ELLENSBURG, Wash (Feb. 14) – The Central Washington University women's basketball team suffered its biggest margin of defeat at home this season on Saturday afternoon, losing to Montana State University Billings 60-41.
 
The loss leaves the Wildcats at 11-12 and 6-9 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference as the Yellowjackets climb to 13-11 and 5-9 in the crowded conference.
 
The Wildcats currently sit in the fifth place in the conference standings, which rewards the top six teams with a playoff berth.
 
The Wildcats registered the first points in the game on a Melanie Valdez three-ball and Courtney Johnson extended the early lead to 5-3 with a jumper.  The Yellowjackets would go on an 8-0 run over a five-minute span leaving the score at 10-5 in favor of the opponents.
 
CWU would struggle to find any rhythm over the final 11:48 of the first half.  The Wildcats shot 17.9 percent (5-28) in the period, going 2-12 (16.7%) from downtown. Hannah Shine's 3-point shot at 11:48 closed the gap to just two points as both offenses went cold. With the score seemingly stuck at 8-10 for four minutes, the Yellowjackets began to open the lead with a mini four-point run that covered a span of four minutes.
 
Jasmin Edwards broke the CWU drought with an elbow jump and India Matheson would score the final basket for the Wildcats with a post move on the right block. That would be the final basket scored for the Wildcats as the score at the break was 23-12 in favor of the Yellowjackets.
 
Valdez got the action started again the second half with a beautiful backdoor layup assisted by Jasmine Parker. The Wildcats battled back to cut the MSUB lead to 10 when Erika Locker hit a 3-point shot at the 16:06 mark but MSUB's Kayleen Goggins answered Locker's basket with a 3-point shot of her own from the top of the key that banked in.
 
Shine brought the lead back to 10 again a minute later but her basket would be the last for the Wildcats for the next six minutes as the Yellowjackets sparked a 12-0 run to open the lead to 42-20.
 
The Wildcats shot 34.4 percent in the second half and ended the contest shooting a season-low 26.7 percent (16-60).
 
Shine led the Wildcats with 14 points and Jasmin Edwards totaled seven points and eight rebounds. MSUB Kayleen Goggins paced the 'Jackets with 22 points and eight rebounds.
 
The Wildcats will play its final home game next Saturday, Feb. 21., when Northwest Nazarene University rolls into town.