ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Jan. 21) – After taking down Western Oregon on Thursday, the Central Washington University women's basketball team looked for its second victory in as many games against Concordia (Ore.)  The Cavaliers edged out the Wildcats in a 59-57 affair.

"Definitely a tough one tonight," CWU Head Coach Jeff Harada said.  "One possession games like this come down to which team executes better and they made one more play than we did.  For some reason we didn't appear to have the same energy to start this game and it's my job to figure out why."

The Wildcats are now 7-11 overall and 2-8 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference contests, while Concordia moves to 7-11 and 4-6 in the GNAC.
 
"Now that we've played everyone once, we know what to expect in the second half of league play,"  Harada added.  "I know we're better than our record shows and there is a lot of basketball left.  We just have to decide what kind of team we want to be for the next 10 games and commit to do the things we've been talking about if we expect to make our way into the playoff mix."
 
Central Washington once again relied on tough play in the paint on offense.  The Wildcats put up 36 points in the paint, allowing the Cavaliers to score just 26.  Taylor Baird posted 16 points, while Jasmin Edwards added 14.  They were the only two Wildcats to eclipse 10 points on the night. 
 
Concordia found themselves up six with 5:22 remaining in the first quarter.  The Wildcats battled back, taking a three-point lead with 1:20 to play in the opening stanza.  A pair of buckets put the Cavaliers up 21-19 after 10 minutes.  After 20 minutes of play, Concordia held another six-point advantage, this time 38-32. 
 
Central shot just 37.1 percent from the floor in the first two quarters, including a 2-for-9 effort from beyond the arc.
 
After a field goal from Danielle Hartzog in the early moments of the third quarter, the Cavaliers held their largest lead of the night, 41-34.
 
Central Washington began mounting a comeback.  Baird converted a layup, before Taylor Shaw drained a shot from long range and cut the Cavaliers lead to 41-39.  Concordia pushed its lead back to seven, 48-41, but again the Wildcats answered the call.  A layup by Kaelie Flores, and a pair of free throws by Edwards, cut the score to 48-45 with just one quarter remaining. 
 
Flores opened the fourth quarter with a layup and the Wildcats trailed just by one, 48-47.  Baird scored 40 seconds later and gave the Wildcats a 49-48 lead.  She tallied once more 45 seconds later for a 51-48 lead, before the Cavaliers found the basket in the final stanza.
 
Flores finished the night with six points, a perfect 100 percent shooting percentage, six rebounds, one assist, and one block.
 
The Wildcats and Cavaliers erupted into a see-saw battle in the final quarter, neither team relenting. 
 
Concordia took a 58-57 lead with 2:38 remaining in regulation, after Bailey Cartwright knocked down a layup.  Multiple empty possessions by both sides left the score at 58-57 with under 30 seconds of play.
 
With 31 seconds left to play, Sadie Mensing pickpocketed Hartzog.  Harada called a timeout and advanced the ball over center court.  The Wildcats drew up a play and aimed to drain the clock, attempting to eliminate an opportunity for a last-second response by Concordia.
 
As the teams reconvened after the timeout and Central lined up for the inbound, Harada called another timeout to change strategy. 
 
This time, the Wildcats found the open woman on the inbound and began working the clock.  With just six seconds left in regulation Briannah Smith intercepted a pass, breathing extra life into Concordia.  She was immediately fouled by Mensing and Cavalier head coach Sean King called a timeout to advance the ball.
 
With four seconds remaining, Smith connected on one free throw, giving the Wildcats one final chance to level the score.
 
Harada called his final timeout and drew up a play for the Wildcats.  The final shot for Central Washington missed and Concordia held on for a 59-57 victory.
 
The Wildcats finished the night shooting 38.1 percent from the field, including a 3-for-15 mark from three-point land.  At the charity stripe, the Wildcats were 4-for-5 in the first half.  They struggled at the line in the second half, shooting just 28.5 percent (2-for-7).
 
"Although I thought we played much better defensively in the second half it was the little mistakes the entire game that did us in," Harada noted.  "Whether it was a break down defensively, shot selection, not boxing out, shooting 50% from the free throw line or simply turning the ball over.  All those things matter on every possession and it came back to hurt us.  It's easy to say those mistakes in the last two minutes cost us the game, but if we don't make them in the first two minutes or the first three quarters as well, then it's probably a different scenario in those last two minutes."
 
The Wildcats allowed 21 points in the first quarter and 17 in the second, but buckled down defensively in the second half, holding Concordia to just 22 points in the second 20 minutes of play. 
 
The Wildcats are at home in Nicholson Pavilion next week.  They play Saint Martin's on Thursday (Jan. 26) in a double-header with the men's team.  Tip-off for the women is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.  Live stats and video are available at wildcatsports.com