ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Jan. 12) – The Central Washington University women's basketball team held off the visiting Seattle Pacific University 77-70 at the Nicholson Pavilion Saturday evening. 
 
"I'm happy to get the win," CWU head coach Randi Richardson-Thornley said. "We played well at times and struggled at others. I'm really proud of our defense. We did some different things defensively because of what they do offensively and we executed for a majority of the game." 
 
The Wildcats (10-3, 5-1) built a 21-point lead in the third quarter before the Falcons (4-9, 3-3) cut the lead to just four in the final minutes. 
 
The opening period started with both teams trading basket; the home team shooting 8-for-19 from the field including three from beyond the arc. Alexis Pana paced the Wildcats with six points and three rebounds as the home team closed the quarter with a narrow lead of 19-17. 
 
The crimson and black turned up the pressure defensively to start the second period, forcing the Falcons into four turnovers while connecting on 56 percent of their shots. Samantha Bowman contributed seven points and two rebounds off the bench as the Wildcats built a 33-25 lead with 4:17 remaining in the half. 
 
SPU closed the half behind seven straight points from forward Cici West to cut Central's lead to seven points. Pana added four points for the home team and the half closed with the Wildcats leading 39-32. 
 
The crimson and black started the second half strongly, going on an 8-0 run. Kaelie Flores scored six points and the Wildcats scored eight points in the paint to push their lead to 47-32 with 6:43 remaining in the quarter. 
 
The Wildcats struggled to close the period shooting just 4-14 in the final minutes, but sunk 6-7 from the charity stripe. Jonnae Richardson scored seven points and the home team scored 13 second chance points in the quarter to push their lead to 62-45 at the end of the third. Overall, Central outscored SPU 23-13 in the quarter. 
 
The visitors began the final period on a 11-3 run behind 50 percent shooting from the field and six points from Ashley Alter. The visitors scored four points of two Wildcat turnovers to trim their deficit to just 65-56 with 4:50 remaining in the contest. 
 
The crimson and black closed the final period trading baskets with the visitors down the stretch. The Wildcats nailed 7-10 from the line to close out the game; they entered the bonus with just a minute remaining in the game. 
 
Central finished the game with 34 points in the paint and 28 points from the bench. Pana led the home team with 14 points and five rebounds. Richardson also contributed 13 points and seven rebounds, five of which came on the offensive glass. 
 
"My main focus was to rebound," Richardson said. "That's one of my roles, to get as many rebounds as possible. I think I really executed that today." 
 
The Wildcats aim for their fifth win in a row Tuesday, January 15 at home against Northwest Nazarene University. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.