ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Central Washington women's basketball team came away victorious in the Battle of the Wildcats Saturday afternoon. Sunny Huerta led the game with 24 points.
 
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
 

• Final: Central Washington (68), Linfield (57)
• Records: CWU (9-3), Linfield (5-4)
• Location: Nicholson Arena, Ellensburg, Wash.

 
QUOTING HEAD COACH RANDI RICHARDSON-THORNLEY
 
"Linfield is a very good team who is well-coached, and their players play hard and together. We got challenged tonight and our response was individual and inconsistent, and we need to learn how to deal with those challenges better because there are only more challenges coming."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 

• Linfield nabbed the first bucket just over a minute into the game to take the 2-0 lead.
• Both teams were unable to find the bottom of the net until CWU tied the game at two thanks to a fastbreak layup by Capri Sims at the seven-minute mark.
• Both Wildcats would battle with CWU maintaining the lead but Linfield battling back to keep it close as Annalee Coronado rounded out the scoring for the first quarter with a jumper to put CWU up 18-12.
• Huerta scored the first four points of the second quarter to put CWU up by double-digits for the first time in the night, 22-12.
• Linfield cut the lead back down to six where both teams would go back and forth until Huerta nabbed four more points, followed by a pair of free throws from Asher Cai to give the Wildcats their largest lead so far at 12 points, 32-20 with 2:55 left in the second quarter.
• A 5-1 run by Linfield saw the crimson and black lead cut to eight at halftime, 33-25.
• Linfield came with a fight out of halftime, scoring seven straight points to make it a 33-32 CWU lead just two minutes into the third quarter.
• Central Washington would use a seven-point run of their own to balloon the lead back to eight, 40-32 with 6:20 left in the third quarter.
• A jumper from Cai and a three from Huerta put CWU back up by double-digits, 45-34 with 3:29 left in the third quarter.
• Both teams battled the rest of the quarter, capped by a pair of free throws by Cai to end the third quarter with CWU up 52-39.
• A pair of layups from Sims pushed the CWU lead to the largest of the night at 60-44 with 7:09 left in the game.
• Linfield would cut into the CWU lead with a nine-point run to make it 60-53 with 4:12 left in the game.
• Coronado stopped the Linfield streak, prompting the teams to battle bucket for bucket the rest of the way.
• Huerta would nab a jumper with 40 seconds to seal the victory for CWU 68-57.

 
STATS FROM THE GAME:
 

• Huerta finished the game with 24 points, five rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
• Sims had a great all-around game with 16 points, nine rebounds, three assists, one block, and three steals.
• Cai netted 15 points to pair with her nine rebounds, one assist, and two steals.
• Coronado hustled all over the floor and produced nine points, two rebounds, two assists, one block, and three steals.
• Shelby Blodgett and Keira Marsh each tacked on two points with Blodgett adding seven rebounds and one steal and Marsh adding one rebound and one block.
• Tori Maeda added three rebounds, one assist, and one block while Malia Smith and Olivia Huntsinger each had one rebound with Smith also adding an assist.
• The crimson and black finished the day shooting 46.7 percent on their field goal attempts, 20 percent from three-point land, and 81.8 percent from the free throw line.
• CWU held Linfield to shooting 35.4 percent from the floor, 27.3 percent from three-point land, and 83.3 percent from the free throw line.
• CWU won the rebound battle 40-36.

 
SERIES HISTORY:
 

• CWU now leads the series 2-0.
• The crimson and black defeated Linfield 82-72 back on December 17, 1994 in McMinnville, Ore.

 
UP NEXT:
 

• The Wildcats will stay in Ellensburg for one more matchup before the holiday break as the Geoducks of Evergreen State (1-6) will be in The 'Burg for a Tuesday afternoon showdown at 4:00 p.m. from inside Nicholson Arena.