SEATTLE – Central Washington University women's basketball mounted a near comeback in Friday night's Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals but fell just short in a 79-77 loss to top-seeded Alaska Anchorage.
 
The Wildcats (19-11) set a new school record, tied a conference single game record, and set a new conference tournament game record for three-pointers made and attempted in a game with 18 made on 34 attempts. 10 of those triples came in the second half with seven being hit in the fourth quarter alone.
 
Despite the hot shooting from deep by CWU, the fifth-ranked Seawolves (30-2) controlled the majority of the game. They outscored the Wildcats in the paint 40-14 and had 18 points off of their 18 turnovers. UAA's reserves also outscored CWU's bench 28-23.
 
"I couldn't be prouder of this group. The game tonight, it was tough for us. Things didn't really go our way in the first half defensively, but to Anchorage's credit players were hitting shots that we weren't expecting them to hit," CWU Head Coach Randi Richardson-Thornley said. "We stayed the course though. Super proud of our players though, they faced adversity in many facets of the game tonight, and they stayed the course and did enough to stay in the game and when it game down to tight moments they stayed up and made big plays."
 
The opening frame went as well as it could for the top-seeded Seawolves as they shot 57.1% overall. The managed to take a 28-17 lead into the second but the Wildcats maintained composure the whole time and kept UAA from opening up the game. Kassidy Malcolm was the go-to option in the first scoring five to start but she had help.
 
Four Wildcats chipped in three points in the opening quarter to make up the team's 17 points. Despite shooting just 35.3% in the first, the Crimson and Black managed to fight their way back to within five points in the first four minutes of the second.
 
UAA lead 33-22 with 8:24 to play in the second and seemed to keep CWU's offense at bay but a 6-0 run from the Wildcats cut the score to 33-28 with 5:48 to play in the half. Samantha Bowman closed the quick surge with a corner triple and forced a Seawolves' timeout.
 
The Seawolves managed to push their lead back to nine, 37-28, after the timeout and both squads traded shots the rest of the way through before halftime. UAA took a 47-37 lead into the break on the merit of 52.6% shooting in the first half.
 
Central was just under 40% shooting in the first half going 11-28 from the field for 39.3%. Helping the Wildcats in the first half was the three-ball. CWU went 8-18 from deep for 44.4% to keep the game within reach in the first 20 minutes. UAA did its damage in the post with a 24-6 edge in points in the paint.
 
Balanced scoring worked well for the Wildcats as Kaelie Flores and Brianna Phiakhamngon each scored eight points. Malcolm and Bowman each had seven by halftime. Going into the second half it was once again a battle and the Wildcats went the distance.
 
Tori Maeda hit a three-ball right out the gate to start the second half and cut the Seawolves lead to seven, 47-40. UAA responded and pushed the lead back to 12, 52-40, with 7:42 to play in the third. They managed to lead by as much as 15, 55-40, and held a double figure lead until the final 1:47 of play in the stanza.
 
A deep three from Taylor Shaw cut the Wildcats' deficit to eight, 62-54, but a 1-2 trip at the free throw line gave the Seawolves a 63-54 advantage going into the fourth. UAA managed to get up by double-digits a few times in the fourth but it was the final three minutes of play that turned into a shootout by CWU.
 
UAA led by as much as 12 a pair of times in the final five minutes of action before a barrage of made threes by the Crimson and Black made it a fight to the last second. Helping the Wildcats nearly steal the game was six-straight made three-pointers in the final 4:31 of regulation. Alexis Pana was responsible for a quartet of them while Shaw and Phiakhamngon each had one.
 
The Wildcats late surge made it a fight until the very end and had moments to steal the win in the final seconds but the Seawolves escaped with the win to secure a spot in the GNAC Championships.
 
"I'm just proud with how we've grown this year in that way [of making big plays late] and for us to come down and have an opportunity to win the game with two seconds on the clock, that's really all you can ask for," Coach Richardson-Thornley said. "Unfortunately, we didn't get the job down and it did not come down to that one play at the end. Like I said, we faced a lot of adversity, we made some mistakes early but we stayed the course and show a lot of toughness and a lot of grit."
 
Three players finished in double figures led by Pana with 19. She shot 6-11 from the floor overall and went 5-9 from deep. She was also the team leader in rebounds with nine and had a game-high seven assists. Phiakhamngon scored 14 off the bench on 4-7 shooting and was 3-5 from beyond the arc. Shaw chipped in 12 on 4-7 made triples.
 
The Wildcats will now have to wait and see what their NCAA Tournament fate is until this Sunday, March 8 when the NCAA Selection Show announces the field of 64 teams. The show will air at 7 p.m. PT on NCAA.com.

"We [as a team] hope we get another opportunity to continue to play," Coach Richardson-Thornley added. "I feel like we deserve it, but that is not our decision to make. I feel like our performance in the last few weeks have hopefully proven we should get that opportunity."