Box Score
BELLINGHAM (Feb. 18) -- Sophomore
JESSICA VANDYKE (Chester, Mont./Chester-Joplin-Inverness HS) scored 18 of her game-high 25 points in the first half, but the Central Washington University women's basketball team shot just 30.8 percent in the second half in falling to archrival Western Washington University, 75-64, on Saturday night at Carver Gym.
The Wildcats fell to 8-16 overall and 4-12 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference with the loss, while WWU improved to 18-6 overall and 12-4 in the conference.
VanDyke kept Central Washington in the game in the first half, when she made 7 of 8 field goal attempts including 4 of 5 from three-point range, en route to those 18 tallies. The rest of her Wildcat teammates were a combined 5 of 26 from the floor (19.2 percent) prior to halftime, but CWU trailed by just three at 37-34 at the break.
In the second half, the Wildcats closed to within two on a pair of occasions, including at 53-51 with 12:47 remaining, but Western Washington reeled off 11 consecutive points to extend its lead to 13, and the margin remained in double figures for most of the remainder of the contest.
Leading the Wildcats over the final 20 minutes was senior
SOPHIE RUSSELL (Olympia/River Ridge HS), who scored 14 of her 21 points after halftime. She made three three-pointers and was 5 of 6 at the free throw line in the second half. VanDyke was the only other CWU player with more than three points in the final stanza, scoring seven.
VanDyke broke the school's single-season record for three-pointers made by going 4 for 8 on Saturday, and the Wildcat team also broke the program's single-season mark for treys converted. CWU finished the game 11 of 28 from behind the arc, surpassing the 200-make plateau for the first time in school history (206).
Central Washington was 13 of 18 at the free throw line (72.2 percent) while finishing the game at just 33.3 percent from the floor (20 of 60). VanDyke (25) and Russell (21) were the Wildcats' lone double-figure scorers, as junior
ALEX DUNN (West Valley City, Utah/Hunter HS) was next in the scoring column with seven. Dunn was just 2 of 11 from the field.
Western Washington saw three of its starters reach double figures, led by a 15-point, six-rebound, six-assist effort from Corinn Waltrip. Britt Harris and Kristin Schramm scored 14 apiece for the Vikings.
Central Washington returns home to Nicholson Pavilion for its final two games of the 2011-12 season next week. The Wildcats host Saint Martin's University on Thursday (Feb. 23) and Western Oregon University on Saturday (Feb. 25), with both games scheduled for 7 p.m. starts. Saturday's game versus WOU will be Senior Night and the final collegiate game for Russell -- the Wildcats' lone senior.
