ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Central Washington University women's basketball team (14-6, 5-3 GNAC) will head to Northwest Nazarene (7-8, 4-4 GNAC) for a Saturday afternoon matchup.
GAME INFORMATION
Saturday, January 27
12:15 p.m. Pacific Time
Central Washington at Northwest Nazarene
Johnson Sports Center
Nampa, Idaho
WATCH LIVE STATS TICKETS
QUOTING HEAD COACH RANDI RICHARDSON-THORNLEY
"NNU will be a great test for our group. We have a lot of respect for them, their program, and how they play. We need to have a great week of practice this week to have the confidence to go down to Nampa and execute."
LAST WEEK
The Wildcats finished last week with a split after falling in a tough 68-62 game against Alaska Anchorage on Thursday, CWU bounced back for a big 64-47 team victory over Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday.
Asher Cai poured in 21 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, three steals, and two blocks in the loss to Anchorage on Thursday.
Sunny Huerta also had another stellar game added 18 points.
Shelby Blodgett added eight points to lead the Wildcat bench while
Capri Sims finished with six points and six rebounds.
Annalee Coronado added four points while
Malia Smith added three points and
Riley Johnson tacked on two points.
The Wildcats had a big team effort come against Fairbanks as Sims finished with a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds while also having three steals. Cai and Huerta each finished with nine points while Cai also added 10 rebounds. Smith and
Keira Marsh each added seven points while Coronado and Blodgett each added five points. Johnson,
Aliyah Finch, and
Olivia Huntsinger added three points.
SCOUTING THE NIGHTHAWKS
NNU currently owns a 7-8 record including going 4-4 in GNAC play. They traveled with CWU to Hayward, Calif. for the CCAA-GNAC Crossover earlier in the season where they fell to both Stanislaus State and Cal State East Bay. They followed that up by posting victories over Cal Poly Humboldt, Westmont, and Whitworth. They were swept at the CUI Thanksgiving Tournament falling to Point Loma and Concordia Irvine. Since diving into GNAC play they've earned splits every week earning victories over Saint Martin's, Seattle Pacific, Simon Fraser, and Alaska Fairbanks but falling to Western Oregon, Montana State Billings, Western Washington, and Alaska Anchorage.
The Nighthawks are led by Madeline Gebers and Kendall Clark who are averaging 14.4 points and 11.8 points per game, respectively with Clark holding the best field goal percentage on NNU at 53.1 percent. Gebers also leads NNU in blocks with 14 on the season as well as three-point and free-throw shooting with a 53.1 three-point percent clip and a 93.5 free-throw percentage to the season so far. Shawnacee Davis has contributed the most assists at 34 on the season while Cami Knishka has the most steals already snagging 20.
On average, the Nighthawks are currently getting slightly outscored 65.9 points per game compared to their opponents 68.8. As a team NNU is shooting 41.2 percent from the floor, 35.3 percent from three-point land, and 69.9 percent at the charity stripe. Similar to their scoring, opponents are just slightly outrebounding NNU, 37.5 to the Nighthawks 34.9 rebounds per game. NNU is averaging 13.7 assists per game, 20.9 turnovers a game, 8.7 steals per game, and 3.1 blocks per game.
UP NEXT
The Wildcats will continue their road warrior status with a big road trip starting first at Seattle Pacific (6-11, 3-4 GNAC) on Thursday, February 1 at 5:15 p.m. Following their battle at SPU the Wildcats will head to Montana State Billings (16-3, 7-0 GNAC) for a Saturday clash at 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time.
