Box Score

MONMOUTH, Ore. (Dec. 1) -- Junior Alex Dunn (West Valley City, Utah/Hunter HS) scored a team-high 19 points, but the Central Washington University women's basketball team shot just 29.2 percent from the field in falling to host Western Oregon University, 77-61, in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener for both schools on Thursday night at the Physical Education Building.

The loss evened Central Washington's record at 2-2, while the Wildcats fell to 0-1 in GNAC play. Western Oregon shot 63.5 percent from the floor in earning its first win of the season, improving to 1-6 and 1-0.

Dunn was one of a limited number of bright spots offensively for CWU, which shot below 30 percent for the second time in four games this season. She connected on three of her six three-point attempts and tallied 11 of her points in the second half.

Central Washington could not cool off the Western Oregon offense, which made 60.7 percent of its shots in the first half (17 of 28) and was an even more impressive 66.7 percent (16 of 24) in the second period. The Wolves' duo of Jade Haas and Rylee Peterson combined to make 20 of 27 shots en route to 23 and 21 points, respectively. Peterson also finished with a game-high 15 rebounds -- all on the defensive end -- as WOU finished with a 40-33 rebounding edge.

“I was concerned with starting GNAC play on the road against a team that was 0-6,” CWU head coach Shawn Nelson explained. “(WOU) played a difficult schedule and hadn't had success (in terms of wins), but I had a feeling they would bust out and have one of those nights offensively. They started hitting everything, and we were tight (offensively), and it snowballed into a poor shooting performance for us.”

Despite playing from behind for most of the contest, Central did score the game's first points on a three-pointer by Dunn at the 18:44 mark of the first half. However, Western Oregon scored 15 straight tallies to take control, and the Wildcats never got closer than a nine-point deficit late in the first half. WOU led 36-25 at halftime.

Central's top two returning scorers -- senior Sophie Russell (Olympia/River Ridge HS) and junior Stacy Albrecht (Federal Way/Thomas Jefferson HS) -- were held without a field goal as they were a combined 0 for 12 from the floor. It marked just the second time in Russell's three seasons as a starter -- and just the fourth time in her career overall -- that she did not make a field goal in a game.

“Our shots were out of rhythm,” Nelson said, “all of which was a result of WOU shooting well. They (WOU) also played really good defense, and they played a lot harder than we did and it showed.”

Sophomore Jessica VanDyke (Chester, Mont./Chester-Joplin-Inverness HS) finished with 10 points and a team-high six rebounds, while freshman walk-on Tayler Fettig (Olympia) added eight points and six boards in 20 minutes off the bench.

“This road trip will be a success if we can get a split,” Nelson continued, “so now we have to put everything into Saturday night.”

Central Washington will look to even its GNAC record on Saturday, visiting Saint Martin's University in Lacey at 7 p.m.