Box Score

ELLENSBURG (Dec. 17) -- Sophomore Courtney Johnson (Kent/Kentwood HS) finished one point shy of her career-high, scoring a team-best 18 points, but the Central Washington University women's basketball team suffered a 68-56 home loss to the University of Hawai'i at Hilo on Monday night at Nicholson Pavilion.

The Wildcats fell to 4-5 on the season, while the Vulcans improved to 3-4. The game was the first of back-to-back contests between the two schools, with the series wrapping up on Tuesday (Dec. 18) at 7 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.

Johnson finished the game making 7 of 11 field goal attempts, including 2 of 4 from three-point range, and scored nine points in each half. The rest of her CWU teammates combined to make just 11 of 45 shots, however, for a 24.4 percent mark from the floor as the Wildcats had their third-lowest shooting percentage of the season at 32.1 percent. CWU has shot below 35 percent in four of its five losses this year.

Hawai'i Hilo, meanwhile, shot more than 10 percent above its season average with a 52.9 percent marksmanship (27 of 51). That figure was aided by a 10-for-13 performance from the Vulcans' top scorer, junior Kamie Imai, who scored a game-high 21 points while adding game-high totals of seven rebounds and four assists.

The game remained close throughout, with each team piecing together runs. UH Hilo took an 8-2 lead before the Wildcats rallied to go in front at 14-12, and CWU led for the remainder of the first half, closing the period on a 13-6 spurt over the final 6:58. The Wildcats led 34-26 at the break.

CWU held the lead until the 12:33 mark of the second half, when the Vulcans tied the game at 43 apiece. Each team traded three-pointers over the next three minutes, before UH Hilo scored nine of the next 11 points and eventually worked its way to the game's largest lead -- 12 points -- on its final front-court possession.

UH Hilo shot 58.6 percent in the second half, while CWU was just over 25 percent. Those percentages, combined with a 10-7 edge in turnovers in the final period, enabled the Vulcans to outscore the Wildcats by a 42-22 count after halftime.

Johnson, who tied for top rebounding honors on the team with six, finished as one of three Wildcats in double figures in scoring. Junior Leslie Stillar (Nine Mile Falls/Lakeside HS) and redshirt freshman Hannah Shine (Lynden) added 10 each, but that duo had a combined 21 shot attempts, and leading scorer Jessica VanDyke (Jr., Chester, Mont./Chester-Joplin-Inverness HS) finished with just four points on 1 of 7 shooting. Junior Ally Schmitt (Snohomish), who earlier Monday was named the Red Lion GNAC Player of the Week, had four points, six rebounds, four assists, and three steals.

Imai, a transfer from Utah State University, and older sister Kirsty Imai, were the only two Vulcans in double figures with 21 and 14, respectively. Jazlyn Afusia and Natalie Mata scored eight each for UH Hilo, which evened the all-time series with CWU at one win apiece.