ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Central Washington University women's basketball picked up its third straight win against in-state rival Western Washington with a 72-62 win at home Thursday night inside Nicholson Pavilion. The win pushed the Wildcats' record to 9-6 overall and 4-3 in the GNAC.
 
Pacing the Wildcats to their second-straight win and ninth overall was 52% shooting overall from the floor and a 41.2 percentage from deep. The Vikings (10-5, 4-3 GNAC) finished with a 43.4 shooting percentage but were just 20% (4-20) from beyond the arc.
 
CWU also won the turnover battle 15-20 and converted WWU's 20 turnovers to 21 points. The Vikings had the edge in points in the paint, 36-26, but it was the patience and methodical pace of the Wildcats that helped them secure the home win.
 
"I'm really pleased with our team pulling out a gutsy game. Western [Washington], they're a tough team, they play super hard and were down a couple players tonight, but they had some players really step up for them," CWU Head Coach Randi Richardson-Thornley said. "I'm just happy with our team staying consistent and matching Western's runs and not going away from who we are."
 
The first quarter got off to a slow start for the Wildcats who found themselves down 7-2 in the first four minutes of play. Despite the early issues, the Crimson and Black got their flow down in order to keep the Vikings from opening up the lead in the first.
 
By the first media timeout, CWU only trailed 9-7 to WWU. Alexis Pana was the driving force in the opening frame scoring five of the team's first seven points before the media timeout. Pana's efforts helped her finish with nine points after the first 10 minutes, but she had help going into the second.
 
Going into the second, the Vikings held a slim one-point lead, 18-17. They had a solid start to the game shooting 77.8% in the first on 7-9 made shots. The Wildcats kept pace late in the first an ended the frame at a 50% mark on 7-14 shooting.
 
CWU only had one made shot by in the first two minutes of play but free throw shooting helped them along with stout defense. WWU was 0-6 in that span from the floor, while CWU also added 3-5 made shots from the charity stripe. The combined effort gave CWU a 22-18 lead at the 7:36 mark of the second.
 
The Vikings kept the Wildcats lead to single digits for much of the second quarter and went into halftime trailing by three, 34-31. WWU put up 12 more shots and made six after the 0-6 start, but were 0-5 from beyond the arc. The Wildcats went 4-11 overall in the second but also went 2-4 from three-point range to help lead by three at the break.
 
Pana continued to lead the offensive charge for CWU as she had 11 points at the break. She had help thanks to nine first half points from fellow senior Taylor Shaw. Shaw was 3-4 from the field and a perfect 2-2 from deep.
 
CWU managed to shot an even 44% in the first half on 11-24 made buckets, while WWU was just a tad higher at 48.1% on the merit of 13-27 shooting. Although CWU led by three, WWU held the edge in stats with a 20-6 edge in points in the paint. The Wildcats however took better care of the ball with just six turnovers while forcing the Vikings to lose the ball 11 times.
 
The game remained close through the majority of the third as the Wildcats barely outscored the Vikings 20-16. Through the first five minutes CWU was in front 45-40. Shaw and Pana were troublesome duo for the Vikings as the pair scored 10 of CWU's 20 points.
 
At the end of the third quarter, the Crimson and Black held a 54-47 lead and a 9-15 shooting effort in the third helped them maintain their lead for the remainder of the night. Going into the fourth Shaw had 19 points, while Pana was four back with 15 points.
 
The fourth quarter was another high scoring affair as the two squads combined for 33 points in the final 10 minutes of action. The Wildcats hot shooting did not settle in the fourth with the team going 60% from the floor. The high percentage shooting of the second half proved to be too much as CWU secured the 10-point win, 72-62.
 
The fourth quarter, like much of the game, belong to the dynamic duo of Pana and Shaw. Shaw chipped in four points in the fourth, but it was Pana who did the most damage scoring 11 in the final frame to lead the Wildcats. For the second half, CWU shot a blistering 60% from the floor and held WWU to just 41.7%.
 
Pana led all scorers with a game-high 26 points on 9-13 shooting overall and a 4-6 mark from deep. Shaw added 23 points on 8-10 made shots and went 3-4 from deep. Malcolm led the way in rebounds with a game-high of 11. Kaelie Flores chipped in 11 points to round out the double figure score for the Wildcats.
 
"Lex and Shaw had huge nights for us offensively but also shout out to Kaelie Flores and Kassidy Malcolm and Samantha Bowman for carrying their load in defending the post," Coach Richardson-Thornley added. "That's a pretty tough thing to do and they're really good but I am happy with our offensive performance."
 
The Wildcats will play their second and final game of January this Saturday when they host their neighbors to the north in the Simon Fraser University (B.C.) Clan. Tip-off is slated for 5 p.m. inside Nicholson Pavilion.