Women's Basketball | 11/15/2016 4:52:00 PM

ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Nov. 15) – The Central Washington University women's basketball team heads to The Aloha State for a trio of games against Chaminade, BYU-Hawaii, and Hawaii at Hilo.
 
"Being able to take a trip like this reinforces our administration's commitment to our core values in regards to the student-athlete experience," CWU Head Coach Jeff Harada said.  "I know our team is very excited, but they also realize this isn't a vacation.  We are there to compete and represent CWU and our program so if we can take care of business first, we'll have time for some other things second."
 
The Wildcats recorded a pair of wins last week over Stanislaus State and Cal State Monterey Bay, opening the season 2-0 for the second straight season.
 
In their first two games of the season, the Wildcats are outscoring opponents 64-53.  Taylor Baird leads Central in scoring, averaging 17 points.  She also leads the Crimson and Black in rebounding, pulling in eight and a half rebounds per game.
 
After leaning on the starting five for big minutes during the opening two games, Harada will look to his bench for high-quality contributions. 
 
"Overall our starters logged a good amount of minutes in our two games last weekend, so playing three games in five days, our bench is going to be a huge factor for us to have any success," Harada added.  "We're going to need everyone to be physically and mentally ready to find a way to contribute."
 
The road excursion gives the Wildcats three road games in five days, including a back-to-back on Friday and Saturday.
 
"Teams usually go to Hawaii for neutral site tournaments, but having two true road games will be a big test for us," Harada noted. Even though it's been a while since I've seen the teams we'll be playing, I know all three schools have good coaches who will have their teams prepared for us."
 
Chaminade opens its season against the Wildcats after posting a 5-19 record in 2015-16.  The Silverswords recorded four of their five wins at home in McCabe Gymnasium.
 
A core group of seven seniors leads the Silverswords into 2016-17.  Lilia Maio returns after scoring a team high 14.8 points per game last season.  Maio also led Chaminade with 8/8 rebounds per game.
 
BYU-Hawaii takes on Cal State Dominguez Hills on Wednesday (Nov. 16) before facing the Wildcats on Friday.  The Seasiders went 11-14 in 2015-16, including opening the season 3-0.
 
The Wildcats final opponent is the University of Hawaii at Hilo.  The Vulcans play Dominguez hills on Friday (Nov. 18) before taking on CWU on Saturday (Nov. 19).  Hilo finished last season with a 10-15 record.  All of the Vulcans' wins came in conference.
 
This season, the Vulcans fell in an exhibition against the University of Hawaii 63-84.  Kim Schmelz led the Vulcans' offense with 16 points.  Asia Smith notched a team high 10 rebounds.
 
Central takes on Chaminade on Wednesday (Nov. 16) at 7 p.m., BYU-Hawaii on Friday (Nov. 18) at 9 p.m., and Hawaii at Hilo on Saturday (Nov. 19) at 5 p.m.