CARSON, Calif. – The Central Washington women's basketball teams season came to an end Friday afternoon in an 86-74 setback to the Cal State San Marcos Cougars in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
 
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
 
Score: Central Washington 74, Cal State San Marcos 86
Records: CWU (21-9), CSUSM (24-5)
Location: Torodome, Carson, Calif.
 
QUOTABLE:
 
Head Coach Randi Richardson-Thornley:
 
"I'm extremely proud of the women in our program. We got to this position against a very good San Marcos team. They're very talented, very physical extremely disciplined, and I thought both teams came out trying to make plays to win the game, and it was a back-and-forth battle all the way throughout until the late third and into the fourth and they made a couple more plays than we did and we struggled to defend in the paint and off the dribble. It came to a point where they made a couple more big plays than we did, but it doesn't have anything to do with a lack of effort or a lack of competing within our girls, so I'm extremely proud with who we were tonight, and it just sucks that it didn't come out our way but I'm really proud of our effort."
 
Senior Guard Tori Maeda on her leadership this season:
 
"I think it's easy to be a leader when you have great people surrounding you. Sam obviously is a great leader and we're always on the same page no matter what which helped a lot. Our team gave us their 100% confidence which was huge, I think it helped with anything we did because we knew they'd come follow us and give their 100% with us. Just going into life, Randi, the staff, and the program have taught me that anything I encounter I know that I'm strong enough to do it, which shows me what our staff has been able to teach me."
 
Senior Center Samantha Bowman on how important Wildcat basketball is to her:
 
"It's very important to me. I'm very grateful for the opportunities that I've had and it's been such a great ride. I'm sad to see it end but I'm grateful for the experiences that I've gotten to go through."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 

• It was tight from the get-go as Bowman started the scoring of the game with a layup, which the Cougars responded giving a preview of what the quarter would be as CSUSM took the 28-23 lead to end the first quarter.
• Sunshine Huerta flamed a three-pointer to open the second quarter as the quarter would prove to be another back-and-forth affair with the Cougars maintaining a 44-41 lead heading into the half.
• Maeda opened up the scoring in the third quarter followed by Sunshine with a jumper of her own to give the Wildcats a lead, but an eight-point run at the end of the quarter saw CSUSM take the 67-61 lead heading into the final 10 minutes.
• Charity Gallegos of the Cougars drained a three-pointer to open the fourth quarter as the Wildcats would fall 74-86.

 
STATS FROM THE GAME:
 

• Bowman led the Wildcats with 25 points 16 rebounds, three blocks, and one steal.
• Huerta followed with 23 points and two steals.
• Asher Cai and Maeda each provided nine and eight points, respectively.
• Ashley Schow (four), Riley Johnson (three), and Claire Heitschmidt (two) rounded out the scoring for the Wildcats.
• The Wildcats shot 42.3 percent from the floor, 43.8 percent from three point attempts, and went seven for seven from the free throw line.

 
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE:
 

• This was the first ever meeting between the two squads.

 
The Wildcats will look forward to next season with a solid young core that also has some big talent coming in to fill some big shoes. This season also gave the Wildcats their first ever back-to-back 20 plus win seasons.