ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Nov. 4)—The Central Washington University women's basketball team finished preseason with an impressive 75-44 victory over Pacific Lutheran University in their final exhibition game Friday evening at Nicholson Pavilion.
 
"We came out excited with a lot of energy, I was happy with that," CWU Head Coach Jeff Harada said.  "We got a ton of layups in transition and that shows a huge difference with this year's team, we can score in transition.  We had 20 assists, so I think it shows we can distribute the ball around well."
 
Jasmin Edwards led the Wildcats offense with 10 points, 9 assists and 2 steals. Taylor Baird added 10 rebounds and also put up 6 points.  
 
The Wildcats got off to a strong start in the opening minutes and continued to put on a display of great defense, recording 14 rebounds in the first quarter with two steals. The Wildcats tallied 15 points in the first and the Lutes scored only four points, two of which coming from free throws.
 
The second quarter saw another strong showing of defense by CWU and the offense began to heat up scoring 17 points in the frame and finished the half with 22 rebounds. Meanwhile, the Lutes continued to struggle with the pressure and put up only 10 points in the second
 
Going into halftime the Wildcats led 35-14.
 
The third quarter proved to be faster paced with the Lutes putting up a fight. The Wildcats managed only two boards in the third but scored an impressive 25 points. The Lutes doubled their first half points and scored 18.
 
In the fourth quarter the Wildcats scored another 17 points, ending the evening 31 of 48 from the field and 7 of17 from beyond the arc.
 
CWU Head Coach, Jeff Harada used an alliance of players in tonight's win and showed tremendous depth from start to finish.  Thirteen different players saw the court for the Wildcats, 12 of which scored.  Kortney Grattic, Beverly Verduin, and Rachel Lorentson each added nine points, while Sadie Mensing added seven.
 
"Everyone who comes off the bench needs to come out with passion and make a play to be a spark, so our bench points were a very good thing," Harada added.
 
Central Washington held the Lutes to 31.3-percent shooting and forced 18 turnovers. 
 
The Wildcats will open their 2016-17 campaign next week when they travel to Portland, Ore. to take on Stanislaus State and Cal State Monterey Bay on Nov. 11 and 12 , respectively.