ELLENSBURG, Wash. -  The Central Washington women's basketball team is set to open their regular season participating in the Northwest Nazarene Classic this upcoming weekend. The Wildcats and Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks will pair up and go against two teams from California in the Stanislaus State Warriors and the California State-East Bay Pioneers.  
 
GAME INFORMATION
 
Friday, November 11^th
6:30 p.m. 
Central Washington vs. Cal State-East Bay
Johnson Sports Center
Nampa, Idaho
 
Saturday, November 12^th
1:30 p.m.
Central Washington vs. Stanislaus State
Johnson Sports Center
Nampa, Idaho
 
QUOTING HEAD COACH RANDI RICHARDSON-THORNLEY
"We are excited to kick our season off down in Nampa this weekend," Richardson-Thornley said. "We face two very strong opponents that will challenge us in different ways and I'm excited to see how we respond and step up to the challenge. Our team has been working hard, has grown a lot already this preseason, and they are ready to compete."
 
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
The Pioneers are coming off a historic season or their program nabbing the number one seed in the NCAA tournament while accumulating a 24-3 overall record and a 15-1 conference record. The Pioneers fell to national runner-up Western Washington in the regional final last year. This season so far has seen the Pioneers fall in exhibition action to division one University of San Francisco 79-66. 
 
The Wildcats have snagged two wins away from the Pioneers in three tries, most recent coming last season in the CCAA-GNAC crossover hosted by Stanislaus State. The Wildcats pulled out a 68-55 victory over the Pioneers to hand CSU-EB their first loss of the season. Kizzah Maltezo and Samantha Bowman each finished with over 20 points in 25 and 21, respectively, while Bowman hauled in 17 rebounds. 
 
Stanislaus State is hoping to start the new year off fresh after a 12-10 overall record and a 7-9 conference record. The Warriors rounded out last season with three straight losses in a tough California Collegiate Athletic Association conference. The Warriors did post victories over GNAC rivals Northwest Nazarene and Seattle Pacific as well as NCAA tournament participant Academy of Art. 
 
The Wildcats and Warriors have seen each other a bit more, squaring off seven times with CWU stealing five of those matchups in their favor, and the Wildcats are currently riding a four-game winning streak over the Warriors. The 'Cats traveled down to Turlock, Calif. last year where Stanislaus State was the host of the CCAA-GNAC crossover. It was a highly contested battle as the 'Cats sealed the 67-66 victory thanks to the offensive rebounding prowess that is Samantha Bowman. Bowman notched an outstanding 23 points and 23 rebounds while Kassidy Malcolm poured on 15 more points in the CWU win. 
 
LOOKING AHEAD
Following the Northwest Nazarene Classic, the 'Cats will turn their attention on two more teams they're familiar with in the Metro State Roadrunners and the Westminster Griffins in Salt Lake City, Utah. CWU went 1-2 last year against the Roadrunners and Griffins losing in Ellensburg to MSU while splitting with Westminster falling at the NNU Classic before getting revenge in the CWU Tournament.