ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Central Washington women's basketball team (15-5, 7-4 GNAC) will take to the road on a little revenge tour when they head north of the border against Simon Fraser (7-8, 5-6 GNAC) for a Thursday night tilt at 7:00 p.m. The Wildcats will wrap up their weekend at 9^th-ranked Western Washington (16-2, 10-1 GNAC) on Saturday with another 7:00 p.m. tip-off.
 
GAME INFORMATION
 
Thursday, February 2^nd
7:00 p.m.
RV Central Washington @ Simon Fraser
West Gym
Burnaby, British Columbia
Watch Live Stats
 
Saturday, February 4^th
7:00 p.m.
RV Central Washington @ 9^th Western Washington
WECU Court
Bellingham, Wash.
Watch Live Stats
 
LAST TIME OUT  
 
The Wildcats are coming off a very tough home weekend, facing two regionally ranked opponents. The Wildcats prevailed 81-72 over Seattle Pacific in what proved to be a close game until the final minutes. Asher Cai and Sunshine Huerta each had 24 and 23 points apiece. Tori Maeda also notched a solid 14 points while Samantha Bowman added eight. Claire Heitschmidt added seven points off the bench while Ashley Schow put up five points.
 
Cai led the Wildcats on the boards with nine rebounds while Sunshine dished out six assists. Bowman had the lone block for the Wildcats on the night, while Heitschmidt snuck away three steals.  The Wildcats collectively shot 49.1 percent from the floor, 50 percent from three-point attempts, and 83.3 percent from the free-throw line.
 
Unfortunately for the Wildcats, Saturday proved to be an extremely similar game as Thursday, but with the result going to the visitors instead of the home team. Montana State-Billings escaped Ellensburg with a 75-66 victory in what was another game that came down to the final minutes. Bowman put the Wildcat offense notching her fifth 30 plus point performance of the season knocking down 30 points on the night. Cai and Sunshine each finished in double figures as well with 15 and 10, respectively. Maeda added on five points while Schow and Malia Smith each tacked on three pointers.
 
Bowman retook her rebounding title on the team leading the Wildcats with eight rebounds, while Maeda dished out four assists. Bowman had three of the four CWU blocks on the night and two of the five steals. Collectively, the Wildcats shot 40.3 percent from the floor, 32.1 percent from three-point attempts, and 50 percent from the free-throw line.
 
QUOTING HEAD COACH RANDI RICHARDSON-THORNLEY
 
"This will be a challenging week on the road versus two very good opponents. First Simon Fraser is very well coached, very long, and very talented. They have one of the strongest scoring guards in the league and can put up points in a hurry. Western is another very well coached team and is one of the best teams in the country. They have so much depth, play extremely hard, and can put pressure on you in a ton of different ways."
 
SCOUTING THE RED LEAFS
 
The Red Leafs are looking to restart a bit of a winning streak after taking a split up in Alaska last weekend. They first fell to Anchorage by a tight 73-71 overtime loss on Thursday, before avenging it with an 80-74 victory over Fairbanks on Saturday. The win against UAF snapped a four-game skid that snapped their three-game winning streak which was happening the last time the Wildcats and Red Leafs faced off. The Red Leafs took the first matchup between the two squads this season when the 'Cats hosted them in Moses Lake by a 65-57 score.
 
Jessica Wisotzki is the Red Leafs leading scorer averaging 21.7 points per game, while Gemma Cutler (12,) Jessica's sister Sophia (10.5,) and Grace Killins (10) are all averaging double-figures as well. Cutler has been a monster defensively for opposing teams as she is the leading rebounder and blocker, averaging 8.9 rebounds per game and so far, tallying 42 blocks on the season. Makenna Gardner and Georgia Swant are the leaders in steals with 26 and 24 on the season, respectively, while Sophia Wisotzki has dished out the most assists with 57 so far this season. Collectively the Red Leafs are shooting 42.3 percent from the floor, 35.2 percent from three-point attempts, and 68.2 percent from the free-throw line.
 
SCOUTING THE VIKINGS
 
The Vikings had a very nice showing last weekend as they bounced back from their first conference loss of the season and first loss since their season opening game on the road at MSUB. The Vikes' swept the Alaska schools with Fairbanks going down first on Thursday 99-62, before Anchorage tested WWU a bit in a much narrower 62-52 victory for the Vikes'. The Vikings depth and clutch shooting helped the Vikings down the Wildcats in Moses Lake earlier this season by an 82-70 score.
 
Even though Brooke Walling is the leading scorer for the Vikings with 14.1 points per game, and the only double-figure scorer in this case, the Vikings have seven more players averaging more than six points per game. Walling is also the leader in every defensive category as she is averaging 9.4 rebounds per game while also tallying 30 steals and 36 blocks to lead the latter two margins by quite a lot. Walling also dishes out the most assists with 65 on the season thus far. The Vikings are collectively shooting 47.7 percent form the floor, 38.9 percent from three-point range, and 76.3 percent from the free-throw line.
 
UP NEXT
 
 Following another tough road trip, the Wildcats will head back to the 'Burg to welcome the pair of Alaska schools to the newly remodeled Nicholson Pavilion. The Alaska-Fairbanks Nanooks (4-14, 1-10 GNAC) will square off with the Wildcats first on Thursday night with a 7:00 p.m. tip-off. The weekend will wrap up with the final home game of the regular season and senior night on Saturday when the Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves (13-7, 5-6 GNAC) come to town with a 4:00 p.m. tip-off.