ELLENSBURG, Wash.— In their final home game of the 2021-22 season, Central Washington defeated Seattle Pacific 63-55. Saturday's win lifts the Wildcats to 20-7 overall and 13-5 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play, marking the first 20-win season since 2001-02.  
 
"SPU is a great defensive team and they have been all year," said Central Washington Head Coach Randi Richardson-Thornley. "I'm happy with the adjustments we made at the half and our girls for staying the course in our plan."
 
The loss for the Falcons drops them to 11-17 overall and 7-11 in GNAC play ahead of the conference tournament next week.
 
"I'm proud of our team overall this year. This is a young group, and our strength of schedule is the highest in the west region. We have had to grow and learn while being challenged all year. For us to finish 20-7 says a lot about our fight, commitment to growth, and the ability to just find ways to get the job done. I'm so proud of Kizzah and Kassidy. They are two extraordinary competitors, leaders, and basketball players. I feel blessed to have the opportunity to coach them every day and I'm just so happy for them and our program that we have so much more to play for."
 
Samantha Bowman led the charge for Central, scoring 15 points and grabbing 10 rebounds for her 21^st double-double of the season. Bowman also blocked four shots, gave out three assists, and picked up a steal.
 
With her tenth rebound tonight, Bowman has broken the Great Northwest Athletic Conference single-season total rebound record with 386. The previous mark of 385 was set by Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe from Simon Fraser during the 2012-13 season.
 
Kizzah Maltezo and Valerie Huerta both added 12-point efforts. Huerta had two steals and three assists and Maltezo grabbed five defensive boards.
 
Jenna Troy came off the bench adding an additional 10 points, one rebound, and one steal.
 
Kassidy Malcolm scored seven points but put forth a dominant effort off the glass with 13 rebounds.
 
Central forced the Falcons to play down low, holding them to shooting just 18.8 percent from the three-point line.
 
After SPU took a 29-28 lead at the half, the Wildcats outscored Seattle Pacific 16-8 in the third quarter creating the space they needed to win.
 
Natalie Hoff scored 16 points alongside five rebounds and one block for the Falcons.
 
The Wildcats move on to the Great Northwest Conference Tournament on March 3^rd-5^th. The final regular season standings and seeding for the tournament will be released shortly after the conclusion of the final conference games.