ELLENSBURG, Wash.— The Central Washington University women's basketball team opens the West Regional on Friday as the No. 2 seed and will take on No. 7 seed Northwest Nazarene in Hayward, California.
 
Tip-off is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. PST.
 
"Excited for the opportunity to compete at the West Regional," Central Washington Head Coach Randi Richardson-Thornley. "We have a familiar opponent in NNU, and it's going to be a battle. They are a great team who is really good at doing what they do. We have to come out composed and ready to compete for forty minutes tomorrow and execute what we want to do on both sides of the floor."
 
SCOUTING NORTHWEST NAZARENE
Central (23-7) and Northwest Nazarene (18-9) are meeting for the third time this season. During the regular season and Great Northwest Athletic Conference schedule, the Wildcats and Nighthawks split 1-1, both winning on their home courts. The Nighthawks took game one 61-59 in Nampa, Idaho, while the Wildcats grabbed game two 71-65 in Ellensburg.
 
NNU has had a short postseason thus far, falling the Montana State Billings 69-56 in the quarterfinals of the GNAC Tournament. Cami Knisha led the Nighthawks in their loss, scoring 13 points shooting 5-9 from the floor and 3-6 from the three-point line. MSUB held NNU to shooting just 21-69 from the floor, 6-25 from the three-point line, and 8-15 at the free-throw line in the first-round loss.
 
As a team the Nighthawks are shooting .411 from the floor, .289 from beyond the arc, and .712 at the free-throw line. Scoring an average of 72.4 points per game, NNU is on the heels of Central Washington for the highest scoring offense from the GNAC.
 
Teagan Thurman, a 6-1 guard, sits atop Northwest Nazarene in scoring and rebounding, averaging 12.4 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. Defensively, Nyalam Thabach leads the Nighthawks with 20 total blocks while scoring an average of 11.8 points alongside 6.5 rebounds per game.
 
HISTORIC WILDCATS
Friday's game marks the first West Regional for the Wildcats since the 2002-03 season. Last week Central Washington made a statement, running through the GNAC Tournament taking down Simon Fraser 91-85, Alaska Anchorage 80-65, and then No. 22 Western Washington 57-46. The trio of back-to-back-to-back wins elevated CWU to a 23-7 overall record and its first ever conference tournament title.
 
Samantha Bowman, named the GNAC Tournament MPV, led the charge as Central captured the GNAC title. Bowman, the nation's rebounding leader (15.6 rpg) and now Division II leader in double-doubles (24), averaged 14.6 points and 17.3 rebounds per game in the GNAC tournament including a 23-rebound performance in the title game.
 
The Wildcats also boast the GNAC leaders in scoring, Kizzah Maltezo and Kassidy Malcolm. Maltezo, a First Team All-GNAC honoree and currently 26^th in Division II points per game, averages 18.9 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game. Maltezo owns the programs single-season three-point field goals made record at 86 and counting.
 
Malcolm, named the GNAC Player of the Year, is currently averaging 18.1 points per game, a mark that places her 39^th in all of Division II scoring. Malcolm also pulls down an average of 6.6 rebounds per game and has 53 assists on the year.