SALT LAKE CITY – The Central Washington women's basketball team moved to 4-0 on the season in come-from-behind fashion against the Westminster Griffins (2-2) 87-76.
 
QUOTE FROM HEAD COACH RANDI RICHARDSON-THORNLEY
 
"This was a great game for us. Westminster is a great team with great players. They made us pay for our mistakes in the first half. Proud of our group for their resilience to make adjustments, fight through adversity, pull out a gritty win. Sam came up huge all game long, Sunny's performance in the second half gave us a big lift, and Malia two threes down the stretch gave us the breathing room we needed to pull this one out. Regardless of the outcome these are the type of games you love to play to prepare us for the GNAC."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Samantha Bowman scored the first points of the game in a three-pointer just over 30 seconds into the game. It would stay a tight knit first quarter with both teams going back and forth with each other. Bowman would score nine points while Asher Cai would add on 12-points to help the 'Cats take a 21-16 lead to go into the second quarter.


CWU's offense would be slowed down by the Griffins in the second quarter as Westminster outscored CWU 22-14. A bulk of those 14 points by CWU came within the first few minutes as a layup by Ashley Schow would put CWU up seven points with just under eight minutes left. Westminster would go on a 7-0 run to tie the game and the teams would go shot for shot before Westminster started to pull away with around three minutes in the first half. The Griffins would build their own seven-point lead with just under one minute to play in the half, but four quick points by Valerie "Sunny" Huerta would bring the 'Cats to be down by three going into the half.
 
The trio of Bowman, Schow, and Cai would buoy the Wildcats to keep up with the Griffins as both teams continued to fight back and forth with each other. The Griffins shot a scorching 77.33% from the field in the third quarter, but the 'Cats ended up outscoring Westminster 27-25. However, the Griffins would take the one-point lead going into the fourth quarter.
 
The Wildcats showed out in the fourth quarter, upholding what they've been doing all season, holding Westminster to 13 points in the quarter while putting up 25 themselves. A jumper by Bowman put the 'Cats up for good with 7:16 left in the fourth quarter. Back-to-back threes by Malia Smith followed by a jumper by Huerta put the crimson and black up by double digits with 4:07 left. CWU would go on and cruise to the victory from there.
 
Bowman wanted her own 30-point game this weekend as she wound up with 36 points, 19 rebounds, five steals, and five blocks, to go 4/4 on double-doubles for the season thus far. Huerta picked up where she left off yesterday sailing 18 points through the net while Cai added her own 14 points to the total. Smith finished off the bench with nine points. CWU finished 45.2% shooting from the floor and 29% from three point land, but went 80% from the free throw line.
 
UP NEXT
 
The Wildcats will stay on the road for another weekend to participate in the Regis Thanksgiving Classic in Denver. The 'Cats will first take on the Colorado School of Mines Orediggers (2-1) on Friday November 25^th at 3:30 p.m. Then the 'Cats will wrap up the weekend with a showdown against the hosting Regis Rangers (3-1) on Saturday November 26^th at 3:30 p.m. Both games will be held at the Regis Field House.