ELLENSBURG, Wash.—The Central Washington women's basketball team is heading to California to take on the Eagles from Concordia (Calif.) (5-4, 2-2) and the Golden Eagles from Cal State Los Angeles (4-5, 3-2) in a pair of non-conference games.
 
GAME INFORMATION
Saturday, December 18^th
2:00 PM
Vs. Concordia (Calif.)
CU Arena
Irvine, CA
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Monday, December 20^th
1:00 PM
Vs. Cal State LA
University Gym
Los Angeles, CA
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THOUGHTS FROM HEAD COACH RANDI RICHARDSON-THORNLEY
"Excited for an opportunity to bounce back against two in-region opponents. Both of these games will challenge us in similar ways as NNU and it's an opportunity for our team to show growth. It will be great to get out of the cold and down to some sunshine before we head into the holiday break. Our goal is to continue to get better and prepare ourselves for the tough conference season ahead."
 
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
The Eagles from Concordia (Calif.) are first on the slate for the 'Cats. The Eagles are 5-4 overall and 2-2 in the PacWest Conference. The offense puts up an average of 67.7 points per game on a .409 shooting percentage and .345 from beyond the arc. The defense has averaged 36.2 rebounds per game, with a 3.5 margin over their opponents. The Eagles have had struggles with ball handling as they average 16.1 turnovers, a -1.2 margin against opponents with only 6.3 steals per game.  
 
In their second bout, the 'Cats will take on the Golden Eagles from Cal State LA. The Golden Eagles are 4-5 overall and 3-2 in the CCAA. They average 67.4 points per game on a .360 shooting percentage and .318 from beyond the arc. LA is a strong team in the post averaging 41.4 rebounds per game alongside 2.9 blocks per game. Although they give up 16.0 turnovers per game on average, they've also led opponents with 8.9 steals per game.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The 'Cats are coming off of a nail-biting loss to the Nighthawks from Northwest Nazarene. The matchup against the Nighthawks was the Samantha Bowman show. Bowman put up her 6^th double-double of the season on a monster 29 points and 16 rebounds. So far this season Samantha Bowman leads the 'Cats and the GNAC in points per game (18.6), rebounds per game (14.9), and blocked shots per game (3.4). 
 
This season the 'Cats are 5-4 overall and 1-2 in the GNAC. As a team the 'Cats are averaging 69.4 points, which is the third highest in the conference. The 'Cats are also second in the conference from the charity stripe at .742 and third in the conference from beyond the arc at .328.