Box Score

BILLINGS, Mont. (Feb. 10) -- Junior SOPHIE RUSSELL (Olympia/River Ridge HS) scored a team-high 14 points, but the Central Washington University women's basketball team was outrebounded by a 60-36 margin in falling to host Montana State University Billings, 59-48, on Thursday night at Alterowitz Gymnasium.

The Wildcats, who had defeated the Yellowjackets 81-71 in Ellensburg on Jan. 15, fell to 7-13 overall and 2-11 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play. Meanwhile, MSU Billings snapped a three-game series losing streak to CWU, improving to 12-9 overall and 8-5 in the GNAC.

Russell was the only CWU player with more than seven points. She needed 17 field-goal attempts to accumulate her team-leading point total, making 4 of 17 from the floor including 3 of 9 from three-point range. She also accounted for half (three) of the Wildcats' six made free throws in the game (in 11 attempts).

For the first time in 20 games in 2010-11, Central Washington never led in the contest, falling behind from the get-go. The score was tied just once after the opening tip -- at 2-2 in the first minute -- and the Wildcats were staring at a 10-point deficit with 8:51 to go before halftime. Behind a strong defensive effort, however, CWU outscored the Yellowjackets 12-3 to finish the first half, and trailed just 23-22 at the break.

Following the intermission, Montana State Billings took control with a 24-8 run over the first 10 minutes of the period to go in front by 17. Despite a run by Central in which they outscored the Yellowjackets 12-5 to cut the deficit to 10 with 3:05 left, the margin remained in double figures the rest of the way. Russell's three-pointer with 41 seconds remaining proved to be the game's final tallies.

Although they had a 19-15 advantage in the turnover department and held Montana State Billings to 28.3 percent shooting, Central shot just 31.1 percent from the floor and was dominated on the glass as the host Yellowjackets posted the highest single-game rebounding total by a Wildcat opponent -- 60 -- in more than 12 years. CWU managed just 35 caroms, led by sophomore STACY ALBRECHT (Federal Way/Thomas Jefferson HS) with six, although all 11 players to appear in the game had at least one rebound.

Junior ALISHA LOVE (Chelan) was Central's second-leading scorer on Thursday, totaling seven to go with five rebounds.

Montana State Billings, which has won five of six games since its loss to Central Washington, was led by Jenny Heringer with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Bobbi Knudsen added 10 points, while Kayla Ryan narrowly missed a double-double with nine points and 12 rebounds.

CWU, which opened a stretch of three games in five days, will remain on the road through its Saturday night match-up at Seattle Pacific. The Wildcats will return home on Monday (Feb. 14) to face Simon Fraser University.