ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Feb. 13) – The Central Washington University women's basketball team dropped its Great Northwest Athletic Conference contest to No. 1 Alaska Anchorage, 61-69.  Central is now 15-9 overall and 8-8 in GNAC play.  The Seawolves are now 28-1 with a 15-1 conference mark.

"Great effort tonight, but we came up a little short," CWU Head Coach Jeff Harada said.  "We battled with them the entire game and it was nice to see us play with fight and passion."
 
The Wildcats held an advantage for the majority of the first two quarters, in part to a 10-for-10 mark from the charity stripe. 
 
Anchorage found rhythm late in the half and took a 30-26 lead into the locker room.
 
The Seawolves pulled ahead to a 39-28 lead in the third quarter, before Central went on a 7-0 run pulling the score to 39-35.
 
The third quarter closed with Anchorage leading by just two, 46-44.
 
Sadie Mensing drove the lane to level the score with the first basket of the fourth quarter.  Mensing finished with 13 points, including a 4-for-8 mark from the field.

"I was really happy for Sadie," Harada said afterward.  "She was a little timid in the first half, but she played fealess in the second hlaf and showed glimpses of how good she will be."
 
A three by Jasmin Edwards cut the Seawolves' lead to just one, 49-50, before Megan Mullings converted a pair of free throws to expand the advantage back to three.  A six-point run gave the Seawolves a 60-52 lead and Anchorage did not look back.
 
Edwards tallied 18 points, including 12 from beyond the three-point line. She added four rebounds and five assists. 

"I thought Jasmin was terrific on both ends of the court and she was aggressive looking for her shot tonight," Harada added.  "She hit some big ones keeping us within striking distance the entire game."
 
The Seawolves held on for the 69-61 victory.
 
Central tallied 24 points in the paint, 11 points off the bench, 11 second chance points, and nine points off of turnover. 
 
Jasmine Parker notched five rebounds and three blocks in just 16 minutes.  While on the court Parker posted a plus-minus of +9.
 
Kortney Grattic notched nine points and two rebounds.  Melanie Valdez added 10 points, three assists, and a pair of boards.
 
The Wildcats finished the contest with a 37.3 shooting percentage.
 
The Wildcats are back at home next week for a pair of GNAC games against Concordia University (Ore.) and Western Oregon on Thursday and Saturday.  Thursday's game against Concordia begins at 7 p.m., while Saturday's game against Western Oregon is slated to start at 4 p.m.