ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Central Washington women's basketball team (15-5, 7-4 GNAC) fell inside the Nicholson Pavilion Saturday afternoon by a 66-75 score to the visiting Montana State-Billings Yellow Jackets (18-4, 9-2 GNAC.) 
 
QUOTING HEAD COACH RANDI RICHARDSON-THORNLEY
 
"We didn't play tonight with the same eagerness to execute and compete as Thursday. Credit MSUB because they outplayed and out executed us in the second half and showed their eagerness to be an elite level team in this league. There's a lot we can take away from this game and move forward with. My hope is that we understand the importance of showing up every single day in practice so we can show up every Thursday and Saturday."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
The Wildcats jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead thanks to a jumper by Sunshine Huerta and a three from Ashley Schow. The Yellow Jackets would go on to tie the game from there at seven apiece as the teams would battle it out the rest of the quarter with neither team seeing their lead getting more than four, and a last second shot by Samantha Bowman put the 'Cats up 21-19 to end the first quarter. 
 
The second quarter started out with the Yellow Jackets repeatedly tying the game before seeing the Wildcats responding right away to retake the lead. Malia Smith came off the bench and produced a huge three, which was followed by a five-point run by Bowman to give the 'Cats a 42-33 lead going into the half. 
 
Asher Cai opened the third quarter by nailing a layup to give the 'Cats their first double-digit lead of the night. Unfortunately, the Yellow Jackets continually chipped away and before CWU knew it it was a tied game with 3:42 remaining in the quarter. Both teams would battle the rest of the quarter with MSUB taking the 54-53 lead going into the final 10 minutes.
 
It was a continual battle to open the fourth quarter as neither team could grab the lead by more than two points. Two clutch free-throws by Cai tied the game for the final time with 2:51 left in the game, and from there the Wildcats went cold shooting as Tori Maeda would be the final Wildcat to score on the night as the Yellow Jackets road to a 75-66 victory in Ellensburg. 
 
Bowman led all scores with 30 points as well as being the leading rebounder for CWU with eight on the night. Cai and Huerta each finished in double-figures with 15 and 10, respectively. Maeda dished out four assists as Bowman finished with three blocks and two steals. The Wildcats finished the night shooting 40.3 percent from the floor, 32.1 percent from three-point land, and 50 percent from the free-throw line. 
 
UP NEXT
 
The Wildcats will have a revenge road trip next weekend as they look to avenge losses earlier this season, first on the road at Simon Fraser (7-8, 5-6 GNAC) Thursday night with a 7:00 p.m. tip-off. They wrap up their revenge weekend on a date with the 11^th-ranked Western Washington Vikings (15-2, 9-1 GNAC) on Saturday with another 7:00 p.m. tip-off.