its second-lowest total of the season and more than half of its total of 28 in the first meeting between the two schools.

Offensively, the Wildcats shot 40.9 percent from the field -- hitting on better than 40 percent for the first time since their Jan. 15 win over Montana State Billings. Evans and freshman point guard Daisy Burke (Spokane/Lewis and Clark HS) were the lone CWU players to shoot better than 50 percent in the game, as Burke was 3 of 6 and scored eight with four assists. Junior Alisha Love (Chelan), sophomore Stacy Albrecht (Federal Way/Thomas Jefferson HS), and Russell scored 12, 11, and 10, respectively.

Western Washington also had four players score in double figures, led by the 21-point, 14-rebound double-double from Lauren Hefflin. Corinn Waltrip added 20, including four three-pointers, while Megan Pinske finished with 15 and Erika Ramstead totaled 11 for the Vikings.

Central Washington will return home for a pair of games next week, beginning with a Thursday night (Feb. 3) showdown against another nationally-ranked team, Alaska Anchorage. The Wildcats also take on the Alaska Nanooks on Saturday (Feb. 5) before returning to the road.