Box Score
ELLENSBURG (Dec. 18) -- Senior
Shayla Ball (Hillsboro, Ore.) came off the bench to score a team-high 14 points, and the Central Washington University women's basketball team shot a season-best 49 percent from the field as the Wildcats rebounded with a 66-44 victory over the University of Hawai'i at Hilo on Tuesday night at Nicholson Pavilion.
The Wildcats evened their record at 5-5 on the season, earning a split of the two-game series with the Vulcans. UH Hilo fell to 3-5 on the year.
Ball, whose previous season-high had been 11 on two occasions earlier this season, played 31 minutes as a reserve and made 5 of 8 from the floor.
CWU, who shot 32.1 percent in its loss to UHH on Monday night in the opening game of the series, improved significantly on that figure thanks to a first half on Tuesday in which they shot 55.6 percent (15 of 27). The Wildcats also dished out 19 assists in Tuesday's win, compared to just 11 in Monday's defeat.
“We did a better job getting everybody involved offensively,” CWU head coach Shawn Nelson said. “We seemed to get more rhythmic shots and shots in transition, and were more efficient overall.”
That offensive involvement saw eight of the Wildcats score at least five points apiece, with just one player -- junior
Jessica VanDyke (Chester, Mont./Chester-Joplin-Inverness HS) -- join Ball in double figures with 10. Three others had eight each, while individual totals of seven, six, and five rounded out the scoring line.
CWU trailed just once in the game, at 3-0 in the opening minute. After a pair of ties, the Wildcats took the lead for good with 17:13 to go in the first half and saw their lead swell to 17 points following a 16-0 run that spanned 6 1/2 minutes. The halftime margin reached 15, and the closest the visiting Vulcans would get was an eight-point differential early in the second half.
“A big key to our success was our ability to get stops and not let (UH Hilo) shoot as well (as they did Monday),” Nelson added. “We increased the degree of difficulty for their shots, and were then able to rebound those missed shots defensively and get out and run the floor.”
The Wildcats held UH Hilo to 34.6 percent shooting for the game, with identical totals of 9 for 26 from the Vulcans in each half. The visitors had shot 52.9 percent in their win over CWU on Monday.
Two CWU players narrowly missed double-doubles in Tuesday's win. Junior point guard
Ally Schmitt (Snohomish) finished with eight points and 10 assists -- her second double-digit assist performance in the past three games -- while redshirt freshman
Hannah Shine (Lynden) scored eight points and added a game-high 10 rebounds as the Wildcats outrebounded the Vulcans by a 39-26 count.
UH Hilo saw just one player reach double figures, as Jameia McDuffie lead all players with 15 points. Kamie Imai had nine points and seven rebounds for the Vulcans.
CWU will not return to action until it resumes Great Northwest Athletic Conference play on Jan. 5, 2013, at Northwest Nazarene University. The Wildcats' next home game is Jan. 10 against Saint Martin's University.
