MOSES LAKE, Wash. – The Central Washington women's basketball team (11-4, 3-3 GNAC) fell to the Simon Fraser Red Leafs (5-4, 3-2 GNAC) on the campus of Big Bend Community College Saturday afternoon by a 65-57 score. During the game Samantha Bowman nabbed her 1,000^th career rebound making her the first Wildcat to nab 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in her career. 
 
QUOTING HEAD COACH RANDI RICHARDSON-THORNLEY
 
"Give credit to SFU, they executed more tonight. We struggled to make shots and broke down defensively in key moments. When we tried to make our run at the end of the game, SFU responded more than once. Right now, we are going through it, unfortunately in order to get some things that we must grow at in order to come out with wins in these competitive conference games."
 
"Sam is incredible, and I am so happy for her to achieve this major accomplishment. She will go down as the best ever in a Wildcat jersey in per position, and I am so thankful to have been here to watch her growth and development as a player, person, and competitors. Sam is on another level; it's been fun to witness and looking forward for more to come." 
 
QUOTING SAMANTHA BOWMAN ON REACHING 1,000 REBOUNDS
 
"I'm extremely honored to be able to achieve this milestone, it's something I've strived for the past four years. I couldn't have it without my teammates, especially Kassidy Malcolm. Throughout my first two years she taught me what hard work was and that I could do so much more physically than my mind thinks I can, and that's what rebounding is. I love this program and proud to be able to represent it!"
 
HOW IT HAPPENED 
 
The Red Leafs jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead two and a half minutes into the game. A layup by Bowman put the Wildcats on the board and Valerie Huerta "Sunshine" followed it up with a jumper of her own to make it 7-4 in favor of SFU. The Red Leafs went on a quick 4-0 run before the Wildcats went on a 7-0 run of their own to tie the game up at 11 apiece. Bowman and Huerta with a three-pointer by Riley Johnson pushed the Wildcats up 18-13, however the Red Leafs ran to take the 19-18 point lead to end the first quarter. 
 
The Red Leafs ran out to a 5-0 run to open the second quarter, before an acrobatic layup by Johnson, followed by a layup by Ashley Schow pushed the Red Leaf lead to two, 24-22. However, the Red Leafs responded with a 7-0 run to push their lead to 31-22 with 3:57 left in the half. The Red Leafs maintained a seven-point lead into to half, 33-26. 
 
Simon Fraser scored the first bucket of the second half, however the Wildcats responded with a quick five points to make the lead 35-31 Red Leafs. The Red Leafs pushed their lead back up to eight quickly just to watch the Wildcats cut the lead in half to four again. SFU responded with a seven-point run to push their lead to double-digits for the first time on the night. Four points by the Wildcats rounded out the quarter with SFU leading 46-39. 
 
The fourth quarter proved to be the Claire Heitschmidt quarter as she started the scoring of the quarter with a free-throw, but the Red Leafs responded by pushing their lead back up to double-digits. Three-pointers by Heitschmidt and layups by Bowman kept the Wildcats in the game against the high-speed offense of SFU. The Wildcats would make a nice bucket just to see SFU respond, but another three by Heitschmidt saw CWU within scratching distance 61-57 with 1:08 left in the game. Unfortunately, the Wildcat shooting went flat the rest of the game and saw the Red Leafs run away with the eight-point victory, 65-57. 
 
Bowman en route to reaching 1,000 career rebounds on the night finished with 23 points and 19 rebounds to go with her two blocks and four steals. Sunshine finished the night with 11 points and four assists, while Heitschmidt rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points. Both teams finished with 45 rebounds, and the Wildcats finished shooting 31.1 percent from the floor and 18.5 percent from three-point range, and 66.7 percent from the free-throw line.
 
UP NEXT
 
The Wildcats will head on the road to Alaska where they first take on the Seawolves of Alaska-Anchorage (10-4, 2-3 GNAC) on Thursday January 12^th with a start time of 7:30 p.m. pacific time. The Wildcats will round out their trip to the last frontier with a showdown against the Nanooks of Alaska-Fairbanks (4-8, 1-4 GNAC) on Saturday January 14^th with a start time of 4 p.m.