Box Score
ELLENSBURG (Feb. 16) -- Sophomore
Tayler Fettig (Olympia) scored a career-high 18 points on 8 of 8 field goal shooting, but the Central Washington University women's basketball team suffered a nail-biting 73-70 loss to the Alaska Nanooks on Saturday night at Nicholson Pavilion.
The Wildcats fell to 9-13 overall and 4-10 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play, while Alaska earned its first win over a NCAA Division II opponent this season, improving to 3-20 and 1-14 in the GNAC.
Fettig, who had scored just 32 points in her 15 previous appearances this season, helped carry the Wildcats on offense. Ten of her points came in the first half, accumulating that total in just seven minutes of action before halftime, when CWU trailed 36-33.
The Wildcats were playing from behind for most of the contest, giving up a 10-0 run after an early 2-0 lead. They tied the score five times in the opening period, and actually held a 28-27 lead with 4:51 to go in the half, but a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Samantha Thornton gave Alaska the three-point edge at the intermission.
Alaska remained in the lead for the first seven minutes of the second half, before CWU took a three-point lead on a conventional three-point play by Fettig at the 12:48 mark. The Nanooks responded with an 11-0 run, though, to take an eight-point lead and the Wildcats were unable to come all the way back. The hosts did chip away at the deficit, which reached 10 with 4:13 to play, as they made it a one-point differential with 24 seconds left, but CWU had two turnovers in the final four seconds and Alaska held on for the victory.
The two teams finished the game even statistically in both rebounds (39) and turnovers (15), and each hit better than 40 percent from the floor. Alaska shot 46.6 percent and was 8 of 17 (47.1 percent) on three-point attempts, while CWU converted on 41.2 percent but was just 6 of 21 (28.6 percent) from long range. The Wildcats were outscored by just three at the free throw line despite more than twice as many attempts by the Nanooks (24-11).
Freshman
Jasmine Parker (Spokane/Mead HS) finished with 15 points and three blocked shots for the Wildcats, while junior
Ally Schmitt (Snohomish) came off the bench to tally 14 points with a team-high eight rebounds and six assists. Led by Fettig and Schmitt, CWU reserves accounted for better than 60 percent of the Wildcats' points, outscoring Alaska's bench by a 43-21 count.
The Nanooks were led by Thornton, who totaled 16 points and seven rebounds. The Bremerton native was 6 for 6 from the field. Taylor Altenburg (13 points, seven rebounds, five assists) and Kelly Logue (10 points, three rebounds, seven assists) also scored in double figures for Alaska.
CWU will play its final two road games of the season next weekend, visiting nationally-ranked Simon Fraser University and Western Washington University on Thursday (Feb. 21) and Saturday (Feb. 23), respectively. The Wildcats' next home game is Feb. 28 versus Seattle Pacific University.
