Box Score
ELLENSBURG (Jan. 10) -- Junior
Jessica VanDyke (Chester, Mont./Chester-Joplin-Inverness HS) made five three-pointers and scored a game-high 23 points, but the Central Washington University women's basketball team was unable to overcome a 14-point first-half deficit in its 62-56 loss to visiting Saint Martin's University on Thursday night at Nicholson Pavilion.
The Wildcats suffered their second straight loss and fell to 5-7 overall (0-4 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference). Saint Martin's improved to 9-6 overall and 2-3 in the conference.
"We won't win too many games when we only have two primary scorers," CWU head coach Shawn Nelson said. "Jessica (VanDyke) and
Leslie Stillar had good nights offensively, and
Hannah Shine did a nice job on the boards, but we took too many more shots and made fewer, and it's hard to win that way. We have to be more physical, especially inside when rebounding, and also when finishing."
The Wildcats scored the game's first basket on a three-pointer by VanDyke, but then trailed the rest of the way. Saint Martin's went on a 24-9 run after that opening shot to take a 12-point lead, and the margin reached the game's largest -- 14 points -- twice in the final five minutes of the half. The Saints led 37-25 at the break.
"Saint Martin's shot a higher percentage everywhere," Nelson added. "Tonight was a perfect storm -- Saint Martin's played well, we didn't play especially well, and (SMU) took advantage of a lot of opportunities that were given to them."
Saint Martin's shot 51.9 percent from the floor in the first half in building its lead. The Saints shot just 33.3 percent in the second half but finished the game at 43.8 percent overall -- more than eight percent above their season average. SMU also made 7 of 15 attempts from three-point range, while CWU finished the game at 31.1 percent overall and 10 of 37 (27.0 percent) from three-point range.
CWU faced a 14-point deficit twice more early in the second half, but gradually started to chip away at the margin. An 11-2 run over a 6 1/2 minute span brought the Wildcats to within four points at the 2:05 mark, and that deficit was closed to three in the final minute after a final three-pointer by VanDyke with 49 seconds left. Saint Martin's then made four free throws the rest of the way to ice the victory as CWU scored just a single point -- a free throw by Stillar (Nine Mile Falls/Lakeside HS) with 26.6 seconds left -- while missing three three-point attempts in the closing seconds.
VanDyke and Stillar combined for 37 points and were 8 of 24 from three-point range. The next leading scorers for the Wildcats were Shine (Lynden) and freshman
Jasmine Parker (Spokane/Mead HS) with six points apiece, and Shine finished with a team-leading 10 rebounds as CWU held a 36-34 rebounding edge.
Chelsea Haskey had a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds for Saint Martin's, while Jordyn Richardson added 13 points.
CWU remains home on Saturday (Jan. 12), facing Western Oregon University in a 7 p.m. tip-off at Nicholson Pavilion.
