Box Score ELLENSBURG, Wash. - Despite opening the game with an initial lead, the Central Washington University women's basketball team fell to visiting Simon Fraser by a 75-61 count Thursday night at Nicholson Pavilion.

The loss drops the Wildcats to 1-11 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play and 6-14 overall. The Clan, who lost to CWU last month in Burnaby, BC, improve to 8-4 in GNAC play and 13-6 overall.

COURTNEY JOHNSON (Kentwood HS) came out firing, hitting the first shot of the night from 3-point range for the early lead and ALLY SCHMITT (Snohomish HS) hit one of two free throws to add to the cushion for the 4-0 advantage. Simon Fraser would answer with a bucket of its own, but Johnson scored a layup in traffic to push the lead back to four, 6-2. JASMINE PARKER (Mead HS) sank a short jumper for the 8-5 lead, but the Clan had an answer for each CWU bucket.

After the Clan took over the momentum, the Wildcats went to HANNAH SHINE (Lynden HS) for a basket to reclaim the lead, 12-11 with 12:50 to play in the half. Later, DAISY BURKE (Lewis and Clark HS) hit from long range at the 10:59 mark to push the advantage to three, 18-15.

It was the final time the 'Cats would lead the game, however, CWU kept within reach for the remainder of the half with Simon Fraser going into halftime up by just eight, 40-32.

Similar to the first half, CWU had the momentum in the opening stages of the second half, quickly turning the game into a one-possession contest after Schmidt and Johnson combined to score six points within the first two minutes of the second stanza to make it a 40-38 contest. The Clan responded, but not enough to put away the Wildcats as SFU was nursing just a two-point cushion (47-45) with 15:13 on the clock.

Unfortunately for CWU, that was the closest the 'Cats would get to reclaiming the momentum as SFU then went on a 25-8 run during the next 10 minutes to seal the game.

As a squad, the Wildcats outrebounded the Clan 37-32 and held SFU to no second-chance points during the entire second half.

Johnson led the 'Cats with 22 points on 6-of-13 shooting, including 4-of-7 from behind the arc and a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe. AMBER MOSER had 10 points for CWU and Parker led all players with 11 rebounds.

Erin Chambers led all scorers with 25 points for Simon Fraser.

The Wildcats stay home and host archrival Western Washington for a 7 p.m. tipoff Saturday at Nicholson Pavilion.