BILLINGS, Mont. – The Central Washington Wildcat women's basketball team improved to 11-1 overall and 3-0 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play Thursday night when they defeated the Montana State-Billings Yellow Jackets (11-3, 2-1 GNAC) 70-44 in Billings. 
 
QUOTE FROM HEAD COACH RANDI RICHARDSON-THORNLEY
 
"I'm happy with how our team came out ready to compete on the road after Christmas break against a tough MSUB team. We did some really nice things on both ends of the floor and also took some great learning lessons from this game to improve upon as well as the schedule only gets tougher from here."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
The first quarter provided a back-n-forth affair as each team traded basket for basket with neither team getting more than three-points ahead which happened when MSUB took a 5-2 lead under a minute into action. Asher Cai gave us a preview of what would come with two three-pointers and a tough jumper to guide the 'Cats to the 14-12 lead at the end of the first quarter. 
 
Claire Heitschmidt started the scoring in the second quarter with a layup, right before a five-point run by Cai, followed by a three from Heitschmidt saw the 'Cats have a double-digit lead at 24-12 with 7:29 remaining in the second quarter. Valerie "Sunshine" Huerta got in on the action maintaining the now 14-point lead as MSUB would score their first points of the quarter in that span. Malia Smith and Cai knocking down back-to-back treys pushed the crimson and black lead to over 20 points, 36-14 with two and a half minutes remaining in the second quarter. A seven-point run by the Wildcats including a buzzer beating hail Mary from the logo at half court by Huerta saw CWU lead 43-17 at the half. The Wildcats outscored MSUB 29-5 in the second quarter. 
 
The Yellow Jackets came out of the half with an upset mind striking the first five points of the second half to cut the Wildcat lead to 43-22. However, Samantha Bowman, Sunshine, and Schow had something different in mind as they combined for an 8-0 'Cat run to put the 'Cats up 51-22 with 6:04 left in the third quarter. Both teams traded baskets with each other for the rest of the quarter, but a three-pointer by Schow at the buzzer pushed the Wildcat lead to the largest thus far at 60-30 to end the third. 
 
Even though the Yellow Jackets scored first in the fourth quarter that didn't stop the Wildcats, as they would respond with a 9-0 run giving them the largest lead of the night at 37 points, 69-32 with 5:18 left in the game. However, the Jackets would find their stride the rest of the way, but time wasn't on their side as they nailed back-to-back three-pointers to end the game at a 70-44 score. 
 
The Wildcats were led by Sunshine with 18 points, 16 from Cai, and 14 points and 14 rebounds from Bowman to round out the double-digit scorers on the night. Schow provided nine points, while Heitschmidt added on six from the bench, Smith added on three, while Riley Johnson and Shaylee Coulter-Fa'amafu each added two points. CWU out-rebounded MSUB 55-32 while Heitschmidt also reached 11 rebounds on the night following Bowmans 14. CWU also dished out 17 assists compared to MSUBs nine. 
 
The Wildcats shot 50 percent even from the field as well as 34.6 percent from three-point tries while holding the Jackets to 22.5 percent shooting from the field and 10 percent shooting from three-point tries on the night. 
 
UP NEXT
 
The Wildcats will round out the weekend trip with a matchup back in the state of Washington at Seattle Pacific (6-4, 1-1 GNAC). The Wildcats will take on the Falcons at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday at Royal Brougham Pavilion in Seattle.