ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Jan. 8) – The Central Washington University women's basketball team lost a hard fought battle against archrival Western Washington University 68-76 Thursday night in Nicholson Pavilion.
 
The loss is the fourth straight for the Wildcats who drop to 7-6 on the season and 2-3 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play.  The Vikings improved to 8-5, 2-2 in the GNAC.

"It was a great atmosphere and crowd tonight," Head Coach Jeff Harada said. "It felt like a really competitive atmosphere and a great environment to play in, just exciting. We know the rivalry is there, and our kids came out and played tough tonight. WWU showed why they were picked to win the league."

 Central Washington started the first half off by making four of its first five shot attempts two of which came off the hands of Jasmin Edwards.  After the first media timeout the Wildcats came out and scored on back-to-back possession; a layup by Jasmine Parker and three-point play by Courtney Johnson to take a 13-9 lead with just over 14 minutes left in the period.  In the next seven minutes the Vikings would go on a 15-8 run to take a 24-21 lead over the Wildcats at the 7:43 mark.
 
The Vikings used a 10-0 run to open up a 10-point advantage with just under four minutes left in the half.  Back-to-back scores by Edwards and Parker, followed by a layup by Alexis Berrysmith cut the WWU lead to seven, but a Viking basket as time expired allowed the visitors to go into halftime with a 36-27 advantage.
 
Central Washington shot a sizzling 54.5 percent in the first half connecting on 12 of 22 shots.  The Vikings shot a respectable 43.2 percent and outscored the Wildcats 10-2 in second chance points with their 11 offensive rebounds.
 
The Wildcats continued its hot shooting in the second half, however, the Vikings shot a shade better and led 48-40 with 14:23 left in regulation.  The Wildcats made a run when Edwards found Johnson under the hoop for an easy two followed by a clutch three pointer by Ericka Locker to cut the Viking lead to just three points at the 11:25 mark. 

A Hannah Shine three pointer with 8:12 on the clock cut the Viking lead to two, but the Vikings responded with two straight scores to go ahead 63-57.  Western Washington extend its lead to 67-57 before India Matheson scored in the paint and Edwards intercepted a pass for an easy fastbreak basket to deficit to six. 
 
A long jumper by Johnson and two made free throws by Edwards cut the Viking advantage to just 70-67 with two minutes left in the contest.  With The Vikings ahead by five with 40 seconds remaining the Wildcats were forced to foul and the Vikings, who lead the GNAC in free throw percentage converted on each of their free throws down the stretch leading to the final 76-68 score.
 
The Wildcats shot a sizzling 54.0 percent to the 46.9 percent shooting from the Vikings.  The difference in the ball game was rebounding where the Vikings out gained the Wildcats 39-25, and had 18 offensive rebounds which they converted into 18 second chance points.
 
Edwards led all scorers with a career-high 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting.  In addition to her scoring the freshman handed out a career-high eight assists.  Johnson added 15 points and Parker put in 13.

"She was a warrior tonight," Harada added about his freshman point gaurd. "She attacked the rim well tonight and she finished. We set some good screen for her and got some good action off of that by attacking the edge. I think overall we executed pretty well, we got the shots we wanted and set the right screens. I was very pleased how we were able to score points."

The Vikings got 20 points from Peacocke who also had five rebounds and five assists.
 
The Wildcats return to action this Saturday when they host Simon Fraser at 7 p.m.

"If we give the same focus and effort we gave tonight we will have a good chance to win the game on Saturday. We know we are in for a tough matchup against Erin chambers and the SFU team."